Does it matter how the original file is produced? I can't control that - I have to work with what I'm furnished. Looks like the original, in this case, was created in some version of Quark and the PDF was created by PrimoPDF. My client receives it from their client and passes it on to me. This is one of 50-some odd versions for this project.
We take this piece and lay it up with the other elements (also PDFs) in InDesign and export to PDF. I've tried a host of different export settings, but to no avail. I'm finding more and more problems laying up PDFs and exporting from InDesign.
Had another file from the same publication that upon export yielded the undefined character for one font. Okay, went back to the original and outlined that font, reimported, re-exported - and then a logo dropped out. I need to find a dependable way to get these files out. Nothing seems as dependable as printing to file and distilling.
I'm toying with printing through the PDF Printer, but that gets pretty convoluted in the UI. Took quite awhile to figure out how to specify a location for the resulting PDF. And then the naming gets #$^&*(! up. The automatic naming of the resulting PDF contains an *, then the filename, then @, then the percentage at which you're viewing the file. So it looks like *LovelyFile.indd @ 75%.pdf. So, you end up having to alter the filename everytime as you did with Quark 6.
Seems you can't get rid of that * or the word [converted] when you open files in InDesign CS4.