PDF1Xa 2003 from inDesign, is PDF 1.3 not 1.4?

I thought this was meant to be using PDF 1.4
Anytime I select PDF x1a 2003 or PDF x3 2002 InDesign has the compatibility set to 1.3 which flattens
According to this http://www.adobe.com/designcenter/acrobat/articles/acr8ap_pdfx_02.html
PDF/X-1a: 2003 = Acrobat 5.0/PDF 1.4
But selecting PDF/X-1a: 2003 it reverts to 1.3?

As chairperson of the ISO PDF/X Commitee, I'll confirm Bob's response.
Officially, PDF/X-1a:2003 (as opposed to PDF/X-1a:2001) is based on PDF 1.4 with the restriction that live transparency cannot be used. Note that the specification doesn't prohibit use of PDF 1.3 or earlier for such a file! In order to technologically fit into how InDesign and other CS applications “work,” PDF/X-1a:2003 export is done using the PDF 1.3 standard such that live transparency does not appear in the resultant PDF/X-1a:2003 file.
Ironically, PDF/X-1a:2003 never really caught on with the print industry. Most print service providers that request or support PDF/X-1a, specify or imply support for PDF/X-1a:2001.
Note that in reality, PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 really represent the best of 20th century print publishing workflows, not workflows that need to deal with very graphically-rich content with transparency. Adobe most strongly recommends PDF/X-4 direct export from InDesign (and save as PDF/X-4 from Illustrator and Photoshop).
- Dov

Similar Messages

Background missing when exporting from indesign to pdf

Sometimes when I export a file from indesign to pdf, my background doesn't show up. The background is just a block of solid colour, or gradient. The background block of colour is usually the full size of the page. I've tried to play around to see what is causing this to happen and sometimes if I reduce the size of the block to say, 1/3 of the page then the block of colour shows up, but then when I make it the full size of the page as I actually need it to be, the colour block doesn't show up when I export it to pdf (i've tried all the different pdf presets and it doesn't make a difference)??? Does anyone know why and how to fix it?
thanks!

I believe export is an ID option, not an Acrobat option. In that case, you probably should ask in the ID forum.

Problems with image conversion from InDesign to PDF

My images look posterized when I convert from InDesign to PDF. Any ideas about this?

That'd be in the export settings not in Reader. Ask in the InDesign forum, they'll probably know better.

Format changing when exporting from InDesign to PDF

I am using Acrobat 8 version 8.1.2, and InDesign version 5.0.2.
I am noticing a very specific problem when exporting some files to PDF from InDesign.
We often have a format where we have a numbered list of right-aligned number, followed by some text, a leader line, and then another number at the end of the line. This is set up with a left indent and a first line left indent (rather than using the numbered list options), and then the necessary tabs later in the lines.
I am finding since we switched to IDCS3, that when I export to PDF, lines containing this format change in the PDF. The text that appears after the number in the front of the line is pushed over on top of the leader line, leaving a huge white space. On rarer occasions, it will move things in lines that have no indents, but contain tabs that aren't being used.
I have been able to get the files to export correctly by removing the left indent and first-line left indent and using tabs instead (or by removing unused tabs). But we have hundreds of files set up in this manner so going in and changing how they are all set up is problematic to say the least.
Is this a known issue? Does anyone know why this might happen and how I can prevent it?

I haven't tried printing to PDF. I will try that and see what happens. Unfortunetly, where I work we are required to export to PDF rather than print to PDF, so if it works it will only be a clue for me rather than a solution.
Thanks for the reply. I'll try a cross post to the InDesign forms.

Exporting from InDesign to PDF, and the updated PDF is larger than a month ago and not printing easily on letter paper, it is PDF presets?

Hello,
I am exporting from InDesign to a PDF and the page is larger in the PDF then others I have exported. Is this because of the PDF presents? One of the project managers is not able to print it out on 8.5 x 11 paper, but the document presets for InDesign are the same as before. I wish I could upload the PDFs to show, but the newly exported PDF is larger than the version I created a month ago. I created a PDF binder and the newly updated PDF is almost a .5 inch wider with the same export presets. Any thoughts?

Sadira00123456789 wrote:
One of the project managers is not able to print it out on 8.5 x 11 paper, but the document presets for InDesign are the same as before.
I suspect the project manager simply has his/her copy of Reader/Acrobat set to print at actual size, rather than "Fit" (assuming the InDesign page size is truly 8.5 x 11).
..the newly updated PDF is almost a .5 inch wider with the same export presets.
It would have nothing to do with export presets. How are you determining that half-inch difference?

PDF/A-1b compliant PDF from InDesign exported PDF

Hi folks. I need to produce a pdf/a-1b compliant pdf from an InDesign document and it is giving me fits. Because InDesign offers no native option to export pdf/a-1b compliant files, I have been exporting my document with the available presets (I've tried all of them), then running the pdf/a-1b conversion in Acrobat. However, this conversion fails every time, usually on font subset and colour issues depending on how I set up the initial export from InDesign. The only way I have managed to get a file to pass the conversion is to export from InDesign, save that pdf as images, rebuild the original pdf from the image files, then run the pdf/a-1b preflight from Acrobat. Trouble is that this results in a serious loss of resolution that I can't have for my purposes. Anyone have any ideas on how I can produce a pdf from InDesign that will pass the pdf/a-1b preflight in Acrobat?

