I concur....AGAIN!! :-)

I've been following this forum since it launched in 2017 and have seen no action in this area! We NEED this! Especially for those of us who work in packaging and have 500+ unique sku's to export as a PDFx. Adobe, Please... HELP!

What Rick said, Exactly! No tricks, work arounds, all you have to do is.... Just allow the user to set the default pre-set. Or at least open to the last setting used.
Take some of the time used to redesigning tool icons or changing the way the interface looks and do something useful! Thank you.

Before you post in this thread that you've "found a trick" or "try this"... please understand most of us already know all this information. WE KNOW HOW TO CREATE PDF PRESETS. We don't want to create any more. We want the ability to modify the DEFAULT.

PLEASE NO MORE POSTS SAYING "DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN..." WE KNOW. WE KNOW A LOT. WE'VE WRITTEN POSTSCRIPT, ACTIONS, RIDERS FOR SEPARATIONS, ROTATED TEXT BEFORE IT WAS POSSIBLE, FIXED CORRUPTED FILES, DONE 4-COLOR SEPS IN ILLUSTRATOR IN VS 3.2 WHEN ADOBE DIDN'T IT POSSIBLE... AND ON AND ON AND ON.

WE WANT TO EDIT THE DEFAULT... PERIOD. WE WOULD ALSO LIKE A BUTTON IN THE TOOL BOX THAT SAVES A QUICK PDF TO THE DESKTOP... (at least I do).

I found a trick.
Go to Edit > Adobe PDF presets and create custom presets for yourself. I've created 2 pdf presets that i always use for my jobs, one with crop marks and bleeds and the other without, both in PDF-X-1a, then i've named them, the first with digit 1 at the beginning of the name, the other with digit 2 at the beginning of the name ; so i've created an action script to select all objects and vectorize them, then save my file into pdf format.
When i run this action, the dialog box appears to select the PDF preset, i just have to type 1 or 2 on my keyboard to select the desired PDF preset. It's fast and convenient.

You can do this with a script, but I agree having this option as part of the app is important. Script is attached here but you'll have to change the Preset name in the script but other than that you can just use the script to save your PDFs (will have to assign a action if you want it as a shortcut).

Can't upload .jsx files here sorry, but here's a screenshot.

You can do this with a script, but I agree having this option as part of the app is important. Script is attached here but you'll have to change the Preset name in the script but other than that you can just use the script to save your PDFs (will have to assign a action if you want it as a shortcut).

This is really really what we need. You define your own default pdf settings, then click one icon in the tool bar and a pdf of that doc (saved like this: file name_1 for artboard 1, etc) is saved to your desktop. For this document alone I have to go thru the pdf process 22 times to get 22 separate pdfs for coop submissions (and no its not faster to create 1 pdf then have acrobat split into 22 docs and then rename each).

Deep down I just wish Adobe would realize many of are out here working very fast, not slow and steady and relaxed. FAST-HECTIC-STRESSED-MANIC type speed working.

Rick's comment below.... internet win of the day.

Dave... some of us out here are under enormous pressure and work 10-16 hours days in a constant rush. It's not a matter of selecting the nuances of a creating pdf like resolution and cropmarks/bleeds.. its just getting a client a proof fast and then moving to the next of 30+ waiting jobs. I have custom presets established for the final pdf, its the 2-10 pdfs it might take before the job is approved thats an issue. As I have had said I would really like to have a "quick-pdf" on the tool menu that creates and saves a pdf to the desktop from whatever artboard I'm on. I seem to remember Pagemaker having this 15 years ago. May not sound like a big deal to hit command-option-s, pull down pdf, then pull down a pdf preset and hit enter - but add that up 70 times a day times a week. And if you don't pull down the preset properly you'll create a default pdf that is just SIZE STUPID. I showed in another feature wanted thread that ai will create a pdf MUCH larger than the combined elements in the ai. How the heck can 28megs of images and two lines of copy equal a 52meg pdf? We need a fast pdf option.

Casual users and users in an agency setting that spend 1/3 of the day yucking it up with colleagues or riding a segway across the office while shooting hoops just won't understand this thread. The programmers fall into this category also... let them live a week in my shoes and they'll get it. )

I think Dave missed the point. When you name a preset all it does is add another name to the list of presets to choose from. The problem, what people are asking for, is that we be able to choose the default preset that the Acrobat window opens to. Unless I'm mistaken currently you cannot select the a preset and have acrobat always open with that preset selected.

Not sure if anyone has added this info. When you save a file as a pdf, set up all the settings you wish and then click the icon in the upper right corner. You will be promoted to name this file setting and then after that it's just a quick selection in the preset dropdown and no more messing with settings every time.

I send an average of 56 pdfs a day all week, often more. This needs to addressed. And I still think that a 'QUICK PDF" button would be even better... I think Pagemaker had this... i.e. you are working on a job, click a PDF icon in the tool palette and a PDF is automatically saved to the desktop.

Could someone from Adobe comment and tell us if this will ever be possible, so we can stop looking for a solution if it will never be possible.

This has the potential to be a considerable time-saver.

Yes. This is a much needed fix. Please Abobe....

"I have searched and found the answer you can set default preset to save files in desired PDF format.
GO to Edite - Adobe PDF presets and create custom presets for yourself. "

This isn't really what this thread is requesting. I think we all know we can create custom PDF presets. This thread is about having an option to make one of our custom presets the DEFAULT preset. Then, when saving as a PDF from Illustrator, "Dave's Custom PDF Preset" would be pre-selected instead of the canned preset that comes with Illustrator, [Illustrator Default], that preserves all Illustrator editing capabilities.

I have searched and found the answer you can set default preset to save files in desired PDF format.
GO to Edite - Adobe PDF presets and create custom presets for yourself.

Thanks for your response.

The first case is pretty clear, and no change is expected in that workflow.

For the second one, the case I wanted to highlight can be explained with these: Create a new document, draw something and save it as a PDF (with Illustrator Editing Capabilities). Pick Compatibility as Acrobat 3 (PDF 1.3). Give the PDF a name (say A.pdf), and close the file.

Create a new document, same steps, but this time pick Compatibility as Acrobat 8 (PDF 1.7). Save and close the file. Say B.pdf

So in both cases different Compatibility options were used. Now, when we open A.pdf and do a Save As (PDF) - the PDF options dialog shows Acrobat 3 for compatibility - as the default starting point. And B.pdf will show Acrobat 8 for compatibility. This is because the PDF compatibility information gets embedded in the file itself.

We can surely change the current behavior such that when A.pdf is opened and Save As (PDF) it performed, Acrobat 8 compatibility is shown in the dialog (as that was the last used option). But, this change will deprive the users to know which compatibility version (and other settings) were embedded in the PDF they opened. It is also possible that there could be certain workflows based on this info - those would be affected too.

One more thing to consider here is that Save / SaveAs PDF with Illustrator Editing Capabilities ON is a completely different file, than those saved with Illustrator Editing Capabilities OFF. What I described above is only related to PDFs saved with Illustrator Editing Capabilities ON.

Generating PDFs from InDesign is an export workflow, and does not have such challenges.

Question - Would providing 'File > Export > PDF' and then making the options of that dialog persistent, make a better story, that changing what is working now.

Look forward to your feedback. Thanks!

Neeraj, thanks for the note. I'm not exactly sure what you're asking, but I'll take my best guess:

1. I think so. I just ran through these steps: I saved an Illustrator file as a PDF (with AI editing capabilites), closed it, opened it again, made some edits, and pressed Cmd+S. The file opened immediately in Acrobat (as it should), so I was not able to see if the PDF settings had changed. But this part is not the issue.

2. Correct, but again, this is not the issue.

What I'm requesting is that Illustrator handle PDF presets the same way InDesign does. In InDesign, no matter what setting I use to export (save) a PDF, InDesign remembers it. Do I want to save the INDD PDF using the High Quality Print setting? Press Quality? Smallest File Size? Doesn't matter what I choose, the next time I export a file, INDD remembers my PDF setting. Its default is the last setting I chose. That's easiest for the user, and it really shouldn't be hard from a coding standpoint.

Conversely, when saving a PDF in Illustrator, Illustrator always reverts to the very same PDF preset, "[Illustrator Default]", which creates a PDF file the size of Canada. I've saved thousands of PDFs in my decades of using Illy, and I have to change this setting every single time. That's unnecessary.

Let me know if you need further clarification. Thanks.