Symbol Dynamics^® EXP^®

The Scientific Word Processor

How do I get an EXP document into Adobe PDF format?

Overview

EXP itself does not produce PDF files. You use EXP together with Adobe Acrobat to produce PDF files. Please note that if your version of EXP is prior to version 5.0.2, you will need to download the updated EXP TrueType font files before you attempt to use EXP to produce PDF files.

Adobe Acrobat works by installing a specialized printer device driver into Windows. Any Windows program, such as EXP, that performs printing using the standard Windows printing infrastructure can generate a PDF file simply by printing to the Adobe Acrobat printer. It is simply a matter of instructing the program to print to the Acrobat printer.

There is one issue that you must be aware of when using EXP with Acrobat: EXP's symbols are contained in TrueType fonts that are not available on Windows systems on which EXP is not installed. To ensure that the PDF file will display correctly on other computers on which EXP is not installed, you must instruct Acrobat to embed all the document's fonts in the PDF file so they will be available for display on other computers. Adobe Acrobat 6.0 performs this font embedding automatically, so no action is required on your part. Earlier versions of Adobe Acrobat do not automatically embed fonts in the PDF file. With these earlier versions of Acrobat, you must instruct Acrobat to embed all the document's fonts in the PDF file. For information on configuring Adobe Acrobat's handling of fonts, please refer to your Acrobat documentation or contact Adobe technical support. Symbol Dynamics cannot assist you in this matter.

Because Adobe Acrobat 6.0 works smoothly with EXP right out of the box in its default configuration, Symbol Dynamics recommends using this version of Acrobat with EXP.

The two links below point to PDF files that were created using EXP with Adobe Acrobat 6.0. In each case, the PDF file was produced using the default Acrobat 6.0 configuration with no adjustments or customizations. The EXP documents used to produce the PDF files are sample documents distributed with EXP.

Binomial.pdf (36 KB)

New Symbols.pdf (34 KB)

Using EXP with Adobe Acrobat 6.0

1. Start EXP.
2. Open the EXP document you want to convert to PDF.
3. From the File menu, choose Printer Setup.
4. In the Printer Setup dialog box, use the Name control to select the printer called "Adobe PDF".
5. Choose the OK button to close the Printer Setup dialog box.
6. EXP will reformat the document for the Adobe PDF printer. If you are concerned about page breaks, you should review the page breaks in the document and make any necessary formatting adjustments. Refer to the EXP User's Guide for information about controlling page breaks.
7. From the File menu, choose Print.
8. In the Print dialog box, select the All option to print the entire document into the PDF file. It is not necessary to use the Print to File option because Acrobat prints to a file by default.
9. Choose the OK button to close the Print dialog box and begin the PDF creation process.
10. After EXP and Acrobat finish producing the PDF file, Acrobat will automatically display the newly-created PDF file.

You can also produce a PDF file directly from Windows Explorer:

1. Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the folder containing the WXP file for your EXP document.
2. Right-click on the WXP file.
3. From the popup menu, choose "Convert to Adobe PDF".
4. EXP will start and display its Printing Status dialog box. Almost immediately afterwards, Acrobat will display its "Save PDF File As" dialog box. Choose the OK button to accept Acrobat's proposed filename for the PDF file.
5. After EXP and Acrobat finish producing the PDF file, EXP will exit and Acrobat will automatically display the newly-created PDF file.

The one disadvantage of this method is that it does not give you an opportunity to review page breaks.

Notes

• If you are using Adobe Acrobat with a version of EXP before version 5.0.2, you will need to download the updated EXP TrueType font files. Click here.
• The subject of using Adobe Acrobat with EXP is a frequent topic of discussion on the expswp group. If you have a question about producing PDF files with EXP, the expswp group is a good place to ask questions. You should consider searching the message archive of the expswp group to see if your question has already been asked and answered. To search the message archive, visit the expswp area on the Yahoo! Groups web site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/expswp.