PDF worries

			Welcome to the PDF trouble-shooter. Below you will find an overview of known issues when working with PDF files in a prepress environment. Some of these problems are caused by Acrobat but a lot of them are related to a composite workflow or bugs and limitations in the originating applications.
			General issues
			PDF files rip slower than the equivalent PostScript file. It is not possible to output seps or add cropmarks. OPI doesn't work on PDF files. There is no bleed present in the PDF document. Acrobat 4 documents seem larger that Acrobat 3 files. A PDF document is larger that the original PostScript file. PostScript blends look better than PDF blends. Overprints are not maintained in the PDF. Acrobat Distiller generates a PostScript error.
			Viewing
			Exchange 3.x claims a PDF document is too complicated. Every colour appears as a separate page. Line-art images are displayed inverted in Exchange 3.x. Images have disappeared in the PDF. Lowres images look awful on-screen but print OK. Identical lines have a different thickness on-screen.
			Text handling
			Black text appears on all 4 CMYK plates. Characters in the text are missing onscreen. Letter spacing is incorrect onscreen. Distiller does not embed fonts. Fonts are subsetted even though I did not ask for it.
			Images
			Colour images appear grayscale in the PDF document. Images output in lowres. Images have disappeared or changed in the PDF. Images use the LAB colour space in a PDF file.
			Colour
			Duotones are not handled properly. (under construction) Spotcolour gradients output in CMYK. (under construction) Spot colours have disappeared. CMYK colours change to RGB. Colours seem to have changed in the PDF.
			Screening
			PDF pages output at incorrect (the same) screen angles.
	© 2000 L. Leurs		back to the top