PDF quality is degraded when InDesign file is reopened.

When I place PDF files in my InDesign document and print, or save to PDF immediately, the quality is great.
However, if I save the InDesign file and open it later, the PDF quality is much degraded. Too degraded to use.
I must make the document or book all over again.
Why does the PDF quality degrade when re-opening the InDesign?
HOW CAN I PREVENT THIS?
Thanks.

Regarding Peter's "be sure the link is up to date" because I was typing this after he posted:
Try placing a PDF into an ID doc, save the InDesign file, then reopen it. Select your placed file with the black selection tool, then go Window and select the Links panel. Looking at your linked image will tell you if InDesign can no longer find the image in the original location. (There'd be a yellow triangle with an exclamation point to indicate that the link is missing.) When you place your PDF into InDesign, a 72ppi preview of your linked file is saved in the INDD. In order to print, or export a good quality PDF, InDesign needs to be able to find the linked file.
So when you reopen, ID for some reason can't find the file. This could be caused by a wide variety of issues, but the most likely is that you moved either the InDesign file, or the linked PDF. Or perhaps your linked PDF is on an unavailable network drive? If you tell us more about your working environment, we might be able to figure out why the link is breaking.

Similar Messages

PDF quality problems exporting from InDesign and Photoshop

Hi There.
I'm having big problems exporting my InDesign files to PDFs and retaining the res. And it's not just the images (I understand about the dpi) it's the type on there too.
I have been exporting as the preset High Quality Print - is this wrong. Are there other settings to ensure the PDF I export retains the high-res quality and clarity?
At the moment it comes out high-res when I export it as a jpeg or eps but not PDF.
I have also noticed the same problem when I export to a PDF from Photoshop.
I really need to create interactive and high quality print PDFs from my InDesign files.
Please can you advise.
Thanks
Karen

I am also having problems with pdfs exported from Illustrator and Indesign recently. I didn't have these problems before, so I don't kno if something has changed in my settings that I am unaware of.
When I use the 'japanese dots' border in Indesign, it shows on the pdf as a kind of dotted line. I'm exporting as 'High Quality Print'. I switched to Illustrator and drew a line with the pen tool, and converted it to a dotted line; it looked just how I wanted in in Illustrator, but as soon as I exported it, the same thing happened.
I have used the 'japanese dots' border in the past, exporting as 'High Quality Print', and not had this problem.
Does anyone have any suggestions?

Type Shifting/Smearing as Animation progresses in the Timeline when .fla file is reopened.

A simple animation has been created using words as symbols. Each word has it's own movement, coming in from left to right, top to bottom, etc. There are no issues when the file is first created, but on occasion, when the .fla is then reopened (on the computer it was created in, or on a different computer) some of the type, seems to be out of whack. Literally as if, water had dripped on ink on a piece of paper, the type is smeared and smudged, as the timeline progresses. The animated treatment is still kept in place, just the type itself is affected. The smearing/smudging is not consistent every time, it varies from each time the file is reopened. But – sometimes, the file is completely normal.
Thinking it may be a RAM issue, closed all other programs, and gave Flash some more space, but that doesn't seem to completely fix the issue. Here attached is a screenshot of what the .fla looks like. I am working in CS5 on a Mac OS X 10.6.7. I am also using FontExplorer X Pro for font management. The issue doesn't seem to be with this particular font alone– other files with different fonts seem to have the same problem.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

I figured it out myself, shortly after I posted this thing. Try to update your Mac OS. I'm on 10.6.8 now, and it seems working to be fine. If it doesn't work I can try to find the article I found that fixed it for me. Hope this helps!

Spreads removed when Indesign files are posted to Cloud Storage for client review

Although my document is set up with facing page spreads in indesign, when I post it to my cloud for the client to review only single pages are shown. This is going to confuse matters for my client. Any suggestions as to how to solve this problem?

Send them a PDF showing spreads instead of using Creative Cloud previews. They are pretty lame. (They also currently don't show previews for InDesign CC 2014 files.)

How to open a pdf package in browser when multiple files are bound together.

Hi,
I have to open a pdf package in browser that contains multiple pdf files any suggestions will help me a lot.
Thanks.

It shows me a page says "Multiple files are bound together in this PDF package"

Open PDF not auto included when combining files in Acrobat X

If I have a PDF open in Acrobat X and I click Create -> Combine files into a single PDF, the PDF that is open is not automatically included in the list of files to combine in the Combine Files window. I need to click the Add Files drop-down and then click Add Open Files to include it. Does anyone know if there is a way to turn this functionality on by default? It was the default action in previous versions of Acrobat if I remember correctly.
Thanks!
Dennis

Thanks Dave. I wish there was a setting for this, as 99% of the time, I need the file that is open to be included in the combine. But the majority wins

W/Jpeg will some quality be lost when transferring files

Moving files with share option between accts. Will photo's loose any quality?

