preflight error "Placed PDF version (PDF 1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version Use Fix...

[Hangman]

Hi @RoyMcCoy,

Firstly, as mentioned by @walt.farrell, because you don't have the fonts used in the placed PDF installed on your system, you need to use PDF Passthrough, this is essentially designed for exactly that purpose. If you picture a scenario where lots of people are providing individual ads in PDF format for a publication but you don't have all the fonts used in those ads, PDF Passthrough allows you to place and lay out all the ads on your page as provided without the need to have all the various fonts installed on your system.

The issue you are seeing with regards PDF compatibility comes down to the fact that Affinity Publisher requires either a matching or higher PDF version than the placed PDF version because lower PDF versions generally have a number of restrictions applied to their spec making them, in certain circumstances, incompatible with higher PDF versions, for example...

• For PDF/X-1a files all colour data must be grayscale, CMYK, or named spot colors. The file should not contain any RGB, LAB data.
• While PDF/X-3 files may contain RGB/LAB/… colours the user’s colour management system needs to convert these to CMYK.
• PDF/X-4 is an updated version of PDF/X-3 which adds support for transparency and spot colours.

and so on...

So you can probably see placing a PDF 1.4 file is potentially going to have features not available in a PDF/X-1a:2003 which is the default used for Publisher's Preflight checks as it's the lowest common denominator, therefore Publisher will throw up the warning you are seeing.

The rule of thumb is to use a matching or higher PDF version for export purposes so for a PDF 1.4 file your pre-flight check needs to use PDF 1.4 or higher to ensure complete compatibility.

Regarding the colour error you are seeing, after some testing, I'm beginning to think this might be a bug because there is no logical reason for this error.

 

[RoyMcCoy]

Thanks @Hangman.

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

Firstly, as mentioned by @walt.farrell, because you don't have the fonts used in the placed PDF installed on your system, you need to use PDF Passthrough, this is essentially designed for exactly that purpose. If you picture a scenario where lots of people are providing individual ads in PDF format for a publication but you don't have all the fonts used in those ads, PDF Passthrough allows you to place and lay out all the ads on your page as provided without the need to have all the various fonts installed on your system.

I understand this. What I don't understand is that I used Aldus PageMaker, Adobe PageMaker, and Adobe InDesign for decades and there was never any question (at least as far as I knew) of whether PDF fonts were imported with a PDF file or not – they simply always were. You could decide whether or not to include fonts when you created a PDF, but there didn't seem to be any Passthrough vs. Interpret option on importing and I don't remember that the lack of something like this was ever noticed. It therefore seems to me that it was the Interpret rather than the so-called Passthrough option that was designed and put into Publisher. It may be that I'm not sufficiently appreciative of Interpret, which may well allow more manipulation of imported PDF text than had previously been possible – I don't know.

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

[...] So you can probably see placing a PDF 1.4 file is potentially going to have features not available in a PDF/X-1a:2003 which is the default used for Publisher's Preflight checks as it's the lowest common denominator, therefore Publisher will throw up the warning you are seeing.

I get this too. But the Wall Street Journal doesn't care about lost features that it doesn't use in its simple crossword PDFs (presumably preferring maximum backwards compatibility), and I don't either. I don't see why I can't turn this check off in a profile if I don't want it – and, yet again, I don't know why Publisher suddenly started hassling me about it when it hadn't before. I guess I can finally suppose that it's "just one of those things".

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

The rule of thumb is to use a matching or higher PDF version for export purposes so for a PDF 1.4 file your pre-flight check needs to use PDF 1.4 or higher to ensure complete compatibility.

Yes, but I'm not creating these PDFs.

3 hours ago, Hangman said:

Regarding the colour error you are seeing, after some testing, I'm beginning to think this might be a bug because there is no logical reason for this error.

I'm not sure it's persistent. Thanks again.

[walt.farrell]

6 minutes ago, RoyMcCoy said:

What I don't understand is that I used Aldus PageMaker, Adobe PageMaker, and Adobe InDesign for decades and there was never any question (at least as far as I knew) of whether PDF fonts were imported with a PDF file or not – they simply always were.

