How to Create a PDF Portfolio in Adobe Acrobat

Learn how to create, customize, and rename a PDF Portfolio in Adobe Acrobat. These steps are for Adobe Acrobat DC, Adobe Acrobat 2020, and Adobe Acrobat 2017. In addition, the steps are nearly identical between a PC and Mac.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:41 What Is a PDF Portfolio?
1:37 How to Create a PDF Portfolio
4:20 How to Customize a PDF Portfolio
6:08 How to Rename & Save a PDF Portfolio
📝 Corresponding Blog Post/Transcript for This Video
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How to Create a PDF Portfolio in Adobe Acrobat
erinwrightwriting.com/pdf-por...
💻 Related Resources
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How to Use Adobe Acrobat (Playlist):
• How to Use Adobe Acrobat
How to Create In-Text Links to Attached PDFs with Adobe Acrobat
• How to Create In-Text ...
How to Combine Files into One PDF in Adobe Acrobat
• How to Combine Files i...
How to Extract Pages from PDFs in Adobe Acrobat
• How to Extract Pages f...
How to Insert Files into PDFs in Adobe Acrobat
• How to Insert Files in...
💻 Please visit my blog at erinwrightwriting.com for more easy-to-follow tips on writing, editing, and document software.
Please leave your questions about Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat in the comment section below. Although I can’t guarantee I will be able to answer every question, I will certainly make an effort to create as many viewer-requested videos as possible.
Thank you for watching!
#adobeacrobat #pdf #acrobat2020 #acrobat2017
All Rights Reserved © 2024 Erin Wright

[@erinwrightwriting]

All the steps in this video also appear on my blog at erinwrightwriting.com/pdf-portfolio-in-adobe-acrobat/. Thank you for watching!

[@ashwinrs7375]

What Selection Models used for creating a portfolio in Adobe Acrobat? Can you please send the details regarding that ?

[@faithwills2192]

Thank you so much Erin. Great videos, it helped me a lot finishing a project.

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching! I wish you all the best with your project!

[@marywidener1409]

Thank you. This is so helpful for me as all of your videos!!

[@erinwrightwriting]

I am so happy they are helpful! Thank you for watching!

[@robertgatere961]

Thank you Erin

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching!

[@charlescurtis6321]

Great video. Thank you!

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you so much!

[@icerox_]

Thank you !!!

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching!

[@massoudmh]

Awesome presentation

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you so much!

[@5markbennett]

Thank you.

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching!

[@Jay-sn7wu]

Thank you ~

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching!

[@mihalybencze8307]

THIS WAS SUPER-HELPFUL. Had to create a culinary portfolio, and found the process confusing.

[@erinwrightwriting]

I'm happy to hear that! I wish you all the best with your culinary portfolio. Thank you for watching!

[@attri2292]

💯

[@rohanramesh6677]

Nice video 👍

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you!

[@MicheleMahaffy]

Hi Erin, Thank you for this tutorial. I create portfolios on a regular basis however I have just recently been having trouble with one item. In your video, the Word and Excel files remain in their own format to preview, however, I would like non-pdf documents to be converted to pdf in the 'creating portfolio' process. For years, my Adobe Acrobat DC did this automatically but now it is keeping all documents in their original form (.doc, .xls, etc.) like in your video. Any suggestions as to how I can get back to converting all documents to pdf?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Hi, Michele, great question! If you use the Combine tool instead of creating a portfolio, all files will be converted to PDFs. I have a separate tutorial on that topic, which you may find helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a5SVmIadd9eFoJI. I wish you all the best with your PDF projects!

[@katiecheng1623]

HI Erin. Thanks for sharing this awesome video. I am wondering if there a way that I can customize the icons on the left hand side into something that like a bookmark instead?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching! That's an excellent question; unfortunately, I'm not aware of away to customize those icons...but that would be really cool! If I stumble upon a solution, I will be sure to post about it. And if you find the solution, please do let me know!

