If you have a stack of artboards in Photoshop but only want to export a selection of them into a PDF file, this article will show you how to choose specific artboards and export them as a PDF. Typically, Photoshop’s main artboard export tool exports all artboards by default without giving you an obvious option to choose specific ones, so follow along as we show you how to customise your selection.
Takeaways:
- Is there a way to only export specific artboards as a PDF in Photoshop? Not just all Artboards.
- Learn how to export specific artboards as a PDF file in Photoshop.
Table of Contents
Can You Export Only Certain Artboards to a PDF?
Yes. Most recent versions of Photoshop allow you to choose which artboards are included when creating a PDF. For example, if your document contains three artboards but you only want the first two in your PDF, you can specify the artboard range during export instead of exporting the entire document. But if your version of Photoshop does not include this option, there are still other ways to do this.
How to Only Export Selected Artboards as a PDF in Photoshop
This might vary a little depending on the version of Photoshop. Newer versions of Photoshop won't generally have this option anymore.
- With your Photoshop document open, go to File > Export > Artboards to PDF
- This opens the export window where you can configure your PDF settings.
- Select where you want to save the finished PDF and give it a descriptive filename.
- Find the Artboard Range option.
- Instead of exporting All Artboards, enter the numbers of the artboards you want to include.
For example:
- 1-2 exports only Artboards 1 and 2.
- 2-3 exports only Artboards 2 and 3.
- 1,3 exports Artboards 1 and 3 while skipping Artboard 2.
This is the easiest way to create a PDF that contains only specific pages.
- Choose the quality settings that best suit your project.
- If your document contains vector elements such as shapes or text, enable Preserve Vector Data to maintain the highest possible quality.
- Click Run and Photoshop will generate a multi-page PDF containing only the selected artboards.
What If There Is No Select an Artboard Range Option?
For newer versions of Photoshop or any version without the option shown above.
- You can simply select the Artboards you want to export in the Layers tab.
- Make sure you have the primary Artboard selected in the Layers tab, not any of the layers inside the tab.
- Once you have selected them, follow the standard Export process, and only those artboards will be exported.
Alternatively, you can simply hide any of the artboard layers that you don't want exported. If you do this, the export process will ignore all hidden content.
The only problem with this process is that they will all be exported in their artboard number order, and there isn't a way to change the order of things unless you change the entire order of your project.
