Running Acrobat 4.0 or Later from a Command Line in Windows

Adobe Acrobat Distiller 4.0 and later for Windows can be run through a graphical user interface and from a command line. Adobe supports running Acrobat Distiller using the command syntax detailed below. Other Acrobat applications, including Acrobat, Catalog, PDFWriter, and Reader, are not designed to be run from a command line. Therefore, Adobe does not support running Acrobat applications other than Distiller from a command line.

When you run Acrobat Distiller 4.0 or later from a command line, use the following syntax:

acrodist [switches] [inputFiles]

Switches and input files are both optional; the command "acrodist" by itself runs Distiller or activates Distiller if it's already running. If you use any switches, they must be listed before any input files. The "inputFiles" option is a list of filenames separated by spaces or commas. (Both spaces and commas are allowed in filenames; if a filename contains spaces or commas, enclose it in double quotation marks.)

You can specify several Distiller-specific switches, which are shortcut commands that tell Distiller what to do. Precede each switch with either a hyphen (-) or a forward slash (/), and follow each switch with a space character. If the switch uses a parameter, include another space character after the parameter.

You can use the following switches with Acrobat Distiller:

/E [jobOptionsFilePath]
This switch's only function is to open Distiller's Job Options dialog box, so you can edit the specified Job Options file. Distiller won't process any files or display its main window. (Distiller 4.0 or later lets you create multiple Job Options files and specify the one you want to use.) You specify the path to the Job Options file using the [jobOptionsFilePath] parameter. This switch cannot be combined with any other command line options.

If you include a filename but not a path for the [jobOptionsFilePath] parameter, Distiller looks in its Settings folder for the file. If you omit the [jobOptionsFilePath] parameter, Distiller uses the current default Job Options file, typically the last one used.

/J [jobOptionsFilePath]
This switch lets you specify which Job Options file you want to use for the input files listed on the command line.

/N
This switch starts a new instance of Distiller, even if Distiller is already running. (Without this switch, Distiller automatically runs the open instance.) The Distiller instance created with this switch does not process watched folders and is marked so that it won't get activated by other instances of Distiller that are run later.

/O outputFileOrFolderPath
This switch specifies the output filename or output folder name. If you specify an output folder name, Distiller uses the input filename for each file.

/Q
When used in conjunction with the /N switch, this switch quits Distiller after it processes all files on the command line. (According to Technical Note 5158, when not used in conjunction with the /N switch, this switch is supposed to quit Distiller after processing all files in watched folders and all files on the command line. This does not work, though.)

/V
This switch opens all PDF files generated by Distiller in an Acrobat viewer.

This page last updated 4 January 2006

Since 4 January 2006, you are Visitor #

Back to home page of Brodhead Music Typography