It all depends on what you plan to do with the PDF file. Is it for viewing on the web or printing? I'm a CS4 virgin LOL. I went from CS to CS4 2 weeks ago. I've been going through video tutorials from lynda.com . I think the main settings would be the Adobe PDF Preset and the Compatibility. Choosing Press Quality for the Adobe PDF Preset and Acrobat 5 or higher for the Compatibility works pretty good. You don't have to fiddle around with individual settings as each preset will have it's own settings.