[@katiecheng1623]

@@erinwrightwriting Thank you Erin. I will update you if I find a solution :)

[@carolinefrick6267]

Hi, Erin, this was very helpful! I am trying to write up instructions for another user to open the .pdf portfolio--do you know if Acrobat Reader is required or if other .pdf viewers would work? Thank you so much.

[@erinwrightwriting]

Hi, Caroline, thank you so much for watching! I believe that some other PDF viewers will work. However, Acrobat is designed to work in tandem with Reader, so you should definitely do a test run on any other software you think your audience may use. I wish you all the best!

[@c2442l]

Once you create and save a PDF Portfolio, can you add other documents to it later? Thanks for the video - very clear and well-paced.

[@erinwrightwriting]

That's a great question! Yes, you can add other documents to an existing portfolio. To do so, open it in Acrobat and then use the Add Files button in the navigation pane, as shown at about 4:23 in the tutorial. Best of luck!

[@brodyk15]

Thank you, Erin, for this video. I'm adding files from a shared company drive and can link the "parent" pdf to the "children" on my own PC; however, my colleagues' PDF readers will either crash or do nothing when the link is clicked. Any ideas?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching! I haven't noticed that behavior on my end, so I'm afraid I don't have any suggestions. I checked Adobe's official Known Issues page, and there are several active issues related to Portfolios, although none specifically related to crashes or unresponsive links. If you have time, I encourage you to report the problem to Adobe. I do hope you find a solution!

[@eserv-us4082]

Hi Erin, do you know how to use template files? I am trying to create a pdf where I could have 1 or many of the same fill-able page to a pdf. In my case, I will have a standard pdf of 5 pages, but need to add multiple copies of the first page. The issue I am running into is that typing in the first page fills the same data to the copied pages. Do you know what I can do, to make the copied pages not duplicate the data? Thanks for all the informative videos!

[@erinwrightwriting]

That is a very interesting question! I actually have a tutorial coming out tomorrow about duplicating pages in Acrobat, but it only applies to text pages--form fields will still duplicate as you describe. As of right now, the only solutions that come to mind are to rename the form fields on each page or use a PDF Portfolio instead of a regular PDF. When you add the form files to the portfolio, each page remains independent, so the fields won't duplicate. I have a separate tutorial on portfolios: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hZ2YZ6inaNeenrs. Thank you for watching!

[@roxanamenchaca216]

Hi Erin, thank you for this video! I hope you can help with this - after creating a porfolio, I realized that when printing the files print out of order. Any tips you can share as to how to be able to have them print in the order that they are in? thank you!

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you so much for watching! Unfortunately, I don't have a solution to that issue. On the Adobe Community forum, there are several threads about this topic going back several years so it seems to be something many people have struggled with. Here is one of the threads: community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-discussions/change-default-page-order-when-printing-in-acrobat-pro-dc/td-p/9278361. I do hope you can find an answer!

[@allanpimble7198]

@@erinwrightwriting Erin, I was told that the documents in the portfolio print in alphabetical order by default. I noticed myself that they will print in numerical order, so I prefixed the name of each of my documents with a number, beginning with 01. For example, Chicago_Sales.pdf becomes 01_Chicago_Sales.pdf. The portfolio I created recently prints out in the correct order. I hope that this helps.

[@erinwrightwriting]

@@allanpimble7198 That is excellent information. Thank you for sharing!

[@arfanaslam7834]

Dear Erin, thanks for sharing a very useful video on creating an Adobe portfolio. Do you know how do I create Adobe Portfolios so they are not secured when I save them? I tried to create Adobe Portfolios and sent myself as an email attachment so I can open them from iPAD using the Acrobat reader but when I receive them in my inbox these Adobe Portfolios are secured and I am not able to make any comments on them using the Adobe Acrobat reader on my iPAD. While creating Adobe Portfolios on my PC, I checked and no security restriction was enabled. Also When I share any standard PDF file they are not secured and I can make comments on these files on my iPAD when they are opened with Adobe Acrobat reader. Any help or suggestions, please?

[@erinwrightwriting]

That is an interesting question! Unfortunately, I have never encountered that issue and don't currently have an iPad to perform any testing, so I'm afraid I can't offer any specific suggestions. I suspect the iPad may be opening the portfolio in the Layout mode, which is a preview mode. Here is an article from Adobe support that you may find helpful: helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/overview-pdf-portfolios.html#portfolio_view_modes. I do hope you can find a solution!

[@mprestorationconsultingltd4039]

Hi Erin - i have 2017 PDF professional version - i am able to combine files as a PDF portfolio but i am not able to organize the files in the left had window pane - do you know why? I can add and export the files, I can add a folder but i can not orgainize the files. Also when combining files into a portfolio it converts all files into a PDF format - this option is defaulted in the option drop down box and cannot be changed - i hope you have a solution - thx mike

[@erinwrightwriting]

Hello, thank you for watching my tutorial! I no longer have a copy of 2017, so I'm afraid I can't run any tests for you. However, I believe that Adobe recently stopped supporting 2017, so I encourage you to ask Adobe support if they are deprecating features. I wish you the best of luck!

[@watashiwamillo]

This is so helpful. How do I know which adobe acrobat version to select on their product page? There is a Pro version, Acrobat standard 2020 standard, Acrobat pro 2020, etc. There isn't a 2017 version as you mention. I hope I don't have to pay $250-$499! I prefer a subscription model. Thank you!!

[@erinwrightwriting]

Great question! The 2017 version is discontinued, but I mention it because many people still use it. If you prefer a subscription, Acrobat Pro may be a better choice than Standard because you will get all the features for just a bit more money. Here is a link to the subscription versions: www.adobe.com/acrobat.html. (This link might not work if you are outside the United States.) Thank you for watching!

[@watashiwamillo]

@@erinwrightwriting oh I see, thank you. I will choose the Pro version then! Another question...am I able to save/keep the master version of my portfolio PDF that I make before I formally 'save it' so I may add/ remove other work as needed? Or do I need to just start over every time?

[@erinwrightwriting]

@@watashiwamillo The easiest way to maintain multiple versions of the same portfolio is to save the first one with a name such as Master or Original, and then save additional modified copies under different names as necessary using the same process shown in the tutorial: File > PDF Portfolio. One thing to note before you purchase Acrobat Pro is that Adobe is currently rolling out a new interface, so the software you purchase will likely look different than what you see in most of my tutorials. However, if you look at any of my most recent Acrobat tutorials, you can see the new interface. Best of luck!

[@watashiwamillo]

@@erinwrightwriting Okay many thanks for this info. Saving a Master copy makes sense as you explain. Thanks also for the heads up about updated versions. I'll keep this in mind as I get going. Thanks again for all of your videos, help, and insight. I'm looking forward to getting started on this digital portfolio! Have a good day. :))

[@PurooRoy]

How do I start a portfolio? Does it have to be with a name, or writing the word "Portfolio"?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching! Once you create your portfolio, you can save it under any file name you would like.

[@donnaanstey6934]

Is there a way to scroll though all pages of a portfolio without having to click on the next document?

[@erinwrightwriting]

That is a great question! There doesn't appear to be a way to scroll through the entire portfolio without opening the individual files. If you would like to scroll, another option is to combine all the files into one PDF. Thank you for watching!

[@donnaanstey6934]

We are dealing with digital signatures. The portfolio option seems to be the best to allow digital signatures to remain valid

[@lindaweeks1044]

What is the maximum number of pdf files that can be combined in a portfolio?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Great question! Adobe recommends keeping the total size of the portfolio to 50 MB.

[@lego1168]

unforently they changed how this feature works making the porfoloio maker nearly useless.

[@bodmonhoyos]

Is there a way to add links to an artboard?

[@erinwrightwriting]

Thank you for watching! Are you working with an artboard in Illustrator? I'm not an artist, so I'm afraid I don't have any information on that. However, this thread from the Adobe community forum may be of interest to you: community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/how-can-i-add-a-hyperlink-in-illustrator-cc-and-export-a-pdf-with-that-link/m-p/10979403.