PDF Export not working

[Al Grasso]

I am working on a leaflet to be sent to the printer but upon exporting at either 300 dpi or 400dpi it fails to export properly and the outcome is messy: images are not rendered and text are misplaced or duplicated.

Yet when I selected the file from Finder, the preview appears fine.

By the way, in the previous beta release I tried exporting the file and it exported, from memory, fine. However, I was expecting the file size to be around 80 Mbytes as that was approximately the size of the exported pdf file with the previous beta. Now, with this current beta the file has shrunk to 29.95 MB in 400 dpi and 28.85 in 300 dpi.

I tried exporting the same file in png format and it exported fine in good quality. File size 31 MB.

I also exported in Psd format and the export seems successful. Two pages of an A4 trifold leaflet resulted in two files of 70 MB each and both files appear of good quality.

[Eugene Tyson]

1 hour ago, Al Grasso said:

I am working on a leaflet to be sent to the printer but upon exporting at either 300 dpi or 400dpi it fails to export properly and the outcome is messy: images are not rendered and text are misplaced or duplicated.

Yet when I selected the file from Finder, the preview appears fine.

By the way, in the previous beta release I tried exporting the file and it exported, from memory, fine. However, I was expecting the file size to be around 80 Mbytes as that was approximately the size of the exported pdf file with the previous beta. Now, with this current beta the file has shrunk to 29.95 MB in 400 dpi and 28.85 in 300 dpi.

I tried exporting the same file in png format and it exported fine in good quality. File size 31 MB.

I also exported in Psd format and the export seems successful. Two pages of an A4 trifold leaflet resulted in two files of 70 MB each and both files appear of good quality.

Can you share the files? Feel free to PM and I can take a look if you can't share publically.

[wonderings]

2 hours ago, Al Grasso said:

I am working on a leaflet to be sent to the printer but upon exporting at either 300 dpi or 400dpi it fails to export properly and the outcome is messy: images are not rendered and text are misplaced or duplicated.

Yet when I selected the file from Finder, the preview appears fine.

By the way, in the previous beta release I tried exporting the file and it exported, from memory, fine. However, I was expecting the file size to be around 80 Mbytes as that was approximately the size of the exported pdf file with the previous beta. Now, with this current beta the file has shrunk to 29.95 MB in 400 dpi and 28.85 in 300 dpi.

I tried exporting the same file in png format and it exported fine in good quality. File size 31 MB.

I also exported in Psd format and the export seems successful. Two pages of an A4 trifold leaflet resulted in two files of 70 MB each and both files appear of good quality.

Is it only this one file that you have that will not export? Maybe there is something wonky in it causing problems. Not common but I have had a few problem files over the years that would not export correctly to PDF. 

[Al Grasso]

22 hours ago, Eugene Tyson said:

Can you share the files? Feel free to PM and I can take a look if you can't share publically.

I cannot share the file publicly. What does PM stand for? Private Mail? The file size in Publisher is about 30 MB. I thought file sizes greater than 10 MB could not be sent via email. Please advice. Thanks.

Incidentally I created the same file using another program called Publisher Plus and the file exported fine in pdf format. This implies that the file contents should not be the cause.

[Al Grasso]

22 hours ago, wonderings said:

Is it only this one file that you have that will not export? Maybe there is something wonky in it causing problems. Not common but I have had a few problem files over the years that would not export correctly to PDF. 

Yes, Unfortunately I only have this one project created in aPublisher.

[Al Grasso]

Update

I tried exporting the same file in pdf by warying the rasterisation choices as 1) rasterise only unsupported properties, 2) rasterise every thing and 3) rasterise nothing.

Results:

1- Rasterise every thing: Two pages of trifold leaflet are totally messed up and unreadable: Front page and back page of trifold leaflet.

2- Rasterise unsupported properties: Still bad but better than 1)

3- Rasterise nothing: Best conversion. Back page is clear and three thumbnails photos rendered like old negative cells film. 

The same file exported as .psd or .png converts perfectly well. Both were viewed on Mac OSX Preview and they show beautifully clear.

 

 

[Eugene Tyson]

What's the PDF like if you view it in Acrobat? 

If you want to send me a private message I can share my email with you and you can send via wetransfer if you want.

I understand the files ares sensitive, and it's difficult to trust someone on the internet. But I've been doing this years on Adobe forums, since about 2006. 

[Al Grasso]

4 hours ago, Eugene Tyson said:

What's the PDF like if you view it in Acrobat? 

If you want to send me a private message I can share my email with you and you can send via wetransfer if you want.

I understand the files ares sensitive, and it's difficult to trust someone on the internet. But I've been doing this years on Adobe forums, since about 2006. 