And they are not imported, in the Affinity apps. Different apps, different functionality and workflows. 

8 minutes ago, RoyMcCoy said:

It therefore seems to me that it was the Interpret rather than the so-called Passthrough option that was designed and put into Publisher.

Interpret was the original mode in Affinity. Passthrough was added later to resolve some of the issues caused by not allowing use of the embedded fonts.

10 minutes ago, RoyMcCoy said:

I don't see why I can't turn this check off in a profile if I don't want it

You can. You can turn that check off in the Preflight profile. Or you can change its settings. 

Or you can simply ignore the message, and Export anyway.

 

[RoyMcCoy]

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

And they [PDF fonts] are not imported, in the Affinity apps. Different apps, different functionality and workflows. 

This sounds like a boilerplate comment that could be defensively made about anything, with the bad guy being the one insisting that the Affinity apps behave exactly like the Adobe ones. But that's not what I'm doing. I have no objection to setting or switching a preference, and in fact I'm assuming that there is some advantage to not importing PDF fonts that led Affinity to not do so originally. I just still don't know what that advantage is or was, exactly. I also (more than) suppose there are gross disadvantages that pressured it to later add the ability to import the fonts.

But, er, wait a minute. Interpret may have been the original Publisher mode, but Passthrough has apparently been the default since I acquired the program. So PDF fonts are imported in it, right? They always were, until I was prompted to "fix" the compatibility problem that had never been a problem previously by switching to Interpret; only then did Publisher not import the fonts.

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

You can. You can turn that [compatibility] check off in the Preflight profile. Or you can change its settings.

Whoa, you're right. I don't know how I missed that this preflight check has "Disabled" too, but apparently I did. Part of my problem with this appears to have been that I couldn't get the "Custom" profile to persist outside of the doc in which I changed its settings. When I just now created a new "Universal" preset, however, it does persist and when I switch a doc to it the doc is okay and doesn't give the unwanted alert anymore. I wonder if that's the difference between a (document?) profile and a (program-wide?) preset. In any event I'm set on this now and know how to get rid of the unwanted "Placed PDF version" alert if I see it again. Thanks!

[walt.farrell]

54 minutes ago, RoyMcCoy said:

So PDF fonts are imported in it, right?

No. 

In Passthrough mode, the contents of the PDF are shown as an image, and not analyzed. The contents just "pass through" Publisher without Publisher really looking inside the PDF to see what they are. 

 

[RoyMcCoy]

3 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

In Passthrough mode, the contents of the PDF are shown as an image, and not analyzed. The contents just "pass through" Publisher without Publisher really looking inside the PDF to see what they are. 

Interesting, thanks.

[walt.farrell]

You're welcome.

[Hangman]

On 6/24/2023 at 5:23 PM, RoyMcCoy said:

I understand this. What I don't understand is that I used Aldus PageMaker, Adobe PageMaker, and Adobe InDesign for decades and there was never any question (at least as far as I knew) of whether PDF fonts were imported with a PDF file or not – they simply always were. You could decide whether or not to include fonts when you created a PDF, but there didn't seem to be any Passthrough vs. Interpret option on importing and I don't remember that the lack of something like this was ever noticed. It therefore seems to me that it was the Interpret rather than the so-called Passthrough option that was designed and put into Publisher. It may be that I'm not sufficiently appreciative of Interpret, which may well allow more manipulation of imported PDF text than had previously been possible – I don't know.

This is true with Aldus PageMaker, Adobe PageMaker, and Adobe InDesign, as it is for any PDF where the fonts have been embedded. The difference between the Aldus and Adobe apps and Affinity Publisher is that you can't edit PDFs directly within PageMaker or InDesign without some third-party plugins, i.e., there is no built-in functionality to do so, so you always see any placed PDF as a passthrough image because there is no Interpret mode.

In addition to PDF Passthrough mode, where you will see a placed PDF in the same way as you would in PageMaker, InDesign or a PDF Viewer, Affinity software also allows you to edit PDF files directly in their apps without the need for any third-party plugins.

