PDF Import Problem

[lettergothic]

When I import a PDF with embedded fonts—the same PDF that I would/do send as a print job document to a commercial, offset printer—into Affinity, the document fonts are stripped out of the PDF and other fonts are substituted. This problem is eliminated, of course, when the font/s in question are resident in the Affinity app but this defeats the whole purpose that the PDF—Portable Document Format—exists: to maintain document integrity when viewed/used by a reader (or commercial printer) who does not have the authoring app or typefaces contained in the document. When I d'load a PDF doc. from the web, it doesn't make any difference if I don't have the typefaces or images used in that document—the document integrity is maintained. My commercial, offset printers that I use have no trouble opening and printing  complex documents that I send to them as PDFs. The Preview app, on the Mac, seems to be able to interpret PDFs correctly.

So, how about adding PDF fidelity to imported PDF's with embedded/subset fonts?

I have a lot of PDFs, originally authored in InDesign and Quark, that I want to move from my Intel Macbook Pro to my M2 Macbook Pro AND, at the same time, open and export them into (my new) Affinity ecosystem.  🙂

PS: Can I open PPT presentations—with total fidelity—in Affinity and resave them as PDFs from Affinity?

Thanks,

lettergothic

[walt.farrell]

4 minutes ago, lettergothic said:

PS: Can I open PPT presentations—

No.

[Dan C]

Thanks for your feedback!

In this scenario, I'd recommend using File > Place with your PDF files and ensuring they are set to Passthrough on the Context Toolbar - as this will ensure the fonts aren't required on your system in order to display the PDF as intended in your Publisher file.

As I understand it, this is how other applications, such as InDesign & Quark handle introducing PDF files into a document also.

I hope this helps

[lettergothic]

Thanks, Dan.

Unfortunately, I can only get it to work with single-page PDFs. I have multi-page contract PDFs and 30 page PDF slide shows to bring into Affinity.

I set up a four page document in Publisher, thinking that it would then have 4 "containers" to fill and "placed" a 4 pg. PDF contract. It only placed page one!

How do I get this to work?!

Thanks,

lettergothic

[walt.farrell]

12 hours ago, lettergothic said:

How do I get this to work?!

Which version of Publisher do you have, and what OS do you use? Placing multi-page PDFs is a function that is new in V2, so if you're still using V1 you'll have to do it page-by-page.

If you have V2, this Serif tutorial should help: 

 

[lettergothic]

Walt,

Thanks for responding.

"Which version of Publisher do you have, and what OS do you use?"

AfPub. 2.1.      MacBook Pro M2 ; MacOs 13.3 Ventura

 

Again, thanks for sending the video. I watched it several times and wrote down the steps that he followed. It still didn't work. It only imported page 1 of my 2-page test PDF document. I have many 30–40 pg PDFs that I need to get transferred.

1. I prepared a 2 pg doc. in APub. with the layout set to vertical and with an image frame over each pg.
2. Using the Place Image tool, I located the test file. He says "select auto-flow and click open". I didn't see any "auto-flow" option in the finder file window so, I clicked "open".
3. Two pgs. frames appeared in the "place images" panel BUT only pg. 1 of my 2-pg. test doc was shown in the pg.2 position in the "place images" panel.
4. I selected both pages in the "place images" panel and single-clicked in "receiver frame" 1, as the vid. said to do.
5. As stated above, this operation placed only pg.1 in the pg.2 frame of the receiver document. So, following the video's as closely as I could, it didn't work. 
 

Please tell me how to get this to work . . .

Thanks,

lettergothic

[Dan C]

I've followed the steps shown in the above tutorial and this is working as expected for me - my recording shows a 4 page PDF with the page number on each page, placed into 4 pages of a new Affinity document.

From your description, it's unclear if you are 'expanding' the Placed PDF file in the Place Studio, selecting the pages themselves to auto-flow within the document.

If you're still having trouble, can you please provide a screen recording showing these steps for me?

If you're unsure how to take a screen recording, please check out our FAQ linked below - 

Many thanks