How to Make a PDF portfolio book using Photoshop in 5 Minutes

Many companies require candidates to send an online portfolio when applying for a position. Sending JPEG files in a zipped folder is so 1996. So what are your options?

A) You can build a website to showcase your work
B) You can create a PDF portfolio

Ideally, you’ll want to do both.

Assuming you already have a portfolio website, I’m going to show you how to create a custom multi-page PDF portfolio book requires little to no effort on your part. What you’ll need are a few PSD files or JPEGs to work with, and a version of Photoshop (CS5 or higher).

First, launch Photoshop and choose File > Automate > PDF Presentation….

You’ll see the dialog box below.

Click Browse to add your source files and choose “Multi-Page Document”. By default, Photoshop will place all your images on a white background, but you can also specify Gray or Black. To reorder your image sequence, you can select and drag the filenames in the Source Files section of the dialog. NOTE: Selecting Presentation will allow you to create a slideshow presentation that includes transitions. (You will need Adobe Acrobat to play the presentation.)

Click Save and you will be presented with another dialog box that controls compression, security, and even the option to embed page thumbnails. For my use case, I keep the settings at their default value.

Click Save PDF and wait a few seconds while your PDF is assembled. That’s it!

With the steps outlined above, you can easily and quickly generate an up-to-date PDF portfolio to share with potential companies and/or clients. It’s also a convenient way to put together a PDF eBook featuring all your comics!

-Krishna