findermacospdf
I have some PDF files that I want to open in preview, and others that I want to open in Acrobat. It would be nice if I could just set up that acrobat files with a different extention, say ".apdf" and have the mac automatically open anything with .apdf with acrobat, and anything with .pdf with preview.
But that doesn't seem to work, because I think that the filetype is actually part of the file, not just the filename…
any ideas?
Unfortunately Apple's PDF export doesn't create the standard PDF Table of Contents, you'll need to use other software to add one to your existing PDF.
There are a variety of options at a variety of prices:
OpenOffice Writer: A hassle, but it's the only free option I've seen. You'd export your Pages file as Word or rtf and then open it in OpenOffice Writer and then export to PDF; it will generate a PDF table of contents as part of the export.
PDF Outliner: Just $4.99 in the Mac App Store, it's probably the best combination of cheap and easy. It's specifically designed to add a PDF Table of Contents to your document.
PDFpenPro: At $99.95 it's not cheap but it does pretty much everything the full version of Adobe Acrobat does and is much, much cheaper.
Acrobat X Standard: The real thing from Adobe for "just" $449.95. If you only need to do this now and you'll be done creating PDF Tables of Contents within 30 days you can download the free trial. After 30 days, though, you're out of luck.
When you have a file that you want to print as a PDF, go to "Print.." (Command ⌘ + P) and select "PDF" in the left hand corner:
Then select "Save as PDF...":
Then, you'll be presented with a save dialog:
Using this method, you shouldn't need to have a printer installed.
Best Answer
Select the file in Finder, then get info (cmd-i), and change the file extension (under name and extension) to something that is not used by other files.
Then, near the bottom of the get info window click "Open With" and select the app you need, i.e. Adobe Acrobat, by browsing through your application list. Then, at the bottom of that sub-pane click the 'change all' button. This will direct Acrobat to open all files with the extension you chose.