Create PDFs with PDFMaker Part 3

Create PDFs with PDFMaker Part 3

Convert email messages to PDFs

You can use PDFMaker to convert one or more Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes email messages or entire folders of messages to a merged PDF or PDF Portfolio. Within a PDF Portfolio, each email message appears as a separate PDF file.

The Acrobat PDFMaker Conversion Settings dialog box contains the option that determines whether email messages are merged into one continuous PDF or assembled into a PDF Portfolio.

The controls that activate an email conversion to PDF appear in two places within the email application: on the Acrobat PDFMaker toolbar and on a menu. In Outlook, the menu is called Adobe PDF and appears to the right of the Outlook Help menu. In Lotus Notes, PDF commands appear under the Actions menu.

Note

You can convert one currently open email message to PDF (not to a PDF Portfolio) by choosing File > Print, and selecting Adobe PDF as the printer in the Print dialog box. The PDFMaker conversion settings do not affect this process.

Specify whether email messages become merged PDFs or PDF Portfolios

  1. 1. Do one of the following:
    • (Outlook) Choose Acrobat > Change Conversion Settings.
    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Change Adobe PDF Conversion Settings.
  2. 2. Do one of the following:
    • To convert and merge email messages into a PDF as sequential pages of one document, deselect Output Adobe PDF Portfolio When Creating A New PDF File.
    • To assemble converted email messages as components of a PDF Portfolio, select Output Adobe PDF Portfolio When Creating A New PDF File.

Convert an open email message to PDF (Outlook)

  1. 1. Choose Acrobat > Convert To Adobe PDF.

Note

You can also convert a different file to PDF from within an open Outlook email message if the Attach As Adobe PDF toolbar is shown. Clicking this button opens a series of dialog boxes for selecting and saving the new PDF and also starts Acrobat, if it is not already running. The resulting PDF is attached to the open email message.

Convert email messages to a new PDF

  1. 1. In Outlook or Lotus Notes, select the individual email messages.

  2. 2. Do one of the following:
    • (Outlook) Choose Acrobat > Selected Messages > Create New PDF.
    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Convert Selected Messages To Adobe PDF.

  3. 3. In the Save Adobe PDF As dialog box, select a location, type a filename, and click Save.

Add email messages or folders to an existing PDF

  1. 1. In Outlook or Lotus Notes, select the individual email messages or folders.

  2. 2. Do one of the following:
    • (Outlook) Choose Acrobat > Selected Messages > Append To Existing PDF, or Acrobat > Selected Folders > Append To Existing PDF.
    Note

    If you have already created one or more PDF Portfolios, you can choose from recently created PDF Portfolios in addition to the Append To Existing PDF option.

    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Append Selected Message(s) To Existing Adobe PDF, or Actions > Append Selected Folder(s) To Existing Adobe PDF.

  3. 3. Locate and select the PDF or PDF Portfolio to which you want to add the converted emails, and click Open.

    Note

    Do not type a new name for the PDF. If you do, a warning message appears telling you that the PDF was not found. Click OK, and select a PDF without changing its name.

  4. 4. (Outlook only) If a message appears, alerting you that the existing PDF was created using an earlier version of PDFMaker, do one of the following:
    • To create a PDF Portfolio from the original PDF archive, click Yes, and select a name and location for the new archive. (The default name adds _Portfolio to the original PDF filename.) When the conversion is complete and the Creating Adobe PDF dialog box closes, the new archive opens in Acrobat.
    • Click No to cancel the process.
Note

For PDF Portfolios of email converted or migrated in Acrobat 8 or later, only new messages—that is, messages that are not already part of the PDF Portfolio—are appended.

Convert email folders to a new PDF

PDFMaker can convert multiple folders to PDF in one procedure. It is not necessary to select the folders at the beginning of the process because you can select them in a dialog box that appears automatically.

  1. 1. Do one of the following:
    • (Outlook) Choose Acrobat > Selected Folders > Create New PDF.
    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Convert Selected Folder(s) To Adobe PDF.

  2. 2. In the Convert Folder(s) To PDF dialog box, select the folders. Then select or deselect the Convert This Folder And All Sub Folders option.

  3. 3. In the Save Adobe PDF File As, select a location and name for the PDF Portfolio.

When the conversion is complete, the new PDF opens in Acrobat.

Set up automatic email archiving

  1. 1. Do one of the following:
    • (Outlook) Choose Acrobat > Setup Automatic Archival.
    • (Lotus Notes) Choose Actions > Setup Automatic Archival.

  2. 2. On the Automatic Archival tab of the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, select Enable Automatic Archival. Then select options for Frequency and the time of day at which automatic archiving occurs.

  3. 3. Select other options, according to your needs:

    Maintain Log Of Archival

    Creates a record of each archiving session.

    Choose File

    Specifies the name and location of the archiving log.

    Embed Index For Faster Search

    Creates an index that you can search to find specific words or characters instead of having to search each individual document.

  4. 4. Click Add, and select the email folders and subfolders. Then select or deselect the Convert This Folder And All Sub Folders option, as preferred, and click OK.

  5. 5. In the Save PDF Archive File As dialog box, select a name and location for the archived email PDF. Then click Open.

  6. 6. Review the settings and the archive folder names listed in the Acrobat PDFMaker dialog box, and do any of the following:
    • To add other email folders to the list, click Add and select the folder.
    • To remove folders from the list, select the folders and click Delete.
    • To change an archive file, select any folder name from the list, click Change Archive File, and specify the name and location.
    • To start archiving email immediately, click Run Archival Now.

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