Wow, Eugene, I acted on your suggestion promptly. I had not Adobe Acrobat Reader installed so I downloaded it and after installing it the exported pdf file is perfect. There are no errors whatsoever. The file rendering is perfect. Since moving to the Mac platform I have always used the Mac Preview App and forgot about Adobe Acrobat Reader. So the problem is not with the beta version of Affinity Publisher  but with the Preview App in Mac OSX. I will report it to Apple. Anyway, your intervention has resolved my problem and also provided a very useful input to the Affinity Team.

I can't believe it. I never thought a Mac default App could be the cause. 

Anyway, thank you for your intervention. I would willingly buy you a few pints of Bathams beer, the best. I hope the Affinity Team will read this chat and focus on other issues rather than the one I raised on pdf export.

 

[Al Grasso]

Addendum for the Affinity Team:

Previously I reported that I exported the pdf file using each of the pdf options available in turn, i.e. rasterise everything, rasterise unsupported and rasterise nothing.

I opened each file in Adobe Acrobat Reader and each one is perfect. The only difference being that in the original file a couple of titles had been bevelled and in the rasterise nothing option they had been flattened but otherwise the export is perfect.

[Eugene Tyson]

A lot of 3rd party PDF viewers don't comply to all of Adobe's standards/modules, the only true viewer of PDFs (whichi is an Adobe file format) is Adobe Acrobat. 

You may want to report this to Affinity too, as there may be something they can include in PDF exports for 3rd Party viewers to ensure it displays better. 

[R C-R]

On 9/15/2018 at 12:56 PM, Al Grasso said:

I can't believe it. I never thought a Mac default App could be the cause. 

Preview was never intended to be a replacement for full-featured graphics apps, particularly ones that support the complex 'object tree' structures like those of the PDF format -- layers, individual vector & raster objects, & so on. Although over the years it has added many capabilities beyond just previewing several types of graphic format files, it still converts everything to a single "flat" raster image format which, as you have seen, can make a mess of highly structured files.

[Al Grasso]

23 hours ago, R C-R said:

Preview was never intended to be a replacement for full-featured graphics apps, particularly ones that support the complex 'object tree' structures like those of the PDF format -- layers, individual vector & raster objects, & so on. Although over the years it has added many capabilities beyond just previewing several types of graphic format files, it still converts everything to a single "flat" raster image format which, as you have seen, can make a mess of highly structured files.

Thanks for your input. I understand the issue better now. On the other hand, if such is the case, Apple ought not to make a public issue of discouraging the use of Adobe software as being a vehicle for introducing malware; remember this big issue a few years back? Obviously it stayed in my mind but I am willing to change it. I may even buy a full edition of Acrobat software but their commercial terms are unfavourable for private users who use the software irregularly. Anyway, the Reader is now my default preview app on my iMac.

[Al Grasso]

On 9/17/2018 at 7:52 AM, Eugene Tyson said:

A lot of 3rd party PDF viewers don't comply to all of Adobe's standards/modules, the only true viewer of PDFs (whichi is an Adobe file format) is Adobe Acrobat. 

You may want to report this to Affinity too, as there may be something they can include in PDF exports for 3rd Party viewers to ensure it displays better. 

I have reported the issue to the Affinity Team.Thanks again for helping to solve this issue. Your contribution and that of R C-R have been illuminating. The kind of knowledge answer I would give in my world of Physics. Well done to both of you.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Al Grasso said:

On the other hand, if such is the case, Apple ought not to make a public issue of discouraging the use of Adobe software as being a vehicle for introducing malware; remember this big issue a few years back?

You may be thinking about Steve Jobs' public criticism of the Adobe Flash platform in his 2010 "Thoughts on Flash" open letter and/or the media attention focused on the many security updates Adobe has issued over the years to patch various of its vulnerabilities, some of them quite serious.

Flash is just a small part of Adobe's software products (& Adobe itself is ending support for it in 2020) -- Apple does not, nor has it ever, discouraged the use of Adobe's other products like Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, & so on. 

[Al Grasso]

On 9/18/2018 at 9:36 AM, R C-R said:

You may be thinking about Steve Jobs' public criticism of the Adobe Flash platform in his 2010 "Thoughts on Flash" open letter and/or the media attention focused on the many security updates Adobe has issued over the years to patch various of its vulnerabilities, some of them quite serious.

Flash is just a small part of Adobe's software products (& Adobe itself is ending support for it in 2020) -- Apple does not, nor has it ever, discouraged the use of Adobe's other products like Photoshop, Acrobat, Illustrator, & so on. 

You are quite right. Point taken.