Harrington

Hey RC-R! OBE: Overcome By Events. What I did was...I downloaded Scribus. A free book layout program that some (many?) non-designers use to construct their self-published books. I took the PDF/X 1a:2003 files of the book's interior pages and separate cover file, which I had exported from Publisher, and opened them one at a time with Scribus. I then saved them out of Scribus as a pdf. Scribus gives you lots of options in its "Compatibility" drop down menu, among them a save in the PDF/X 1a:2001 format when you save as PDF 1.3 (see attached screen shot. Note: I used my Mac to do the design/layout. The screen shot is from a Windows computer.) Since the 2001 PDF standard is PDF 1.3, I have assumed this is 2001 compatible or actually a 2001 standard file. As I said above, nothing's been kicked back yet, so I am assuming we're good. If this helps one other person, it's been worthwhile. It took hours of research, trial and error, and hair-pulling to get to this point!

NathanC, thanks for your reply. This is all OBE as I believe I found a way to backwards convert the 2003 pdf standard to a 2001 standard. This printer, (with whom I will never, ever work again, no matter what the client wants), will absolutely not accept anything other than the 2001 pdf standard export. They have had the backwards converted file for 9 days and haven't kicked it back yet, so fingers are crossed around the world!

It worked! Thank you!

Hi stokerg! Thanks for the advice and the schooling! I have tried the Uninstall options and the offending brush set hasn't left the building. I'm going to go directly to My Account and see if I can uninstall it there. I will also make sure that I don't have "Always install..." checked. Never ceases to amaze me how much more there is to learn, even with programs you've been using for years. Cheers!

Hello! Since this problem I'm having is so closely related, I hope you all can help me get rid of this collection of brushes. (See attached screen grabs.) As you can see, it has a different symbol next to the name than other brush packs. The second grab shows that the option to delete doesn't show up with this category. I have tried the Uninstall Pack option that doesn't get rid of it either. Help!

joe_I: Good to know I am not the only one perplexed by this outdated requirement! I will try the InDesign PDF Place idea. I only tried the Open route which of course did not work. I did find a piece of software which purports to have converted the file to a 2001 format--Scribus. I've come across this software before as a book layout option along with one or two others that are optimized for this type of on-demand printing. I have run my existing pdf through the program and it swears that the new PDF is in PDF/X-1a:2001. Worth a trial upload with the client's printer. lacerto: Thank you for these specific suggestions. After reading your post three times, I now understand what you're saying. Fortunately, the only placements in the book's interior are icons and non-table tables created in Designer. (The tables were created manually rather than through the table builder in Designer, so they're just lines and type.) The file is simply grayscale, so I keep trying to stay out of a coated stock situation when creating a profile in Pro. I haven't seen the "Convert PDF document to ..." drop down, but I'm using an ancient version of Pro (Pro X), so it may not be available as a back save. Thank you both for the advice. I'll go see what is what.

Hello Everyone, The project that will not die: client's printer is insisting on a PDF/X-1a:2001 format for the exported PDF of the book. Publisher only offers PDF/X-1a:2003 as an export option. Went into Acrobat Pro and converted the file to a PDF/X-1a format. Printer won't take it because it isn't specifically the 2001 rather than 2003 version. What the heck? I'm at my wits' end, (a short trip right now), and am looking for a way out that doesn't involve firing up my 12 year old Mac Pro and completely redoing the book in InDesign 6. Any Ideas?

Well. Here we are again folks. The perennial problem child of Harrington's book project. Now that I am uploading the book to the client's printer, it tells me the following: "PDF CONTAINS ICC COLOR PROFILES: We request files with no color profiles assigned. Please convert all colors to grayscale for black and white images, or CMYK for color images and remove all color profiles. Saving a new PDF with the default setting of PDF/X-1a:2001 will address the issue. For best results, please correct the issue(s) listed. You may refer to the File Creation Guide for further instructions on creating a compliant PDF." Have done all that and am still getting kicked back. Here's the problem: Export in Publisher does not contain PDF/X-1a:2001. It only has PDF/X-1a:2003. I have tried working around this by setting profiles to gray in the B&W interior pages file then the same in pdf setup or CMYK, etc., but that hasn't made them happy. Ingram's live person response to this is to tell me that they want PDF/X-1a:2001. When I ask for suggested workarounds, they tell me they don't do editing. *Sigh* Any suggestions?

Hey Ldina! Thanks for the Up Vote! My Boy Tucker just wants this thing to be over so we can go back to daily walks and so Mom isn't so grouchy all the time! Happy New Year!

Thank you, thank you, Oufti! I will do that immediately. May you have a prosperous and peaceful new year.

Forgot to mention that, of course, I know how to rename a regular file, but rumor has it that book files are really sensitive to any changes and I can't lose this darn book! Color me paranoid!

Hello Everyone! Happy New Year! I am finally ready to upload this book project you've all been helping me with and I would like to rename the book. Somehow "Book Try 1 B" just doesn't have the same ring to it as a proper title for the printer. I haven't seen how to do that in Affinity Publisher 2. Any ideas? Harrington

OMGG. It worked! Thank you MikeTO! I have no idea how this happened, but I'm hoping I don't do it again. If I do, knock wood, at least I know how to fix it now. A million times over--thanks!

See Below. I have been placing this object inline with text successfully for 9 chapters. Now, after placing itself outside the text cursor placement, I cannot select it to delete it. It is an object created in Designer. When I select it in the Layers panel, it gets little crosses on the corners, but still cannot be deleted or cut. I cannot delete its two different parts. I have unlocked layers, unlocked objects, unlocked text. I have checked the Resources Panel, just in case. I have stomped my foot, but that didn't help either! Oh, and it actually prints on the page when tested. Is there any way to get rid of this thing, short of putting a white box over it and embarrassing myself when the printer sees that amateur move?

Well Mike! Thank you so much for all the help. I am going to be treated for carpal tunnel syndrome before all this indexing is done, but the client will have a book with an index! All thanks to you and your brother advice-givers on this forum. I don't know where I would be if you all hadn't helped me. One more question: How can I safely back up the book file? I thought I read that doing Save As with a new version number, like Pain in the Neck book v.6, would cause it to implode. I'm very nervous about not having multiple, timely, Save As's. PS That Affinity Publisher 2.5 book you gave me (and 5,000 others) is a godsend. So cogently written, so good with explanations and examples.