How are you moving them? iPhoto Library Manager? exporting and importing? ???
LN

Creating InDesign files for both print and mobile output?

I am looking for a way to create files that can be multi-purpose for both print and mobile/online environments. I would like the output to be 2 different PDFs from one set of Indesign files. The problem I am encountering is that currently my files are full of hi-res and vector graphics, effects, and are generally created to be optimized for large-scale printings on offset or digital presses. I am trying to use the same files to generate files that are optimized for mobile and online presentation but finding that the number of vector graphics specifically is slowing page display down.
My initial reaction is that the solution would have to be dual-development. Multiple forms of 'master graphics' would have to be created and placed on multiple layers (one for print and one for mobile/online).
Hi-res files could be made lo-res in Acrobat or Pitstop, but vector imagery would have to be rasterized and I am not aware of a method to do that in either of those programs.
I have found some info on adobe.com leading me to think that maybe CS6 addresses some of this, but the majority of my work is being done in CS4 with only the bleeding edge being done in CS5.
Thanks in advance for any insight.

the output to be 2 different PDFs from one set of Indesign files.
You can accomplish this by saving each PDF using a different preset - High Quality Print for the high res, smallest file size for web
but vector imagery would have to be rasterized...
You should be trying to keep all vector work as vectors. This, in most cases, lowers the file size. There are a couple of exceptions to that like if the vectors are very complex (layered etc) and you are using bitmap effects like drop shadows. In general, rasterizing will increase the file size and lower the quality.
Is there any functional difference between the 2 PDFs? I am wondering why exporting using 2 different presets will not do the job efficiently enough. You could always save your linked images with a low res version - same file but make a copy 100dpi instead of 300dpi. This might help but InD normally downsamples the images anyway when exporting as smallest file size.
EDIT:// In Acrobat, you can save as "Reduced Size PDF" which strips out all the meta data etc and makes the PDF lighter and faster for web use. This would be a final, before publishing online step.

Indesign File comparison tool

Hello, is there any tool available for indesign files that makes a precise comparison between two indesign documents? I need this for making sure of corrections made in documents i have. Idealy it would work as a search function and enable the comparison of two different documents and highight any changes made between the two. Thanks very much--c

Doesn't this approach only focus on errors?
I am not familiar with Preflight, but when I run it I only get errors.
I struggle with the same comparison issue. I need highly detailed comparisons.
When I try this in Acrobat Pro comparing the PDF outputs of two different InDesign files, it pretty much marks the entire document as changed.
I end up using a 3rd party tool (Araxis Merge) and doing a binary file comparison, then trying to figure out where in the INDD file the changes are.
Cheers.

Letters 'messed up' when InDesign CS4 file is exported to PDF - how to solve?

I hope somebody has had this problem before and knows how to solve.
Situation: Indesign CS4.
Book file, with 130 linked documents. Everything is ready to go to Press.
I exported the book to PDF. Once I opened the PDF, in some of the rows on the text, all letters are 'messed up'!- see screenshots below.
Very strange, since I made several other PDF-exports (up to 20) in the days before - and everything went fine before.
Does anybody know how to solve this problem?
Has it maybe something to do between 'Press quality' and 'Print quality' settings?
The problem seems somehow related to the font, since everything else is just fine.
NOTE: the sentences below you cannot read are NOT made that way by me ;-), to prevent it from being able to read it. This is how it comes out the PDF.

Hello everyone
we had the same problem
exporting CS5 file into PDF seems to work fine but while opening the PDF file :
a) got a message telling the /Widths are corrupted for some fonts
b) when zooming on typos, we can see the approach/kerning is way not perfect between letters
c) on some text lines the letters are completly messed up ( see example below ) :
S O L U T I O N
a) open the CS5 indesign file
b) export as PDF : this PDF will be wrong
c) keep the CS5 indesign file open, don't close it
d) export again as PDF ( different or same name ) this 2nd PDF file will be OK
SO THE SECOND EXPORTED PDF IN A ROW IS OK
NOTE :
exporting as .inx or .idml just give an illusion
you may get an OK PDF in some circonstances
but if you close the indesign file, open it and export it : the first PDF is WRONG
hoping this will help you
please confirm or infirm this "solution"
our configuration
- Mac OSX ( 10.5.8 )
- InDesign CS5 last patched ( NOT 5.5 )
- most of fonts are OpenType ( .otf )
- the problem occurs on some particular files
- i know that these files were exported once through "book" functionnality ( could this explain ? )
Good Luck

Get a PDF when opening original InDesign File (CS4) to update it.

