Pixelated images

[SarahB]

I was working on a document on my laptop last week (Publisher 2.6, macOS Ventura) with many linked images, which were rendering as expected. Today, I've opened the file on my desktop (also Publisher 2.6, macOS Ventura) and about half of the images are completely pixelated, despite still showing as Linked & OK in Resource Manager. Opening the same file back on my laptop, the images are rendering fine.

Closing/reopening Publisher on the desktop doesn't fix anything, it seems the only thing that works is to re-link the file. What could be causing the difference in rendering in the same file, between two different devices using the same software?

 

[GarryP]

If you are editing the same document on two different machines, would I be correct in thinking that the document and images are not stored locally on both machines?

If so, where is the document stored and where are the images stored?

[SarahB]

Both are stored locally – I'm old-fashioned and transfer work via USB drive. I've transferred both the file and the Links folder (where all the images are stored) from laptop to desktop this morning. I have a mirrored filing system on each so transferring documents and linked images has always worked, until today.

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra information.

That sounds like a bit of a strange issue to me but I don’t use Publisher much these days so there could easily be a known problem that I’m not aware of.

Have you tried zooming in/out of the document just to see if the images ‘refresh’ somehow? (That can sometimes take a while to happen automatically for some reason.)

Would you be able to show us the Resource Manager from both machines when the same image is selected (an image which is displayed properly on one machine but not on the other)?

P.S. If you transferred work via RS-232 then that might make you slightly ‘old fashioned’, but transferring by USB drive is positively ‘cutting-edge’ for some.

[SarahB]

I've tried zooming in and out, clicking on and off, everything I can think of, but nothing works on the desktop. The screenshots you've requested are below.

 

[GarryP]

Can you show us the whole Resource Manager dialog (for each) so we can just check the details of the image on the right-hand side of the dialog?

[GarryP]

Actually, I’m wondering why the image listed above the selected image in the first screen-grab is different to that in the second screen-grab.

Are you absolutely sure that you are editing the same document on both machines? (Or have you just scrolled down a bit further in one of them?)

[SarahB]

13 minutes ago, GarryP said:

Actually, I’m wondering why the image listed above the selected image in the first screen-grab is different to that in the second screen-grab.

Are you absolutely sure that you are editing the same document on both machines? (Or have you just scrolled down a bit further in one of them?)

I wondered that too, but it's because Resource Manager is ordered by file name on the laptop and page number on the desktop (no idea why, I rarely go directly to resource manager without having a file selected, so I hadn't noticed until now!)

I'll post the other screenshots soon.

[GarryP]

7 minutes ago, SarahB said:

Resource Manager is ordered by file name on the laptop and page number on the desktop

I only work on one machine so I’ve never seen that myself.

I wonder if it could be a symptom of the issue, or just a ‘red herring’.

I’d be interested to know why there's a difference though.

[SarahB]

Here are the screenshots. I've redacted the file paths for personal/client privacy, but you can see that both images are correctly linked. Both Resource Manager windows show resources by file name now.

[GarryP]

Thanks for the extra screen-grabs.

Unfortunately there’s nothing there which gives any extra information. (I was hoping that it would be something obvious.)

Have you tried using the “Show in Finder” button (on each machine), while that layer is selected, just to check that all is as you would expect and that they really are linked to exactly the same image in the same relative location. Remember, the link is relative so if the relative folder structure isn’t exactly the same between document and image then there could be problems. (You probably know that, but it's worth double-checking anyway.)

That’s possibly a long shot but I don’t have anything else to suggest at the moment.

[SarahB]

Yes, tried that too. All the images are in the same Links folder, in the same folder structure on each machine (I deliberately keep the folder structure identical to ensure no problems) and some are rendering fine on the desktop, others are not.

I've been able to do what I need on the laptop, so it hasn't caused a big issue but it is a pain that it's happened for no discernible reason. I really appreciate you taking the time to try and help solve it!

[mopperle]

What happens, when you change one of the files to "Embeded", does it show correctly in the document?

[SarahB]

1 hour ago, mopperle said:

What happens, when you change one of the files to "Embeded", does it show correctly in the document?

It does, which suggests there is a problem with the Links folder/location. I can't see what, as all the images are in the same folder, but I will investigate further. Thanks for the suggestion!

[SarahB]

Just now, SarahB said:

It does, which suggests there is a problem with the Links folder/location. I can't see what, as all the images are in the same folder, but I will investigate further. Thanks for the suggestion!

Although, if I can embed it, surely that means that it has linked to the image in the correct location, otherwise there is nothing to embed?

[mopperle]

3 minutes ago, SarahB said:

Although, if I can embed it, surely that means that it has linked to the image in the correct location, otherwise there is nothing to embed?

Correct, so IMHO it is not a problem with the location. And I guess that restarting the app also does not help. As I do not have a Mac or 2 Windows machines, I can not replicate it. Hopefully somebody from serif jumps in.

[SarahB]

I've just remembered that I updated to macOS Sequoia over the weekend, but I can't see how that impacts the images being fine on my laptop on Ventura on Friday, and not fine on the desktop on Ventura today.

[GarryP]

The only other thing I can think of at the moment is to Package the document (on the machine where everything is okay) and then examine the package to see which images have been included. And then maybe do the same on the other machine and compare the packages.

I’m not sure what could be done about the problem once that has happened, but it might help to give some further insight.

[SarahB]

2 hours ago, GarryP said:

The only other thing I can think of at the moment is to Package the document (on the machine where everything is okay) and then examine the package to see which images have been included. And then maybe do the same on the other machine and compare the packages.

I’m not sure what could be done about the problem once that has happened, but it might help to give some further insight.

I finished work on my laptop yesterday, transferred the document by USB to my desktop. This morning I've opened the document on the desktop and hey presto!, all the images are rendering just fine, with the Links folder exactly the same as it was yesterday.

[GarryP]

That sounds like good news to me.

Fingers crossed that it was a one-off oddity and it doesn’t happen again.