Adobe Photoshop CS5 : Working with Automate Commands - Converting a Multi-Page PDF to PSD

Photoshop’s list of automation features is impressive, and it gets longer and better with each new version of the program. One of the features that will come in handy is the ability to convert a multi-page PDF directly into multiple Photoshop image files. For example, you have this great Adobe PDF document that contains images you want to use in a Photoshop design. The PDF format is a versatile file format that can contain both vector and bitmap data, as well as electronic document search and navigation features. Some PDF files contain a single image, while other PDF files contain multiple pages and images. When you open a PDF file, you can choose which pages to open, as well as specify a specific rasterization process (how to convert the image from vector to raster). Although Adobe moved this process from the Automation panel to the Open dialog box, it still rates a spot in automation.

Work with Multi-Page PDF to PSD

Open Photoshop (it is not necessary to open a document).

Click the File menu, and then click Open.

Select a document in the Photoshop PDF format.

Click Open.

Click the Pages or Images option to display PDF pages or images extracted from the PDF pages.

Select from the following Page Options: Name: Enter a name for the new document. Crop To: Click the list arrow, and then select from the various cropping options. Anti-aliased. Select the check box to use anti-aliasing smoothing techniques during the conversion. Width and Height. Specify the width and height for the image size in the measurement system you want. Select the Constrain Proportions check box to maintain proportions. Resolution. Choose a resolution for Photoshop to use when it rasterizes the PDF document. Mode. Click the list arrow, and then select a color mode for the output document. Bit Depth. Click the list arrow and then select 8- or 16-bit color depth.

Select the Suppress Warnings check box to prevent the operation from stopping on alert dialog boxes.

Shift+click to select contiguous pages, or Ctrl+click to select separate pages.

Click OK. Photoshop creates separate PSD files from each specified page within the PDF document, and places the text and/or images on a transparent layer. Did You Know? You can convert Photoshop images into PDF documents. Photoshop gives you the option to save the document in the Photoshop PDF file format. Photoshop documents saved as PDF files preserve shape information as vector data, and you have the option of preserving type layers.