Mark.T Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 What settings in AD 'Save As...' PDF are closest to printing to PDF via the standard macos print dialog? We have a rare, recurring but unpredictable problem with some elements in a design which was saved as a PDF being printed as solid black objects. We exclusively use wide format inkjet printers. When viewed, the PDF is fine but some elements that look fine on screen, print as black blobs. If we use the standard macos Print dialog and 'Save as PDF' or 'Open in Preview' we never have this issue even with exactly the same file. Rather than trying to work out why they print in black, we first want to try and replicate the settings that always work when we use the macos Print dialog. It would be reasonable to ask why we do not just use the macos Print Dialog if it works. This method leaves us with the designs on a fixed size page which we then have to manually crop. Your thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R C-R Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 8 hours ago, Mark.T said: What settings in AD 'Save As...' PDF are closest to printing to PDF via the standard macos print dialog? In AD, by "'Save As...' PDF" do you mean export to PDF & printing that file or something else? Anyway, from a quick test using 'Save as PDF' in the macOS Print dialog & opening the resulting PDF file in Preview.app, the Inspector panel shows this: I don't know if "PDF version: 1.3" is the same as the "PDF/X-3:2003" setting in File > Export > More > Compatibility. or if the version differs depending on the version of the Mac OS producing the PDF file, but checking that on your system may help answer your question. Also note that when using 'Save as PDF' in the macOS print dialog, the page size will vary with the printer chosen & particularly with the "Paper Size" options in the print dialog. So for example, in the above the AD document size I used is the US Letter preset (8.5"x11") but because I chose a "Paper Size" of US Legal (8.5"x14") that is the PDF page size I got. Other setting for my printer (in this instance a Samsung laser model) also made a difference, like the Orientation & Scale settings in the Range & Scale section of the print dialog. IOW, there is no 'standard' Mac OS print dialog. It varies from printer to printer & what print driver(s) for it are installed. For (much!) more about that you can refer to the Apple Print documents help page & the linked Choose advanced print settings one. (Links are to the High Sierra 10.3.6 version but you can change that to whichever Mac OS version you use.) stokerg 1 Quote All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7 Affinity Photo 1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark.T Posted October 12, 2019 Author Share Posted October 12, 2019 I now believe I know the answer from this thread </topic/50209-export-as-pdf-13-acrobat-4/> and the answer is that what we want is not possible. Quote: PDF/X-1a:2001 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.3 file. PDF/X-1a:2003 – such a file has to be a PDF 1.4 file Macos 10.14 produces PDF 1.3 but the lowest Affinity can offer is PDF 1.4 Well, at least I know the answer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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