How to Prepare a Digital Edition PDF Book With Adobe InDesign

This tutorial will offer you some advice on how to use Adobe InDesign to
prepare an optimized digital edition PDF book.
What do I Need?
This tutorial will have you use Adobe InDesign to create your
There are two ways to produce a digital edition PDF presented in this
content and cover and prepare them as a print-ready PDF.
tutorial. One way will use InDesign to directly export a PDF at a resolution
appropriate for viewing on computers and devices. The other will use The screenshots shown in the tutorial use Adobe InDesign CS5.5 for Mac.
Acrobat Pro to optimize an existing high-resolution PDF. If you do not have If you are using different versions of the software, some of the instructions
Acrobat Pro and wish to test this process, you can download a trial version and screenshots will be slightly different, but you should be able to find the
from the Adobe website: www.adobe.com. right feature in your software version.

The Tutorial is Broken up into Sections: How do I Get This Software?

1. Setting up your InDesign Document Adobe InDesign is available from Adobe at www.adobe.com. Adobe
2. Adding Cover Images and Setting Up Pagination does have educational discounts on their software if you are able to take
advantage of them:
3. Adding Bookmarks
4. Adding Hyperlinks https://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-EDU&
event=displayCatalog&catalogOID=2071995
5. Exporting your InDesign file as a PDF ebook
6. Optimizing a high-resolution PDF using Acrobat Pro Or get it as part of the Creative Cloud and pay a monthly fee.
7. Tips and Things to Remember http://www.adobe.com/products/creativesuite/designstandard.html
8. What do I do Next?
9. I Need More Help!

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 1. Setting up your InDesign 2. Adding Cover Images and
Document Setting Up Pagination
For your convenience, we have created a few template files for different Before you begin any method of PDF export described, make sure your
standard book sizes to make your layout work easier. You can find these front and back cover files are the first and second pages of your PDF digital
templates under the Digital Tutorials and Templates of the Publisher edition. You can add two pages at the beginning of your interior text file
Knowledge Base, under Title Management/ Digital Titles. document, and then place your cover images on those pages. Save your
document before you begin the next step.
Setting up your file is nearly identical to setting up a book for print but
the specifications are much looser. If you plan to produce both print and Next, you will want to change the pagination of the cover pages to Roman
digital editions, you should set up your book files to print specs and then numerals (i, ii). This is a good idea to do because the cover pages won’t
produce a digital book from the same files. goof up the interior book block pagination. Those page numbers will still
reference the Table of Contents.
(For more information about the mechanics of setting up your InDesign file
for print, e.g., creating Master Pages, importing and styling text using Style First, using the Pages palette,
Sheets, and placing art, see the DriveThru tutorial for InDesign in the Print expand the palette options from
Templates and Tutorials page of the Publisher Knowledge Base, under Title the icon in the upper right corner
Management/ Book Printing. of the palette. Navigate down to
and select Numbering & Section
Options.

The Numbering & Section options

dialog box pops up. Under Page
Numbering, select the Roman
numerals from the drop-down
menu. Click OK.

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 2. Adding Cover Images and
3. Adding Bookmarks
Setting Up Pagination (continued)
The entire book now changes to Roman To make navigating through a large
numeral pagination. To fix this, you will PDF book easier, bookmarks can be
need to select page iii (page 3) in the made in your InDesign document,
Pages palette, force a Section start, and which can be exported and used in
repaginate the rest of the book using your final PDF digital edition. A good
Arabic numerals. use of bookmarking is to place one at
the first page of every chapter in your
With page iii selected in the Pages book, so readers can jump straight to
palette, expand the palette options, and the chapter of the book where they last
navigate down to Numbering & Section left it.
Options again. This time, check Section
Start. Make sure the Start Page Numbering at: field You will need to open your Bookmarks
is set to 1. Then in the Style drop-down under Page palette. To find and open it, pull down the
Numbering, select the Arabic numerals. Window menu from the top of your screen,
navigate down to Interactive, then select Bookmarks from the expanded
Now if you check your Pages palette, your pagination contextual menu. A check box next to the list item indicates that palette as
should be correct. being open in your workspace.

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 3. Adding Bookmarks (continued)
Next, navigate to the text in your document that you would like to assign
as a bookmark. Highlight that text with your cursor. Then, to create a
new bookmark, either click the page icon at the bottom of the box next
to the Trash Can icon in the Bookmarks palette, or expand the menu
options from the top right-hand corner of the palette and select New
Bookmark.

The text you have highlighted will now appear in the Bookmarks palette
list. An anchor icon will appear to the left.

You will need to proof this list and rearrange as necessary. To manage
the bookmarks in your document, use this palette.

Bookmarks will appear on this list in the order they are made, not in the
order they occur in the document. To reorder your bookmarks, expand
the menu from the top right-hand corner and choose Sort Bookmarks.
This automatically rearranges the bookmark entries by page order as
they occur in the document.

You can also create hierarchies in the

Bookmark palette. To make a sub-level
bookmark, you can drag and drop a
bookmark on the list and nest it underneath
another. See the screenshot below for an
example.

If you are also preparing your digital book for export in the epub format, you can make InDesign autogenerate a Table
of Contents for the front or back of your book, which automatically adds and inserts bookmarks in your document
based on your TOC information. Find out more about these mechanics under the DIGITAL TITLES section of your
publisher menu. Choose the Epub & Mobi Export link.

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 4. Adding Hyperlinks
In some digital books, you may want to add links between pages that
occur in your document, such as links from the entries in your Table
Adding links between pages
of Contents to your chapter starts, or links to destinations outside your Assigning hyperlinks
document, such as a web URL. In Adobe InDesign, you can dictate link between pages in your
sources from text or a placed art file. Link destinations can be to other document (or multiple
locations inside the same document, to other documents, to an email documents) is very easy
address, or to a web URL. using InDesign. We’ll begin
here by making a hyperlink
In this tutorial, we’ll cover linking within the same document, and linking
from the first link of the
from inside your document to an outside web URL.
Table of Contents to the
If you choose to add interactivity to your digital edition, make sure to test chapter in the book it should
each created link in your final PDF after export. jump to.

You will need to open your Hyperlinks Using your text cursor,
palette. To find and open it, pull down the highlight your source text.
Window menu from the top of your screen, Then expand the menu
navigate down to Interactive, then select of your Hyperlinks palette
Hyperlinks from the expanded contextual from the icon in the top
menu. A check box next to the list item right-hand corner. Select
indicates that palette as being open in New Hyperlink.
your workspace.
The New Hyperlink dialog
box will open. Expand
the Link To: options by
expanding the drop-down
menu. Choose Page as
your link destination.

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 4. Adding Hyperlinks (continued)
Now set your Destination You can test your new
information. If you expand hyperlink by selecting
the Document drop-down, it in your Hyperlink
you will see a list of all the palette, expanding the
saved InDesign documents Hyperlink menu options,
you currently have open. and selecting Go to
You can choose from this Destination. Your page
list if you are linking to the view should jump to the
document you are currently destination you have just
working in, choose a assigned.
different document that is
already open, or choose
Browse... to find and
open a different InDesign
document to assign your
link destination to.

Make sure that you have

set your destination page
number to reflect the page
number of the source on
your TOC. You should
also choose your Zoom
settings here. If you have already created a Style Sheet for formatting
your hyperlink text, you can expand the Character Style drop-down
menu and choose your style. When you have completed your Destination
and Appearance details, click OK. Your new hyperlink will appear in the
Hyperlink palette.

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 4. Adding Hyperlinks (continued)
Adding links to web URLs your Destination and Appearance details, click OK. Your new hyperlink will
appear in the Hyperlink palette.
There are several ways to add hyperlinks to URLs in your document. Once
Another way to create a hyperlink to
you become familiar, you will find the way that works best for you.
a URL is to choose New Hyperlink
Using your text cursor to from URL from the expanded
select your source text, menu options of the Hyperlink
expand the options menu palette. The link will automatically
of your Hyperlinks palette generate and will appear in the
by clicking the top-right list on your Hyperlink palette.
icon. From the list, select Should you choose this method,
New Hyperlink. make sure to select that URL on
your list and review the Hyperlink
The New Hyperlink dialog Options and Hyperlink Destination
box will open. Expand the Options associated with it. Check
Link To: drop-down menu to make sure your Destination and
and select URL. The URL Appearance details are correct
in the Destination field before proceeding
can be any valid Internet
address (http://, ftp://,
mailto://, etc.).

When you have completed

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 5. Exporting Your InDesign file as a PDF ebook
Now that you’ve completed setting up your book for print, exporting it as a digital PDF ebook is easy!

There are three ways to make an optimized digital edition from your InDesign file:

1. Export
 a PDF directly from InDesign, adjusting your PDF export settings to make them appropriate for viewing on a computer, a tablet or other
mobile device.
(This method will be covered in the following pages.)

 se your print-ready PDF and optimize it in Acrobat Pro using the Preflight Print Production Tool. When you open the Preflight tool, make sure to
2. U
choose the Online Publishing (optimize for quality) profile under the Digital Printing and Online Publishing profile options.
(This method will also be covered in the following pages.)

3. E
 xport a postscript file from InDesign or Acrobat Pro for processing in Acrobat Distiller. This method uses a custom profile setting, called a
.joboption file, made in Distiller.
(Although this method tends to make more stable files that are less prone to errors than ones exported directly from InDesign, it will not be
covered here.)

Please do not use any Security settings in your digital edition export. The ability to copy/paste or print the digital edition can be managed under
the File Security settings in your Product File information when you upload the book. Any security settings imposed on your uploaded digital edition
will hinder our automatic watermarking process during customer check-out.

