Easiest way to fix broken/corrupt/weird PDFs?
- Thread starter bcr
- Start date
PrintHusky
Member
The process is sometimes called "refrying" a PDF.
I am the lead developer of a commercial solution that can do that, plus a lot more. If you would like to give it a try (30 day free) and are a commerical user feel free to reach out via PM.
Our solution has 2 separate (independent) processing engines, that can take a PDF that is in the "gray zone" of the ISO32000 specification and write a new PDF that conforms to ISO 32000.
There reason there are 2 processing engines is because there are countless PDF writers that do strange things. In our experience, there is no single solution or software that works -all- the time on -all- edge cases on -all- files. It is old school desktop installed software, only available for Windows systems.
Best Regards.
Dov Isaacs
Well-known member
This is absolutely untrue.
Acrobat Distiller is an integral part of Adobe Acrobat, both on Windows and MacOS.
That having been said, “refrying a PDF file” (creating PostScript from PDF and then distilling that to PDF) is not a recommended solution to “fixing” a PDF file. Such “solutions” totally lose live transparency, ICC color management, etc. given that even PostScript Language Level 3 is effectively PDF 1.2, at best!
PrintHusky
Member
Respectfully, our solution does not go the "Postscript Refrying" route. It works %100 with the native PDF Object stream and does vector draw operations. It does not lose vector transparency. It does not rasterize either. ICC color management, Spot colors etc is preserved as much as possible, however not guaranteed. It needs to be tested with your files.
If print controllers from EFI/Fiery, Canon, HP, Xerox etc have problems digesting a PDF (or taking forever) the solution I suggested is proven by our customer base to be effective.
Certainly it would need to be tested with your PDF files and controllers. You may have special requirements which may not be preserved during "refry". So there is no guarantee.
EdwardB
Well-known member
late to the party... I've had good luck with fixing "broken" or improperly created PDFs by running them through Ghostscript (a free opensource utility). As long at the basic structure is there and you can at the very least open the file.
Sometimes I'm surprised at what I can do with GS (font issues, extract embedded graphics, etc). Also, combine it with an automation tool like Automation Workshop and you can build a standalone/hotfolder setup that will take in and spit out files automagically.
Code:
gswin64 -dBATCH -dNOPAUS -o "outputfilename.pdf" -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dPDFSETTINGS=/prepress "inputfilename.pdf"Sometimes I'm surprised at what I can do with GS (font issues, extract embedded graphics, etc). Also, combine it with an automation tool like Automation Workshop and you can build a standalone/hotfolder setup that will take in and spit out files automagically.
Glad to see I'm not the only one who uses this word. I thought it wasn't a word but it is listed in the oxford dictionary and has been in use since the 1940s.
jwheeler
Well-known member
I'm definitely going to start using this word!Glad to see I'm not the only one who uses this word. I thought it wasn't a word but it is listed in the oxford dictionary and has been in use since the 1940s.
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