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PDF missing static text


elixir

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Hope this is the correct forum for this question -

 

This issue was discovered when a FusionPro job was printed by an outside source, however stepping back to the original PDF without merge the condition can be duplicated, so the below refers to the original:

 

We have a customer supplied PDF that when printed may or may not print all static text, seemingly dependent on which machine it is printed from. There is no variable text. The PDF was created in InDesign.

 

According to File/Properties/Fonts all fonts are embedded, yet the PDF screen display is not necessarily WYSIWYG when printed.

 

To make this more interesting, printing from PC "A" to printer "A" - text is missing. Printing from PC "B" to same printer "A" - text is printed.

 

Any ideas on why the static text is not printed consistently?

 

Thanks!

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Ah, so you're not familiar with Click 'n Clack, the tappet brothers?

 

One suggested approach was to save the PDF as a postscript file, then open with Distiller and create a new (flattened) PDF - unfortunately that created a PDF without the missing text.

 

Thanks!

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If I were just guessing, which I am, then I might guess that it's a layering issue of some kind, where the text is there, but it's covered up. Or it's in white or something that makes it invisible. Or, it could be that the font is embedded incorrectly.

 

If you open the original PDF up in Acrobat and go to Document Properties, what does it report as the Creator and Application which made it?

 

Again, if you wanted to post the file here, someone might be able to take a look at it, even though this isn't technically a FusionPro issue.

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It turns out that reviewing the PDF under Advanced-Output Preview the previously screen viewable text disappears. Something to do with "white object is not set to knockout" whatever that means.

 

 

 

Thanks!

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It turns out that reviewing the PDF under Advanced-Output Preview the previously screen viewable text disappears. Something to do with "white object is not set to knockout" whatever that means.

Yes, that makes sense. Basically, you have some white text on top of a dark background. Printers and RIPs usually render the objects on a PDF page in order, from back to front, putting down each element in turn. Black text is literally drawn over whatever's behind it. This is called "overprint," and is generally the way most non-text items are placed on a page.

 

However, printers don't usually put down white ink, so there's nothing to "draw" in white on top of whatever's behind it. If you remove the text from the PDF, the background will be there where the text was removed.

 

Now, if you set the text to "knockout" instead of overprint, then the object behind the text will be knocked out, and if you remove the text itself, you'll still have a white (actually transparent) outline of the text left over. Many applications, including FusionPro, set text to "knock out" instead of "overprint" by default.

 

In FusionPro output, you can control whether text overprints or knocks out by color, in the Edit Color dialog (from the menu in Acrobat, FusionPro -> Advanced -> Colors, then edit a color), where you can check the "Overprint" box. (FusionPro does a "knockout" by default.)

 

However, your PDF apparently didn't originate from FusionPro, so I can't tell you what would have needed to be done to set the text to knockout instead of overprint in whatever tool or application was used to create it.

 

A web search for the keywords "overprint knockout" returns plenty of results which explain this all better than I can.

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