3

I'm using Adobe Acrobat Pro XI and when here's the prompt I'm initially presented with:

enter image description here

I click on "Create PDF" and I get an "Open" dialog.

I figure maybe it'll create the PDF when it doesn't exist so I enter in a non-existent PDF and get a "File not found; Check the file name and try again" error.

Going to File -> Create says I can create PDF's from files, scanners, web pages, etc, but there's no option to let me create one from scratch. I guess I could create a blank page in Word, print that to a PDF and then open that but that seems like a rather indirect way. Is that really the only way to do this?

4
  • Why would you want an empty PDF? Acrobat isn't designed to be an editor...
    – BobT
    Apr 25, 2013 at 16:33
  • 2
    Like @BobT is saying, Acrobat is not meant to be an editor. It has limited capabilities (e.g. the Text TouchUp Tool), and the PDF format in general is not designed around editing. Perhaps this question would be better if you told us what you're trying to accomplish.
    – ernie
    Apr 25, 2013 at 16:42
  • Create what from scratch?
    – Ruskes
    Apr 25, 2013 at 17:04
  • 1
    Seems to me that Acrobat ought to give more descriptive names then of stuff. ie instead of Create PDF it ought to be Convert to PDF. @Buscar - a blank PDF page.
    – neubert
    Apr 26, 2013 at 0:11

6 Answers 6

3

Before Acrobat X and later XI were released there was an option in the Acrobat menu to create a blank PDF. This option has now been moved to the Tools Pane under 'Pages > More Insert Options choose Insert Blank Page (Shift-Ctrl-Q or Shift-CMD-Q)'.

If you want to add the option to create a blank PDF back to the File menu then you can do that using a small JavaScript that that is available from here:

Creating blank PDFs in Acrobat

2

Adobe is not an editor. It is used to create PDF files from other existing document formats. That is why it is opening the file dialog is asking you what document you want to create it from.

You create a PDF by converting other documents and resources to Portable Document Format.

Source - What’s the best way to create a PDF?

If you need help - Acrobat Help / Help and tutorials

2

What I do is I have created a template.

From word document.

Then just open that template and save it as new pdf document.

1
  • This workaround of exporting a blank PDF from Word/LibreOffice/etc seems to be the best solution when you need a page size other than US Letter. It's very weird that Acrobat Pro only allows you to create/insert blank US Letter pages. Nov 10, 2021 at 13:59
2

Wow. Who'd have thought such an obvious and simple task would prove so obscure. The blank page that's created by the Tools method is not A4 by the way. I'd recommend downloading one of the many free A4 PDF Templates online and making your own A4 Template (with margins, etc) from that.

1

For Acrobat DC, Click on the Tools Tab > Create PDF

From there, there's an option on the bottom to create a blank page.

0

In my version (Acrobat XI - Windows 10 Pro) the keystroke is Ctrl+Shift+T (this can also be found in the Tools pane under "Insert Pages-->More Insert Options-->Insert Blank Page" just as Rowan remarked).

So, when you start Acrobat, rather than going to the File menu, just press Ctrl+Shift+T, and Acrobat gives you a blank page, which you can modify and save under any name/location you like.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .