PDF Import

[prieto.victor]

Hello,

How can I import a pdf file without being created a lot of layers in the resulting file?

I don't want the content to be editable, just open the pdf and have a single layer.

Thank you!

 

 

[R C-R]

Open the file & then from the Document menu select "Flatten."

[Fixx]

That works if you want pixel image and use Photo. If you want to have selfcontained "encapsulated" PDF layer in Designer at the moment it is not possible. Designer always opens PDFs as editable documents, I am afraid. This should be a coming feature as I think Publisher needs it badly at least.

[prieto.victor]

Thanks for the answers, the problem is that normally the pdf files I usually open contain text and affinity tries to import it, if don't find the source (often happens) looks for an equivalent and many times the result is not good, it would be great if you could open a pdf file without affinity trying to make it editable, as Photoshop does.

[Peter J G]

1 hour ago, prieto.victor said:

 it would be great if you could open a pdf file without affinity trying to make it editable, as Photoshop does.

 

..... or at least give you a choice. I like the fact pdfs load the way they do, since I don't use inDesign anymore, the files I created in adobe and were saved as pdf's I can work on if I want. 

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, prieto.victor said:

Thanks for the answers, the problem is that normally the pdf files I usually open contain text and affinity tries to import it, if don't find the source (often happens) looks for an equivalent and many times the result is not good, it would be great if you could open a pdf file without affinity trying to make it editable, as Photoshop does.

For the text issue, try unchecking this item in Preferences > General.

[prieto.victor]

Thank you for your answer, but "Import PSD text..." doesn't work for me.

In my opinion, the best and easiest option would be to add something like that in the import pdf menu:

 

 

[Alfred]

On 29/01/2018 at 6:54 AM, prieto.victor said:

Thank you for your answer, but "Import PSD text..." doesn't work for me.

 

Just to be clear, you need to uncheck (i.e. deselect) the option to import PSD text as text. That should always result in the text being imported as a bitmap which looks exactly the same as the original text, unless there’s something very odd about the font.

[prieto.victor]

Option A

 

- PDF file open with affinity photo

- Uncheck "import PSD text as text"

 

Result: incorrectly imported text and many layers created

 

Option B

 

- The same PDF file open with Photoshop

 

Result: Only one layer (I don't need the text to be editable.)

[Alfred]

30 minutes ago, prieto.victor said:

Option A

 

- PDF file open with affinity photo

- Uncheck "import PSD text as text"

 

Result: incorrectly imported text and many layers created

 

Your screenshot shows the problem very clearly!

 

What fonts are used in the document?

[prieto.victor]

This is the most curious part of the matter, the font is calibri, which is installed in my system.

[prieto.victor]

Does anyone have any other idea? 

[MEB]

Hi prieto.victor,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

If the font is installed Affinity should import the file correctly. Either there's an issue with the font itself or there's some problem with our PDF import.

Can you please upload a zip file with the PDF file and a copy of the calibri font that you have on your system using this link please?

All files will be deleted after being inspected. Thanks.

[prieto.victor]

Hi MEB, 

Find attached the requested files, and please, could you consider adding the option of importing pdf files as a single image (only one layer without trying to make it editable) It would be very useful!

Thanks 

PDF_IMPORT.rar

[R C-R]

FWIW, I downloaded the .rar file, installed the Calibri fonts on my Mac, & opened the FILE.pdf in both Affinity Designer & Affinity Photo. Both opened the file without issues, other than I had to set Affinity to use Calibri in the 'PDF Options' window instead of the fonts I previously was using as substitutions for the Calibri font family:

 

After resetting fonts in Affinity's Preferences > Miscellaneous (which discards all font substitution choices I previously made), these two fonts still show up in the "Missing Font" list, but now they always default to the replacements shown above. I assume this is because the names "Calibri,Bold" & "Calibri,BoldItalic" are not exact matches to the Postscript or Full names of these fonts as installed on my Mac -- as installed the names have spaces rather than commas.

 

I doubt that has anything to do with whatever is causing the issue @prieto.victor has with this file, but I definitely do not see the alignment or any other font problem with it -- it looks just like the Photoshop screenshot he provided. The attached FILE.afphoto is what I get after opening it. Flattening it & exporting to pdf using the PDF (for Web) preset results in FILE flattened.pdf, which is a single layer raster image file with no editable text.

[Dave Harris]

On 29/01/2018 at 7:21 AM, Alfred said:

Just to be clear, you need to uncheck (i.e. deselect) the option to import PSD text as text. That should always result in the text being imported as a bitmap which looks exactly the same as the original text, unless there’s something very odd about the font.

That option only affects PSD files (that is, from Photoshop). It doesn't affect PDFs.

[prieto.victor]

Hi!  Thank you R C-R

 

You're right, there was a problem with the name of the fonts, thank you.

In this case I had the fonts installed on my computer, but often I have to work with PDF files without having the fonts, in these cases I think it would be very useful to have the option of importing pdf files as a single image (only one layer without trying to make it editable).

 

Thanks!

[MEB]

Hi prieto.victor,

Thanks for the files. Glad to know the issue was already sorted out. Currently we don't support embedded fonts so it's not possible to generate an image from the PDF until this is implemented. Embedded fonts should come in a future update later.

[prieto.victor]

Great! 

 

Thank you!

[R C-R]

17 minutes ago, Dave Harris said:

That option only affects PSD files (that is, from Photoshop). It doesn't affect PDFs.

Yes, I realized all by myself that I was confusing PSD & PDF files ... eventually. 

 

17 minutes ago, prieto.victor said:

You're right, there was a problem with the name of the fonts, thank you.

Actually, I said I thought it was doubtful that was the cause but I am glad you sorted it out.

[Alfred]

 

1 hour ago, Dave Harris said:

On 29/01/2018 at 7:21 AM, Alfred said:

Just to be clear, you need to uncheck (i.e. deselect) the option to import PSD text as text. That should always result in the text being imported as a bitmap which looks exactly the same as the original text, unless there’s something very odd about the font.

That option only affects PSD files (that is, from Photoshop). It doesn't affect PDFs.

 

Oops! Thanks for pointing that out.

[Fixx]

18 hours ago, MEB said:

Currently we don't support embedded fonts so it's not possible to generate an image from the PDF until this is implemented. Embedded fonts should come in a future update later.

 

Embedded fonts editing is great, but OP needed just to have PDF as passthrough. I would think it is readily available feature in PDF code libraries as it just does not have to do anything but display a PDF as it is.

In adobeland this is solved by having two apps: if you want to edit a PDF you open it with Illustrator, and if you want passthrough you drop it to InDy. 

Maybe passthrough will come with Publisher... *wish*

[R C-R]

39 minutes ago, Fixx said:

I would think it is readily available feature in PDF code libraries as it just does not have to do anything but display a PDF as it is.

What exactly do you mean by "as it is"? A PDF file displayed literally "as it is" would just be a very long stream of 7 bit ASCII encoded text, perhaps with some additional binary content.

[Alfred]

1 hour ago, Fixx said:

Embedded fonts editing is great, but OP needed just to have PDF as passthrough.

 

Passthrough requires the generation of an image based on an accurate ‘reader’ view of the PDF document. As Miguel has pointed out, this will not be possible until embedded fonts are supported.

[R C-R]

41 minutes ago, Alfred said:

Passthrough requires the generation of an image based on an accurate ‘reader’ view of the PDF document.

In Affinity, "passthrough" is a layer blend mode that simply sets a group layer to have no special blend properties of its own. PDF files can & usually do contain a variety of file structures that have no simple "layer" representation. In addition to embedded fonts, they may include dictionaries; ordered arrays of text, vector, and/or raster objects; compressed binary streams; hyperlinks; non-rendering comments; & so on.

 

So, as I am sure you know, there is much more to this than just 'passing through' a document as some kind of flattened layer or group layer, in addition to supporting embedded fonts.