You have to do it in Acrobat Pro after PDF export.

Printing issues from InDesign CS4 pdf file

Good morning,
Could you help explain and possibly resolve an issue I'm having with an InDesign CS4 pdf file where the text and image drop shadows (40%) are printing as solid black blocked shapes from a large format printer. The file encompasses 1 overall image, 1 image with drop shadow, 3 text frames with drop shadow effect applied to the text and 1 group set of simple rectangular and ellipse objects with a glow.
My colleagues in graduate school experienced the same with their files and the output bureau's rasterized the pdf file in Photoshop where it printed out with good resolution. Shouldn't this be resolved first in InDesign rather than rasterizing the file?
I appreciate any help and insight you could offer myself and my colleagues.
Thank you, Kathryn

The printing service uses Acrobat 8 Pro and HP large format printer. My InDesign CS4 document is in the color mode of RGB and color type as Process. I saved it as a pdf file using the standard settings as follows: Preset: High Quality Print, Standard: None and Compatibility: Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3). Are there options I should be paying more attention to when creating the PDF file? Also, I was reading up on Peter Spier's response links.
This brings me to the next question...I'm creating a photo book for grad school with approximately 40 pages of images (RGB, 300dpi) with feathered drop shadows. What would be the best settings to use when exporting as a pdf file for printing services?
Thank you for your help.
Kathryn

Embedding font problems (when exporting from InDesign to PDF)

A message alert is shown, when opening a pdf - after exporting from InDesign: Cannont exctract the embedded Font Frutiger.
We have uninstalled the frutiger font and installed an open type. But the font is not embedded anyhow..?
Can anyone help?
Thanks very much.
Jane

I don't know if you need help scripting this, but...........
If you can not re-create the PDF from InDesign using the OTF,
In Acrobat, highlight the text with the acrobat touch-up text tool, right click and go to properties. You should be able to assign the OTF font running on you system, and select the embed option.
If not, this is why PitStop is an indespensable (sp?) tool.
Best of luck

Preserving Black when Exporting from InDesign to PDF

Hi All:
I hope someone who knows Acrobat can help me with this. I have an InDesign file that I must export to PDF. That in itself isn't the problem. This is:
The text in InDesign is solid black (000000), but once it exports to PDF, it collects a myriad of colors and will not print preperly to the newsprint. I'm doing this for a newspaper. I use InDesign, they use Quark. The client uses InDesign as well. I can NOT figure out how to convince Acrobat to leave the color alone.
I've tried to figure it out with the Ink Manager, etc., but for the life of me, no matter what I do, It comes out as all the colors of the rainbow. It LOOKS black in the PDF, but when you select it, it is NOT black. It's a mess. Two full pages of this stuff and I'll have to redo the whole darned thing in Quark unless I can figure this out.
I have tried using "Preserve Black" once it's in PDF format, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Obviously I'm missing something in the Export from InDesign function, but I can't figure out what.
Can someone help me?
Thanks so much, in advance.

Okay. Above is the swtch from the original Color Preset. Below is the swtch after I made the changes mentioned above. I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees no difference. ??

Black and White Gray Scale Photos Are Dark When Exported from Indesign to PDF

When I print right from InDesign the black and white photos look great. However, if I print the exported pdf file, the black and white photos are much darker. Is there something I should be doing upon export so that they will look as they do in InDesign?
Thanks,

I have tried different settings in format and color space all with the same results. I'm sure it has to do with system not being calibrated. I'm not to computer literate so not sure how all this works. The other programs must go along with my computer and moniter settings where LR and Elements produce their own rendering independent of settings. Yes, I checked and Elements renders like LR. I found some other forums that discussed similar problems but with color rendering. HMMM, just tried something. In Picassa I switched to Linear Gamma 2.2 in display mode and the LR edited photos look correct. So it must be something along those lines being the problem.

Metadata from InDesign to PDF via PostScript

Have been playing around with placing Metadata in a InDesign CS4 file and then outputting a PostScript file. Then Distill the PS file into a PDF. ( seems silly but it is a customer requirement )
When I check the PDF the metadata is gone. When I check the PostScript file I see the placeholders for metadata, just no metadata.
Any suggestions for how to prepare the PostScript file ?
Thanks

