The Portable Document File, also known as a PDF, was developed by Adobe in an effort to create a versatile format that is portable, easy to use, and simple to transfer. While some PDF files only contain text, such as ebooks, others will contain a collection of images as well, which is why you might need to import them into Photoshop, for the purposes of editing and customization. Thankfully, Photoshop will allow you to choose exactly which pages or images you wish to import, and even offer a few other specification options.
So, if you want to open any of your PDF files using Photoshop, here’s how you can do just that:
Importing a PDF file into Photoshop
Similar to opening different image files, the method described below can be used for importing any PDFs into Photoshop. Just follow these steps:
- Press CTRL + O on your keyboard, or go to File > Open.
- In the Open dialog box that appears, choose the name of the PDF file, and then click Open.
- The Import PDF dialog box will now open. Under the Select section here, you can choose either Pages or Images, depending on which aspects of the PDF you wish to import.
- Now, simply click the thumbnails in order to select the images or pages you wish to import. Shift-click if you want to select more than one image or page.
- To give your new document a name, simply type it into the Name box. In case you are importing several pages or images, keep in mind that the documents will open with the same base name, followed by numbers.
- If you are uploading pages, you can choose options from the Crop To menu (under Page Options) to specify which parts you wish to include. The options are as follows:
- Bounding Box – Crops the file to the smallest rectangular region, which includes all the text and graphics from the page. Keep in mind that this option also eliminates any additional white space and document elements that are outside the Trim Box.
- Media Box – This option crops the file to the original size of the page.
- Crop Box – This option crops the file to the clipping region (crop margins) of the original PDF file.
- Bleed Box – Crops to the region that is specified in the PDF file for accommodating limitations, such as folding, cutting and trimming.
- Trim Box – This option crops the file to the region that is specified for the intended final size of the page.
- Art Box – This option crops the file to the region that is specified in the PDF file for putting the PDF data into another application.
7. If necessary, you can also enter the values for Height and Width under Image Size.
8. In case you are uploading images, you can specify the following options under Image Size:
- Resolution – This option will set the resolution for the new file.
- Mode – This option will set the color mode for the new file.
- Bit Depth – This option will set the bit depth for the new file
9. You can also select Suppress Warning, in order to suppress the color profile warnings.
10. Finally, click OK.
And that’s it; your PDF is now imported into Photoshop! However, it’s important to note that this process only needs to be followed if you are importing generic PDF files into Photoshop. In case you are opening Photoshop PDF files, you don’t actually need to specify any options in the Import PDF dialog box.