Think of Passthrough as a self-contained, cross-platform file which you can distribute to anyone without the need for the recipient to have the fonts installed on their PC or Mac allowing them to view the file exactly as you created it and then think of Interpret as you providing the source PageMaker or InDesign file to said recipient. For the recipient to view your PageMaker or Indesign file as you created it they would need any linked graphics and all the fonts used in the document to view it correctly.

As @walt.farrell says, you are not importing the fonts when you view a pdf file in the Affinity Apps but you can still view the file when in Passthrough mode in the same way you can in Acrobat Reader without having the fonts installed on your system.

In PageMaker and/or InDesign, if you place a PDF in your document but then want to make a change to the placed document, you can't directly in the app, you would have to make the changes to the source artwork, re-export the amended file to pdf and replace the version in your PageMaker or InDesign document.

In Publisher you don't need to do this, you can edit the PDF directly within the App, but to do so you are effectively going back to artwork mode and will require any fonts used in the PDF to be installed on your system.

So, if you've been provided with a PDF, say from a client, which you've placed in your Publisher document and there are some last-minute changes, assuming you have the fonts installed on your system, you can make those edits yourself without having to go back to the client, asking them to make the changes and supply a new PDF file which you then use to replace the existing PDF in your document.

The whole purpose of PDF Passthrough in Publisher is to allow you to include PDFs from any source without you needing to have all the fonts installed on your system. You can then add your own elements to the Publisher artwork and export the entire document, including the Placed PDF files to a new PDF file.

 

On 6/24/2023 at 5:23 PM, RoyMcCoy said:

I get this too. But the Wall Street Journal doesn't care about lost features that it doesn't use in its simple crossword PDFs (presumably preferring maximum backwards compatibility), and I don't either. I don't see why I can't turn this check off in a profile if I don't want it – and, yet again, I don't know why Publisher suddenly started hassling me about it when it hadn't before. I guess I can finally suppose that it's "just one of those things".

As @walt.farrell mentions, you can turn the pre-flight checks off entirely, they are really there to ensure your exported PDF file meets the specification of the PDF version you are exporting your file to.

There are still many printing companies who specifically request PDFs to be provided as PDF/X1a:2001, PDF/X1a:2003, or PDF/X-4 files for good reason but if the file you've created doesn't honour the specifications of those PDF formats then the printed file is highly likely not going to match your expectations, so for example if the printing company has specifically asked for a PDF/X1a:2003 file but you've created your artwork in an RGB colourspace and have used transparency in your artwork, the printing company will likely reject the PDF you've provided.

This is what Adobe say regarding PDF compatibility...

"When you create PDFs, you need to decide which PDF version to use. You can change the PDF version by switching to a different preset or choosing a compatibility option when you save as PDF or edit a PDF preset.

Generally speaking, unless there’s a specific need for backward compatibility, you should use the most recent version (in this case version 1.7). The latest version will include all the newest features and functionality. However, if you’re creating documents that will be distributed widely, consider choosing Acrobat 5.0 (PDF 1.4) or Acrobat 6.0 (PDF 1.5) to ensure that all users can view and print the document."

 

On 6/23/2023 at 6:48 PM, RoyMcCoy said:

The "Placed PDF version (PDF 1.4) is not compatible with the PDF export version" alert. I'm certain I didn't change anything that should have caused this; it just started happening. There have been certain oddities besides this basic one. For one, I'm not seeing the "Placed PDF version" alert anymore, but rather just a list of six allegedly missing fonts.

The default mode when placing a PDF file in a Publisher document is Passthrough, so the change to Interpret must have happened inadvertently. If I create a new Publisher document and place your PDF file, this is what I see...

 

The default Preflight Profile used in Affinity Publisher sets PDF Passthrough to PDF/X-1a:2003. Your Placed PDF file is PDF 1.4, hence the warning. If you simply edit the default Preflight Profile so PDF Passthough Compatibility is set to PDF 1.4 or above then that particular warning will go away because both the placed PDF and exported PDF versions are compatible with each other.

