Apply an Adjustment layer (levels) to a multi page document

[David Battistella]

 

Hello, 

I have a multipage scanned PDF file (each page is an image). 

I want to apply a levels adjustment to the entire document. 

I was not able to use a master page to do this. It seems that I have to do each page individually. 

I basically want to apply a universal contrast to the entire document. 

 

thank you for your assistance in advance. 

 

David

[loukash]

2 hours ago, Davide Battistella said:

I want to apply a levels adjustment to the entire document. 

You're aware that doing so will rasterize the entire document on PDF export?

2 hours ago, Davide Battistella said:

I was not able to use a master page to do this.

This is "by design" because objects like adjustment layers are supposed to affect only objects below within their own hierarchy stack. So it will affect everything below that is placed inside the Master layer, but not outside (or above, of course).

2 hours ago, Davide Battistella said:

I basically want to apply a universal contrast to the entire document. 

If that's what you really want to do (as in: you know what you're doing), then you can add your adjustment layer to the first spread, adjust it, select it in the Layers panel, copy it, move to the next spread, paste, move to the next spread, paste… etc.

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, loukash said:

You're aware that doing so will rasterize the entire document on PDF export?

From the first post, it's already rasterized: "I have a multipage scanned PDF file (each page is an image)."

 

6 hours ago, Davide Battistella said:

I was not able to use a master page to do this. It seems that I have to do each page individually.

You can do it with a Master Page, but there are a couple of tricks:

1. You need to make sure the Master Page layer is on top of the other layers on each page. Normally it will be at the bottom. So, apply your Master to all the pages. Then select one document page to edit, and in the Layers Panel right-click on the Master Page layer and choose Edit Linked. Then on the Toolbar click the Move to Front icon, or use Layer > Arrange > Move to Front. Then click Finish in the orange bar. That will put the Master Page's layer on top on all the pages that currently exist. Note that if you add more pages later, you'll need to do this again.
    
2. Next, select your Master Page and edit it. Add your adjustment layer, and then with the layer selected Group it with itself (Ctrl/Cmd + G). If it's on its own, not part of a group, it won't have any effect. (I believe the need to Group it is a known bug, not yet fixed.)

[loukash]

1 minute ago, walt.farrell said:

From the first post, it's already rasterized: "I have a multipage scanned PDF file (each page is an image)."

Argh, read too fast, missed that! thanks!

[David Battistella]

20 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

From the first post, it's already rasterized: "I have a multipage scanned PDF file (each page is an image)."

 

You can do it with a Master Page, but there are a couple of tricks:

1. You need to make sure the Master Page layer is on top of the other layers on each page. Normally it will be at the bottom. So, apply your Master to all the pages. Then select one document page to edit, and in the Layers Panel right-click on the Master Page layer and choose Edit Linked. Then on the Toolbar click the Move to Front icon, or use Layer > Arrange > Move to Front. Then click Finish in the orange bar. That will put the Master Page's layer on top on all the pages that currently exist. Note that if you add more pages later, you'll need to do this again.
    
2. Next, select your Master Page and edit it. Add your adjustment layer, and then with the layer selected Group it with itself (Ctrl/Cmd + G). If it's on its own, not part of a group, it won't have any effect. (I believe the need to Group it is a known bug, not yet fixed.)

Thank you very much, this, infant was the perfect and elegant solution and the clarity of your response with step by step is greatly appreciated. 

 

Many thanks, 

David

[JP-C]

Great, this is indeed a precise reply. Is there still no simpler, a little bit more logic method?

 

Thank you and greetings,

JPC

[Oufti]

On 5/12/2021 at 3:50 PM, walt.farrell said:

On 5/12/2021 at 9:13 AM, Davide Battistella said:

I was not able to use a master page to do this. It seems that I have to do each page individually.

You can do it with a Master Page, but there are a couple of tricks:

1. You need to make sure the Master Page layer is on top of the other layers on each page. Normally it will be at the bottom. So, apply your Master to all the pages. Then select one document page to edit, and in the Layers Panel right-click on the Master Page layer and choose Edit Linked. Then on the Toolbar click the Move to Front icon, or use Layer > Arrange > Move to Front. Then click Finish in the orange bar. That will put the Master Page's layer on top on all the pages that currently exist. Note that if you add more pages later, you'll need to do this again.
    
2. Next, select your Master Page and edit it. Add your adjustment layer, and then with the layer selected Group it with itself (Ctrl/Cmd + G). If it's on its own, not part of a group, it won't have any effect. (I believe the need to Group it is a known bug, not yet fixed.)

According to another thread, the procedure must probably be somewhat changed:

35 minutes ago, loukash said:

It seems that something has changed in v2.6.x (as opposed to v2.4.2 which I'm mostly using):

To make it work, do not group the adjustment layers. Place them in a blank Layer instead. Then you'll get the result as described in the old thread.