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Problem with pdf Files on screen - printing is OK

2K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  krs 
#1 ·
I have a number of product diagrams in pdf format that are intended to identify specific replacement parts of each product.
On most of them, the parts drawing is quite legible on the screen, but there is a hand full where the drawing is so faint (on the screen) that one can't make out what it is.
However, if I print that same drawing, all of the individual parts show up nice and clear.

Is there any way to correct the pdf or adjust preview that the drawing is legible on an LCD monitor?

Here is one example of such a pdf drawing - very faint on the monitor but fine when you print the document.

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/krs/40890-1.PDF

Thanks.
 
#7 ·
I just tried Acrobat Reader and that works fine - I get the same as mguertin

This seems to be a Preview issue, I'm on 3.0.9

Oh boy - that's awkward because I have some pdf files that Reader doesn't like but Preview displays fine.
So what to chose as my default application ?????
 
#9 ·
What version of preview do you use?

I have several hundred pdf drawings like the one I posted. all except a few dozen show fine using preview.
In general I have more problems getting Acrobat Reader to render the file correctly than Preview.
I had a case where I received an invoice from McGill university and Acrobat Reader displayed it totally wrong - the amounts were in the wrong column, the total was mixed up - Preview showed that same pdf document perfectly.
McGill supposedly investigated that but never reached a final conclusion, at least as far as I know.
That issue just slowly fizzled out but since then I switched to Preview for pdf documents.

This has nothing to do with either my monitor or the video connection - it's strictly a software issue.
I just find it strange that many of the supposedly same files (from the same company) work fine and then there is a batch that doesn't.

I was always under the impression that one of the benefits of using pdf is that everyone sees exactly the same thing, but that is not true at all. I have had more cases where a pdf file did not display properly - sometimes in suc a way one wouldn't even notice - like numbers in the wrong column (other than the McGill problem).
 
#10 ·
What version of preview do you use?

I have several hundred pdf drawings like the one I posted. all except a few dozen show fine using preview.
In general I have more problems getting Acrobat Reader to render the file correctly than Preview.
... ... ...
This has nothing to do with either my monitor or the video connection - it's strictly a software issue. ... .. ...
I just tried your posted pdf I saved and it shows fine in Adobe Reader v. 8.1.1, 8.1.2, 9.1.0, 9.1.2 and Preview v. 3.0.9 and 4.2. Mac OS 10.5.7, G4 PPC MDD 1.25 GHz.

The Acrobat Reader application you mention is a legacy product and has changed to Adobe Reader for some time now.

I just tried my old Acrobat Reader v. 5.0.5 just to see and it also displays the pdf correctly.

Patrick Mead-Robins
Mac Solutions
250-652-1860
-----------------------------
 
#13 ·
I now have the same problem with a drawing in Word.
Trouble is I use Word 2004 and there is no "anti-alias" feature I can turn off.

I tried opening the document with Pages - same problem
Text Edit doesn't even show the drawing, but
Appleworks - which still came up as an application for this .doc document, opened it perfectly!

Printing ion Word is fine, it's just on the screen none of the lines of the drawing show up, only the text.

Any suggestions what options in Word might cause this?
 
#14 ·
Have a look at your Word 2004 preferences with the specific file opened for the various display options including 'drawings' and 'display' etc.

PS: Isn't AppleWorks still a great application along with the various translators. ;-)

Patrick Mead-Robins
Mac Solutions
250-652-1860
-----------------------------
 
#15 ·
On two occasions I designed a document (InDesign) for customers that had .25 pt white hairline rules as the background of a coloured page. Like a graph in the background. When I sent the PDF proof to him, the hairline rules were too prominent. Almost like they were 1 pt rules. It looked OK in InDesign and printed perfectly. Only the graph in the PDF proof looked overpowering. I explained to him it was a defect in Adobe Reader.

Is this a similar issue as krs started with?
 
#16 ·
The obvious question is - what do you see in Adobe Reader when you look at that same file?
The same as the customer?

Over the years I have had rare occasions where a document mailed as an email attachment ended up somewhat different on the receiving end.
Happened with pdf files several times and with MS Word and Excel at least once.
Most of the time one would never know that there was a difference unless it was obvious to the recipient.
The situations I know of were transmissions within the company where the transmitted page was discussed by phone - that's how we found out that what was sent was not the same as what was received.
This is not supposed to happen with pdf but it does.

The specific initial problem I had was resolved by unchecking "Anti-alias text and line art" in preview.

I never resolved the similar problem with Word 2004.
The problem there is actually a bit different - on the screen I see no lines at all, same as the original pdf problem, however when I print, I do get the lines but they are fairly faint (but definitely darker than on the screen).
Pages gives me exactly the same thing, but Appleworks not only shows nice solid dark lines on the screen but also prints the lines much darker than Word does.
I tried pm-r's suggestion but that got me nowhere.
 
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