The absence of PDF/X1a 2001 is hurting my profession.

[vjsouza]

Hello, Affinity Suite Developer Team.

I've been an Affinity user since November 17, 2016, when I purchased Affinity Designer. I liked it so much that on December 9, 2016 I got Affinity Photo, and on August 28, 2019 I got Affinity Publisher.

I've been using the Affinity suite more for photo processing and creating JPEG and PNG for social networks, videos and PDF for creating e-books for viewing on smartphones or computers.

But, unfortunately, I am very sorry that the Affinity suite does not support exporting to PDF/X1a 2001. Here in Brazil, almost all companies that print on paper require the PDF/X1a 2001 format.

Since Affinity does not export to PDF/X1a 2001, I need to export to PDF in Affinity and open the file in Adobe Illustrator to export to PDF/X1a. Only then will graphic companies accept my arts.

I would really like Affinity to be a complete program, without having to rely on other programs (Adobe Illustrator) to finish the art I started in Affinity.

This is not just my wish, as I believe many other Affinity users suffer from this same issue.

Affinity team, what do you have to say to people who have purchased licenses for your products? Is there hope?

[GarryP]

During a quick search for PDF/X1a I found these threads:
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/155944-please-add-publish-pdf-x1a2001/
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/114007-is-that-so-difficult-to-support-pdfx1a-2001-on-affinity-products/
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/126049-see-how-to-export-pdf-x1a-2001-using-affinity-design-scribus-155-or-higher-in-windows/
...and many others.

Within those threads you will find:
1: the reason why the Affinity suite does not support PDF/X1a;
2: the reason why it probably never will;
3: various ways to get PDF/X1a files from your documents.

At least one of those threads gives you the official response from a Serif member of staff.

Bottom line: If you want the Affinity suite to have PDF/X1a export then you should petition the maintainers of PDFLib https://www.pdflib.com/ to support that file format in the latest version of its software. Until it does, there’s probably no chance of the Affinity suite doing so.

[Old Bruce]

9 hours ago, GarryP said:

During a quick search for PDF/X1a I found these threads:

Doing a search through the presets for export I found that PDF/X1a-2003 is available. There seem to be a lot of print shops married to  PDF/X1a-2001. 

[GarryP]

I have read quite a few posts where people have said that the print shops they can use will only accept PDF/X1a-2001 (sometimes only that format, sometimes that’s the newest format) but I can’t remember seeing any explanation for that.

I can understand that, in some countries, the availability of print machinery could limit print shops to using certain older/affordable levels of technology which can only handle certain PDF formats – e.g. the machines can’t handle anything newer than PDF/X1a-2001 so the print shop can’t handle anything newer. (Some countries have embargoes on technology from outside sources and newer machines are simply not available in some cases.)

I can also imagine a situation where the print shop workers, in some countries, are taught by a small number of teachers who only teach printing using certain PDF types because that’s what they are comfortable doing – e.g. the teachers only know how to use certain types of PDF, and so that’s all they teach, and so that’s all their students learn, and so that’s all that can be printed.

In either of these cases, if either (or both) of these cases apply, however, I don’t think it’s Serif’s responsibility to ‘fix’ anything:

• If the country has limited access to technology then that’s not something that Serif has to ‘fix’;
• If a business can’t afford/access different/better equipment then that’s not something that Serif has to ‘fix’;
• If the country has limited print shop staff knowledge then that’s not something that Serif has to ‘fix’;
• If the print shop staff can’t/won’t learn to use other technologies then that’s not something that Serif has to ‘fix’.

Maybe I’m not seeing the ‘whole picture’ (and I’m probably not), but if people can’t print because their local print shops can’t handle modern PDF formats then that’s not Serif’s fault and it’s not something that Serif has to deal with. It’s not an ideal situation for everyone but it’s the situation that exists.

I’ve read that the Serif staff have said that they would like to support PDF/X1a-2001 but it’s simply not practical for them to do so. They would like to help but they can’t, for various technical/cost/whatever reasons.

The above was not meant to be a ‘rant’ (even if it may sound like one).

[PaoloT]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

Maybe I’m not seeing the ‘whole picture’ (and I’m probably not), but if people can’t print because their local print shops can’t handle modern PDF formats then that’s not Serif’s fault and it’s not something that Serif has to deal with.

It's not a matter of processing Serif for not including this type of compatibility. It's just a matter of understanding if the Affinity suite can generate output that can be printed at the available printer shops.

I don't have a statistic on how many shops around the world are limiting compatibility to the older format, but as you say it might be a very common issue in some countries. I know that in my country (not under embargo and among the most industrially developed ones) this can be an issue, even if maybe just one consisting in the bad mood from the shop owner. As of now, I've always used InDesign, and this has never been an issue for me.

In some other countries, maybe this is preventing the use of the Affinity suite for any work having to be printed. I don't know, and can just record the experience of other forum members.

Being the supplier of the PDF export technology based in Germany, I would guess that they are not even allowed to sell non-inclusive technologies, so I guess this can't be solved in any foreseeable way (unless going for workarounds).

My suggestion is to make pressure on the printer shops to update their technology. If it is just a matter of inertia, it's time they know a new, smarter set of tools is arriving, and their shop might be proven inadequate for the current times.

Paolo

 

[Alfred]

From https://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/pdfx-1a:

Quote

Flavors

There are 2 different PDF/X-1a flavors

• PDF/X-1a:2001 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.3 file.
• PDF/X-1a:2003 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.4 file but it should not contain any transparency and JBIG2 compression should not be used to compress images.

Both flavors share all of the restrictions that apply to PDF/X-1a. The 2003 version simply came along because some newer software applications no longer supported the older PDF 1.3 file format.

 

[walt.farrell]

15 minutes ago, Alfred said:

From https://www.prepressure.com/pdf/basics/pdfx-1a:

 

Which may mean that a :2003 file would work in a workflow based on :2001. But if the print shop specifically looks for :2001 they might reject it out of hand, even though it would work if they simply tried to use it.

[vjsouza]

I solved the problem. I export to PDF/X1a:2003 in Affinity and open, convert and export to PDF/X1a:2001 with the free Scribus 1.5.8.

Corel exports to PDF/X1a:2001
Adobe exports to PDF/X1a:2001
Xara Designer exports to PDF/X1a:2001
Scribus exports to PDF/X1a:2001...

Only Affinity can't!

I figured it wouldn't be difficult for the Affinity team to implement the PDF/X1a:2001 format. But since they can't, we will continue to use other software to finish what was started in Affinity, unfortunately.

I recognize that print shops are lagging behind with new technologies. But, do what? We have to dance to the music. If print shops require PDF/X1a:2001, we will deliver PDF/X1a:2001 to them. And everyone lives a "happy ever after"!

[AdamStanislav]

2 hours ago, vjsouza said:

I solved the problem.

Glad to hear that.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, vjsouza said:

I solved the problem. I export to PDF/X1a:2003 in Affinity and open, convert and export to PDF/X1a:2001 with the free Scribus 1.5.8.

Thanks for mentioning that.

 

2 hours ago, vjsouza said:

I recognize that print shops are lagging behind with new technologies.

For some definition of "new", I suppose. Isn't PDF/X1a:2003 nearly 20 years old, now