It turns out the Preflight colourspace warning you're seeing is down to the stroke colourspace used on the crossword clue text. Even though the stoke value for the clue text is set to none, it uses an RGB colourspace whereas the text fill along with the crossword itself uses a CMYK colour space. Obviously, this is out of your control because you didn't create the PDFs but changing the text stroke colourspace to CMYK to match everything else removes the Preflight colour warning, though in doing so you then have the missing font issue because you don't have the specific fonts used installed on your system, though you could just as easily change the font to something you do have if you wanted to.

 

On 6/24/2023 at 5:23 PM, RoyMcCoy said:

Yes, but I'm not creating these PDFs.

If the sole purpose of placing the downloaded PDFs in a Publisher document with a view to printing the crosswords out on a home printer is to avoid any clipping at the bottom when printed then you have absolutely nothing to worry about and you can completely ignore the preflight warnings as they are just that, warnings which in this particular scenario will have no detrimental effect on the printed file. I've just included the above information for reference with a view to trying to explain why you're seeing the Preflight warnings.

In theory, you should have no real need to place them in Publisher in the first place, opening the downloaded crosswords in Acrobat Reader and then checking the scaling options in the print dialog window to ensure no cropping takes place should be sufficient but if you prefer adding them to a Publisher document or for some reason you're unable to avoid the cropping issue, to overcome the Preflight warning messages you can create your own Preflight Preset and change the PDF Passthrough setting to PDF 1.4 or above then you will no longer see the first warning and regardless, you can simply ignore both warnings anyway.

 

 

[RoyMcCoy]

Many thanks, @Hangman, for taking the time and going to the trouble of laying this all out for me. My only remaining question still regards what exactly can be done with text in an imported PDF in Publisher using Interpret. I used to be able to edit PDF text in Acrobat Pro (though not in InDesign, as you correctly point out), but there were always strict limitations as to what I could do and I was generally limited to only the simplest of edits, often not even being able to make those. (I vaguely recall it would say something about a missing system font.) I'd like to see an example of a PDF text edit one can do with Interpret in Publisher that one can't do in Acrobat Pro. If it's around the the same level of capability, I may never be much interested (particularly since I'm not working and am hardly doing anything anymore anyway :-).

By the way, I just found out yesterday that I don't need to buy a PDF editor to replace Acrobat Pro on my old Mac (which I don't feel like firing up anymore, particularly with its unrepaired battery and keyboard problems). I was at the point of buying PDF Expert, but when looking for reviews of it on the web I discovered that I can do everything I normally want to with a PDF (combining files, adding and deleting pages) using the Preview app that comes free with the Mac. So I can not only save some bucks, but also avoid making the icons on my Dock even tinier by adding yet another app to it.

[Hangman]

Hi @RoyMcCoy,

To be honest, editing text in a placed PDF using Publisher isn't going to provide any additional functionality over and above editing it in Acrobat Pro, though having said that you could argue that you can apply any of the Affinity Suites' functionality when editing the PDF in Publisher by switching to the Designer and Photo Personas but I don't think that is what you have in mind here.

Editing a PDF in Acrobat Pro still requires you have the fonts installed on your sysem, otherwise, much like Publisher, it will fall back to a default font. Perhaps the obvious advantage of being able to edit the PDF using Affinity apps is the non-reliance of the monthly Adobe subscription along with being able to stay within a single application.

Yes, Apple Preview, while basic in many ways is quite flexible in others, certainly in terms of being able to remove and insert pages, scale documents and so on and it is also perfectly possible to use Automator or more recently Shortcuts to automate repetitive tasks.

[RoyMcCoy]

Thanks again, @Hangman. No, switching to the Designer and Photo Personas isn't what I have in mind here, especially since I have no idea what you're talking about.  (Please don't tell me, thanks.)

The PDF editing problems I alluded to were never very serious, since if I made the PDF myself I could make the desired change in the originating program, and if it was coming from someone else what business did I have changing it (or why would I have to)? All I really want to do is juggle pages occasionally, and I've now found that Preview does that just fine.

Shortcuts? I see it's on my relatively new MacBook Air, but I never noticed it till now. Keyboard Maestro will do about anything I want, so I think I'll leave Shortcuts alone unless I eventually want to use voice commands with Siri – which might be fun but I've never gotten into it.