I need to update an organizational chart MONDAY MORNING if I want to look really smart at my brand new job I started last week. The problem--I have located the orginal file that was created in InDesign CS4 by my predecessor. When I double click on the name to open the file I get a PDF. I cannot edit it very well and in in the time frame I will have to do it. Besides, I need to edit the original documnet. How do I do that? I did not create the origianl so do not know if there are locks etc. I need to figure this out before tommorrow at 6am or it will not look good for me...So far I have been blowing them away. Can't start looking stupid this week when I looked so smart last week! If I can't figure thei sout..I amy have to figure out hwo to correct teh PDF...which as a rememeber form a past experice is nasty and takes much longer. Thank you.

Kitti-girl's Mom wrote:
The extension is an InDesign extension and the fact it was in a folder
titled by the predecessor as "In Design Files." I click it and get eth PDF.
If you double click it in Finder or Windows Explorer and it quacks like a PDF, then that's what it is. The operating system is ignoring the extension and opening it with the correct application; Acrobat here.
This may be an intentional sabotage, or an inadvertent mistake, perhaps caused by the previous worker who had deleted the original ID file and thought that perhaps renaming it as PDF would cover the problem.
In Acrobat or Reader, File > Properties > Description will tell you the application that made the PDF. The Additional Metadata button may tell you who made it - or at the login name of that user. These won't fix anything, but may help you find someone with more info, like the named person.
With your experience, it might be most efficient to place the document into a blank InDesign file on a master page if it's only a single-page document, or on the document page, then create a new layer on top of that, lock the PDF layer, and use it as a template over which you re-draw and re-type what you need to reproduce it. It's possible that a table was used to create the original - if so, create a table in a text frame atop the PDF, and resize columns or rows, and merge or split cells, etc, as needed.
To view your progress, hide the PDF layer by poking the eye of its layer in the Layers panel.
As mentioned, PDF2ID is a commercial product that can do the conversion. I believe there's either a free trial download or they'll convert your file for free to show off its strength.
[EDIT]
It's possible that the PDF was made by converting a chart from a dedicated charting application, even something like PowerPoint or the equivalent in the free OpenOffice (aka NeoOffice on Mac.)
Naming it .indd might also have come from inadvertently including it in a batch file rename operation.
Message was edited by: peter at knowhowpro
[/EDIT]
HTH
Regards,
Peter
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices

I need to compress an InDesign file to web-quality pdf but file size is still too big. Help!

I need to compress an InDesign file to web-quality pdf but file size is still too big. Help!

Hi Bill,
It sounds like your document has a lot of pages and/or images in it.
Instead of using the normal InDesign > Export command to create a PDF, you may be able to reduce the file size by printing to a PostScript file, then distilling it to PDF using Acrobat Distiller.

When I export InDesign file to pdf, my graphics are negatives.

I'm using Adobe CS4 and I've got greyscale photoshop elements in the layout. When I export to pdf, for some reason, those psd's become negatives of what they are in my InDesign file. I've gone through my file to see what setting is off on the images & in the Export settings and I just can't pinpoint the problem. HELP!!

Sorry. I just remembered that that was not accurate.
I believe it was jpegs exported from CorelDRAW that were negative when viewed on Mac...
Harbs

When I convert InDesign file to pdf, the background of my image is no longer transparent

I am working with InDesign CS3, and when I place a .gif file onto the document, the background of the image is transparent, which is what I want. However, when I convert the InDesign file to a pdf, that same image shows up in a white box. Why is this happening? Is there a setting that I am missing when I convert it? Thanks in advance

I am converting it via export, and actually it is an ai file, my apologies.
The white box does not appear in InDesign print preview.
I corrected the link, but still no luck.
I am opening the document in Adobe reader, and overprint preview is turned on.
Keep the suggestions coming please! I really appreciate it.

My whole document comes out as low res when I export to PDF, even the indesign file also now low res. Tried changing display performance, but that's not helping.

My whole document comes out as low res when I export to PDF, even the indesign file also now low res. Tried changing display performance, but that's not helping.

Are your links up to date? What settings did you use?

PDF quality is degraded when InDesign file is reopened.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for