Placed PDF in Publisher

[JeremyTankard]

I buy postasge onlien via RoyalMail and then place the PDf label in a Publisher file  in order to print to a lebel. All has been fine, but I have just noticed that the placed PDF is missing lots of information. I presume this occured with the 2.6.2 update.

The attached screen grab shows the placed PDF in Publisher on the left and the original PDF in Arcobat on the right. The grey rectange is added for Data Protection of the address.

I'm presuming this is a bug as nothing else has changed.

 

[JeremyTankard]

Update on this.

I noticed that if I open the PDF in Apple Preview I get the same result. So I presume it as an Apple error. I'm using Mac OS 15.4.

If you can confirm that would be great.

 

thanks

Jeremy

[Ldina]

Just a guess, but perhaps they don't allow that information to be replicated, so people can't share these PDFs with others, allowing them to have "free postage" they didn't pay for? Like I said....a guess.

[Oufti]

1 hour ago, Ldina said:

Just a guess, but perhaps they don't allow that information to be replicated, so people can't share these PDFs with others, allowing them to have "free postage" they didn't pay for? Like I said....a guess.

If the PDF is open with Adobe Acrobat Reader (freely downloadable), cmd-D (ctrl-D for Windows) will let you see if there is any restriction to its use. 

[Hangman]

Hi @JeremyTankard,

I used to do this all the time and never had any issues... though to avoid using Publisher, I would print directly from the PDF onto perforated Royal Mail Click and Drop Labels - Single Style UP - 100 Sheets, which you peel and then stick directly onto the package...

I've just placed and opened one of the old PDFs in Publisher, and all is working as expected. The contents of the PDF are nothing special, the logo elements are just PNG or JPEG files. The alphanumeric characters A86 I5 (on your label) are for sorting and directing the parcels from the hub to their nearest local mail centre, so again, nothing special, just text...

We would probably need to see the label to determine what the issue is, though I appreciate it contains Personally Identifiable Information, so it isn't something you can upload to the forum...

If you're seeing the same issue in Preview, then that is a little odd...

[loukash]

17 hours ago, JeremyTankard said:

if I open the PDF in Apple Preview I get the same result.

Preview does have some issues with similar PDFs (Deutsche Post/DHL Germany in my case), so sometimes I'm using the built-in PDF viewer in Brave browser instead.
Just printing from Preview works usually alright for me, at least on my "antique" Oki 5450 laser printer in my studio. Whereas when using our cheap "living room" HP b/w laser writer, sometimes it prints gibberish, depending on the PDF source.

15 hours ago, Oufti said:

open with Adobe Acrobat Reader

Yeah, just last year I've bitten the bullet and installed Reader after many years of successful refusal (mainly because on my old Mac I still had Acrobat Pro X running) because for some home printing scenarios there seems to be no other reliable free tool out there…  (not to speak of all the Affinity apps' printing failures…)

[JeremyTankard]

I'm guessing it's an Apple macOS Sequoia issue as it has the same problem in Preview. Acrobat is fine. and printing from Acrobat is fine, though I have to edit/remove other elements on the PDF to avoid wasting lables

I use a Xerox VersaLink C7000 which has been fine until macOS Sequoia and now the print drivers are causing no end of random artefacts on the print outs as well as other type alignment issues.

[loukash]

3 hours ago, JeremyTankard said:

I use a Xerox VersaLink C7000 which has been fine until macOS Sequoia and now the print drivers are causing no end of random artefacts on the print outs as well as other type alignment issues.

Does Xerox have updated drivers?

In my case, it took me quite some time and experiments to find compatible Oki drivers from a similar model for MacOS Ventura, since the Oki 5450n model is officially "obsolete" since at least 10 years. (Just in case anyone needs to know: my Oki driver installers were on "OKI_MXMLion_DPS_eu_A2_2_30296.dmg" and "PS_OSX_150004_298034.dmg", got them via www.oki.com/de/printing/support/drivers-and-utilities/colour/01213201. I haven't tested them with Sonoma or Sequoia though.)