Steve Werner wrote:
Metadata (along with color management profiles, tagging, and many other things) are lost when you make a PostScript file, then use Distiller. The PostScript format predates all of these things are was never prepared to preserve them. That's why creating PDF in a different way is essential.
That's not entirely fair. PostScript certainly predates the PDF metadata structuring, however when PDF was introduced, Adobe extended PostScript to define a way to include PDF data in PostScript files (pdfmark; though I want to say there's another way as well). There's no reason that InDesign's Postscript export couldn't or shouldn't support inclusion of simple metadata in PostScript output (XMP metadata, on the other hand, I don't know if there's a good way to include such that Distiller would pick it up).
Of course, it would be possible to extract the metadata from the InDesign file seperately and shove it into the extracted PostScript file prior to distilling, or shove it in to the produced PDF file after distilling. Just a simple matter of scripting.
Dov wrote:
Very irrational and truly unnecessary customer requirement!
Dov, I feel like you are being a little disingenuous here to make a political point. As many have observed, often distilling InDesign's postscript produces more compact PDF files than any reasonable direct PDF output setting from InDesign. That makes it legitimately attractive to some people who care a lot about minimizing file size while maximizing quality. It is diffficult to tell them they are wrong.
I guess I haven't looked closely at this question, but it seems like this disfavored workflow does have some clear advantages. (I don't use such a workflow, so, take that with some salt.)

Poor quality images exporting from InDesign to PDF

We are having an issue with poor quality images exporting to PDF from Indesign (CS6). It makes zero difference whether the images are Ai images or PDF. They look perfect in Ai, perfect in the InDesign document, but appalling in the exported PDF. If the PDF document is printed, they print fine, but as a web based pdf document it is not publishable. We must use compression on export to keep the file size small enough for web/email use, but even with compression turned off on export there is no improvement in the PDF quality with a document ten times the size.
Any help would be appreciated?

I appear to have answered my own question, but will place it here to hopefully help others.
On comparing another InDesign document that appeared to export to PDF ok, we noticed that the type of frame makes a huge difference to image output quality. In the suspect document the frames with the images in them were " [Basic Graphics Frame]+ ". When I changed the frame (or made a new frame) to " [None] "; not only were the images a lot clearer in the InDesign document but they exported to PDF perfectly. Something so simple!!!!

EPUB exported from InDesign works on iPad and not on Android tablets

I've edxported several similar books to EPUB from InDesign CS5, using the same technique each. After exporting from InDesign, there's a lot of tweaking of the HTML code and some changes to the content.opf and toc.ncx, but the finished product for all of the books works fine on iPads but some do not work on Android tablets. There are six separate InDesign documents in each epub book...three small, one large, and then two small. Some of the books work fine on Android tablets, but for some of them, the first three documents show up fine, but when one advances to the large document, the book closes. There's no error message. Any ideas what the problem might be? Are there size limitations for documents on Android machines?

As you have found out - it doesn't work.

Exporting from InDesign to PDF

I have an InDesign file that contains colors and text. There are pantone colors within vector shapes. The vectors were created in illustrator. I am having problems exporting to PDF. My client is stating that their colors are not coming through consistent from one page of the PDF to the next. For instance, there are multiple pages of the PDF that contain pantone 2945c. Apparently, 2945c is not appearing the same from one page to the next.
I have tried saving the InDesign file as both High Quality Print and Interactive. Both formats are resulting in mixed results on multiple platforms. As a side note, I can open the High Quality Print in illustrator and it is maintaining pantones and outlines. If I screenshot the Interactive, the pantones have consistent values.
In short, the problem is not on my machine, it is when sent out to various platforms. Colors are not being interpreted as intended on all monitors (regardless of "Print" or "Interactive") and colors render differently form one page to the next.
Please advise to what format to save InDesign files for client review via PDF. Help on this would be greatly appreciated.
I am working on both MAC and PC platforms. Operating software is newest version of CS.

DesignSource123 wrote:
I do not know exactly what program the file is being viewed on. It would be across multiple platforms. Basically, I'm trying to nail down the method that "Should" give the best results. This is for client review.
For4 sure that's going to include viewing in Acrobat or Adobe Reader (lots of readers out there that don't have full support for all the PDF features that ID produces). Users should probably check to make sure that Simulate Overprint is enabled, too.

Corrupt crosslinks when exported from InDesign to PDF

Two of my colleagues are using Indesign on win7 64 bit computers.
CS 4, one computer has indesign version 6.0.4, the other computer has version 6.0.5 - and that is the computer where our problem is.
When we open a file in indesign and chose the alternative Export to PDF, export with hyperlinks and bookmarks, a pdf-file is created. Some of the links are ok, but most of them doesn´t work. The properties for the link seems to be ok with the correct destination name. (and if we try to export the same indesign file from the other computer all links are ok, so the orignal file must be ok?)
We have tried to create a new user account on the computer, with full admin-permissions.
Any other ideas, anyone?

I´m not a user of the program myself, so i´m not definetely sure... What we have done on the problematic computer is to reset the settings. We got help to remove some setting-files.
Are there any specific settings that you might know about, that could cause this kind of trouble? We have checked in acrobat that "use hyperlinks" (?) is marked under Edit, Preferences,

PDF1Xa 2003 from inDesign, is PDF 1.3 not 1.4?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for