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 5. Exporting Your InDesign file as a PDF ebook (continued)
Export a PDF directly from InDesign The Export to Interactive PDF dialog
box will open. Adjust your settings
Although the Preflight tool in Acrobat Pro is to match the settings shown in the
more comprehensive in its profile settings, and screenshot to the right. Especially
Distiller tends to make more stable PDFs than important is to choose JPEG
direct InDesign exports do, the process we’ll be Compression, not JPEG 2000
overviewing in this section is the direct export compression under the Image
method. Handling setting. Many devices
don’t render images using JPEG
With your newly paginated file open, select 2000 compression, so it’s best not
Export from the File drop-down menu. to set the file up for potential viewing
An Export dialog box will open. Navigate to the errors.
location you would like to save your new PDF, Once you have adjusted your export
rename it so as to not overwrite any other files, settings, click OK. A Warning dialog
and then make sure Adobe PDF (Interactive) is box may pop up at this point, to warn
selected as the Format. you that color shifting may occur in
the process because your CMYK file
will be converted to RGB values. This
conversion process is necessary, so
just click OK.

Make sure to proof your new PDF when it’s complete.

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 6. Optimizing a high-resolution PDF using Acrobat Pro
Using the Preflight Print Production tool The Preflight dialog box will open.
Expand the profiles for Digital printing
You can take a high-resolution PDF and process it for web and device view- and online publishing, and choose
ing by using this tool in the full version of Adobe Acrobat. Again, your file Online publishing (optimize for quality).
should include the front and back covers at the front of the document and Then click the Analyze and fix button
have pagination that sets those pages off from the rest of the book. at the bottom right-hand corner of the
box.
Open your PDF file in Adobe Acrobat. Depending on the version of Acrobat
that you are using, you can either expand the Tools pane from the upper
right-hand corner of your window, expand the Print Production tools and
navigate down to Preflight (Version X) or pull down the Advanced menu from
the application bar, and navigate down to Preflight (Versions 9 and earlier).

A dialog box will open, prompting you to save the file. Make sure to change
your file name slightly so as not to overwrite your high-resolution print PDF
file. Click Save. Then the Preflight process will begin.

Once Preflighting is done, the Preflight

dialog box will list a report of tasks
completed. If your file was successfully
processed, a green check mark will
appear in the top left-hand corner of the
window. If it failed, a red X will appear
in the same place. On failure, you can
poke through the process report in the
dialog box to see what elements failed,
and then go back and fix those elements
Acrobat X Acrobat 9 and earlier before trying to Preflight again.

To learn more about using Adobe Acrobat for bookmarking and

hyperlinking, refer to DriveThru’s Quick Specs for Digital Books.

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7. Tips and Things to Remember 8. What do I do next?
Specifications Once you have finished producing and testing your digital PDF edition,
you’re ready to upload! Log into your account on site and go to the
Although exporting your PDF using the methods provided will take care TITLE MANAGEMENT section of your Publish Menu and use the SET
of most of the specifications required of a digital PDF ebook, there are UP A NEW TITLE tool.
a few things that are important enough to bring to your attention again.
If you have any questions about how to proceed with filling out this form,
These points are listed in DriveThru’s Quick Specs document and
see the SET UP A NEW TITLE & EDIT A TITLE link under Digital Titles in
Checklist for Digital Books, both of which can be found on the How
the PUBLISHER KNOWLEDGE BASE section of your Publish Menu. You
do i prepare downlaod files for my digital title link
will find more information there to assist you.
under Digital Titles in the PUBLISHER KNOWLEDGE BASE section of
your Publish Menu. After a successful upload, you can choose to activate your title for live
sale! How exciting!
• DO NOT use JPEG2000 compression in any linked or embedded
JPEG art files, even if it reduces your file size.
Apple’s iPad and iPhone cannot display images using JPEG2000
compression.

• DO NOT use PDF/A profile compliance for your exported PDF. 9. I Need More Help!
• DO NOT use transparency in your document or images.
Apple’s iPad and iPhone also have problems displaying PDFs
with transparency attributes. Your publisher service rep is not really an expert on digital layout, so
chances are slim that he or she will be able to answer questions not
• DO NOT lock or use security settings in your exported PDF. This answered in this tutorial. However, please do email us your questions
means imposing password protection as well as turning off the anyway so we can help find an answer if we can and also so that we
ability to copy/paste or print from the PDF. can improve this tutorial so it answers more questions for everyone.
These options can be managed under the File Security settings
You can also find people with professional skills in digital layout and
in your Product File information on the DriveThru site when
contract them to create your files. The cost of this work depends on how
you upload your book. Any security settings imposed on your
much of the work you do yourself before handing it over for layout. We
uploaded digital edition will cause errors during the automatic
can recommend someone for layout if you would like. Please contact
watermarking process at the point of customer check-out.
Publisher Service for details.
Or you can also find freelance layout professionals at sites like
www.UpWork.com.

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