Placing (etc) a PDF

[Ralph]

The project is to make manuals of 'n' chapters by stitching together the individual chapters for each topic.

It has to be easy !!!

I want to place/import/insert open a multi page PDF in an AfPub document. Maybe select pages within the PDF to insert.  Can I find out how??

Basically, I just want to do what PagePlusX9 does with <Insert> <Publication> <Options> <Insert All pages>. There I can add any part (or parts) of any PDF, at any place in the PagePlus envelope. I'm sure it must be there somewhere in Publisher - I'm just not seeing it.

Help please!

[walt.farrell]

That will be difficult in Publisher by Placing.

However, if you right-click on a page in the Pages studio panel, you will find the option "Add Pages from File..." which should let you accomplish what you want. Subject, of course, to the usual Publisher caveats that you'll need all the fonts installed that are used in the PDF files, or the PDF files will need to have their text converted to curves before you insert them.

[Ralph]

Thanks Walt - I can always rely on you. Don't know how you do it! I'll try that.

It's always gratifying to find that it's not just me - though my list of "not just me" is getting disturbingly long. Do I work differently from the rest of the World? (rhetorical).

My next investigation was going to be the absence of fonts - I write something in InDesign, export a PDF, Open the PDF in AfPub and am told all the fonts are missing. I am just starting to wonder where AfPup gets its fonts from, if not from my Windows10 Font Library: or its back to that amazing package - PagePlusX9.

Thanks again

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome. As for "how I do it", I spend too much time playing with the programs and reading the forums

Fonts: The Adobe products have their own font infrastructure, and don't necessarily install fonts into Windows. Also, they supply specific Adobe-licensed fonts that won't work outside of Adobe products. Possibly you are running afoul of one of those aspects of Adobe font management.

[Ralph]

Thanks Walt,

I don't want to distract you with my Font woes until I know I have them! But I actually pulled the InDesign example out of the pit! I could equally well have said WORD. It might mainly be PDFs that have been emailed to me and I can blame somebody else🤨.  I haven't done my research yet, but it's good to know that it's not necessarily ME.

Thanks anyway ...

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[wonderings]

Something to watch for as well when placing PDF's in publisher is it makes the PDF editable and does not use embedded PDF fonts. Indesign lets you place your PDF's without the need for the font to be on your system, Publisher on the other hand does not as it is trying to be a PDF editor as well as page layout software. If you have the fonts though and can activate them in some font management software you should be fine. Just be sure to give everything an extra look over as things can go wonky when importing PDF's in Publisher. 

[Ralph]

Thanks Wonderings.

As you say, things can go (very) wonky when "importing" PDFs into Publisher. I have just tried Walt's suggestion for importing a few pages.

With the PDF I tried, created from a WORD document, Publisher successfully imported the relevant pages, but randomly lost spaces:

"This Little Piggy went to market" became "ThisLittlePiggywent to market": and each line of text is independently editable.

So next it's a matter of testing different SAVE AS and PRINT options from WORD, using assorted PDF formats etc. etc. I like it better when it just WORKS - like PPX9 🥰

[wonderings]

With the tests I did with files I would normally use and get from clients, Word file PDF's were the worst. As I mentioned before I would not trust Publisher at the moment for any real work that needed PDF's placed in Publisher as there is just too much that could go wrong and the time spent trying to fix or catch any mistakes is just not worth it at this point. If you do not need to retain editing capabilities you could outline all fonts to curves if you have Acrobat DC, but at that point you probably have an Adobe CC subscription and would just say stick with Indesign till Publisher fixes this little "feature"

[Ralph]

That's really helpful Wonderings, and saves me a load of effort.

You have also confirmed my "gut feel" about WORD and my decision (which I re-affirm about every six months as I find a new "feature" in Publisher that defies my logic) to stick to InDesign & PPX9 for production material and AfPub for practise.

Shame - I have a 200 page book about to go into its tenth edition which I had been hoping to transfer from InDesign to AfPub.

KEEP SAFE EVERYONE

[Catshill]

It is not just you Ralph. Lots of us are having to work round the fonts issue. We each have our favourite way of dealing with it and these forums are a great way to share these.

[wonderings]

5 hours ago, Catshill said:

It is not just you Ralph. Lots of us are having to work round the fonts issue. We each have our favourite way of dealing with it and these forums are a great way to share these.

This should not be a font issue, he wants to place a PDF in publisher, that should be the end of the line. These are issues that should not be there if you could simply place a PDF, not embed, not editable, just placed. 

[Ralph]

Exactly, wonderings!!! - YES, JUST "PLACE" THE F******G THING.

What gets me is the fact that AfPub's predecessor did the job perfectly. In fact, so well does it do it that I have been avoiding investigating of AfPub for a year or more. Serif's claim that "the best way to import WORD is to create a PDF and open that in AfPub"  has somewhat misled me into believing that "if it didn't work it must be me"🤔 I should have known better having experienced some of its other foibles. On the other hand, AfPub el al do a lot of things very well, especially the more esoteric stuff - and with so many options!

Corresponding with you guys is really helpful.

Anyway, it's all good practise while we are locked down.

[walt.farrell]

1 minute ago, Ralph said:

Serif's claim that "the best way to import WORD is to create a PDF and open that in AfPub" 

I'm curious where you found that; I don't recall seeing it.

[Vanveen JF]

Just to get this straight If I placed a PDF in AfPub it will ALWAYS change the fonts etc. NO way around it? This is a pain in the but. IN my 10 year old Indesign it places fine. If this is not fixed I might as well stay with InDesign...or QuarkXpress version 3.1

 

 

 

I guess I can always change the pdf to a JPG.

[Catshill]

You will see in other threads that my workaround of choice is to convert PDFs with embedded fonts to png

[Move Along People]

-

[Catshill]

Yes indeed (I tried Inkscape and the Microsoft pdf printer) however I didn’t find this method as reliable. The results occasionally did not match the original. Hence the conversion to png. Edit ability not an issue for me as these are adverts from third parties.

[lacerto]

(...)

[Grazer5]

I am frankly disappointed in Publisher. I understand it's new, but not being able to place a pdf, that is, a multi page pdf and be able to choose which pages and bleeds on or not is weird. I use InDesign for this all day long without a problem. I guess because Publisher can edit a pdf is why the font issue comes up. InDesign can't edit a pdf, but you can drop into any frame and manipulate the image to suit anything.

Most pre-press people like myself depend on this feature, as well as step and repeat. Hopefully Serif will give us these in the next update?