pdf file
- Thread starter Bob Henn
- Start date
Re: pdf file
Select PDF in Acrobat 8 and under File, go to Properties. It does tell you the Producer, version etc. There is some advanced Metadata there too sometimes which can give you a clue.
You don't get all the settings, but it's a good start to see if they used Joe's PDF Maker or some other garbage driver for it.
Select PDF in Acrobat 8 and under File, go to Properties. It does tell you the Producer, version etc. There is some advanced Metadata there too sometimes which can give you a clue.
You don't get all the settings, but it's a good start to see if they used Joe's PDF Maker or some other garbage driver for it.
Cory Smith
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
I would find this useful so you could easily tell what type of compression and downsampling was applied when the pdf was made.
we get a lot of "screen" ready pdf's but clients insist they have high res files.
I would find this useful so you could easily tell what type of compression and downsampling was applied when the pdf was made.
we get a lot of "screen" ready pdf's but clients insist they have high res files.
Re: pdf file
If adobe would include this info in the file it would be a quick and easy way to check to to see if you have a high res pdf, sometimes these files make it to press and we have to back tract all the way to the customer and this cost us a lot of press time. The old saying Sh-- in Sh-- out does not fly here. Apparently LENNY does not work in a print shop
If adobe would include this info in the file it would be a quick and easy way to check to to see if you have a high res pdf, sometimes these files make it to press and we have to back tract all the way to the customer and this cost us a lot of press time. The old saying Sh-- in Sh-- out does not fly here. Apparently LENNY does not work in a print shop
Re: pdf file
Do a preflight in Acrobat and 'List all images'. This will tell you the resolution of all images in the PDF. If you click Show details in that preflight window, you'll also get info on all colorspaces in the PDF. If you go to File > Properties > Fonts tab, you'll see if all fonts are embedded or subset.
Don
Do a preflight in Acrobat and 'List all images'. This will tell you the resolution of all images in the PDF. If you click Show details in that preflight window, you'll also get info on all colorspaces in the PDF. If you go to File > Properties > Fonts tab, you'll see if all fonts are embedded or subset.
Don
leonardr
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
If you want to see if you have a PDF containing high resolution images
(there is not such thing as a "high res PDF"), then you should use
preflight software to check for images with resolutions below a certain
percentage. Acrobat Professional, for example, includes such
functionality "out of the box" in its Preflight solution. That tells
you what you wish to know.
Whether the file was created by Distiller or not, and using what Job
Option file, isn't useful - since more and more PDFs are NOT produced
using Distiller but either "Direct Export" from authoring tools (such as
Adobe Creative Suite) or using server-based workflow solutions.
And no, Leonard doesn't work in a print shop....Leonard is responsible
for the PDF standardization process for Adobe and a senior member of the
Acrobat engineering team.
Leonard Rosenthol
PDF Standards Evangelist
Adobe Systems
If you want to see if you have a PDF containing high resolution images
(there is not such thing as a "high res PDF"), then you should use
preflight software to check for images with resolutions below a certain
percentage. Acrobat Professional, for example, includes such
functionality "out of the box" in its Preflight solution. That tells
you what you wish to know.
Whether the file was created by Distiller or not, and using what Job
Option file, isn't useful - since more and more PDFs are NOT produced
using Distiller but either "Direct Export" from authoring tools (such as
Adobe Creative Suite) or using server-based workflow solutions.
And no, Leonard doesn't work in a print shop....Leonard is responsible
for the PDF standardization process for Adobe and a senior member of the
Acrobat engineering team.
Leonard Rosenthol
PDF Standards Evangelist
Adobe Systems
Cory Smith
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
I understand there may several ways to see what the resolution of an image is, but the advantage of seeing what the job options were is you can tell what the customer did to the file.
Is that image 72 dpi because it's that way in the source doc or did the customer apply downsampling in their job options? you don't know and that is what the preflight doesn't tell you. That information can be very helpful when dealing with novice customers.
Customers do some weird stuff with files, so having as much information as possible is critical in determining what might need to be done to fix the file.
I can easily tell if a file is bad, but finding out why is what I struggle with, when dealing with PDF's.
> {quote:title=leonardr wrote:}{quote}
> Whether the file was created by Distiller or not, and using what Job
> Option file, isn't useful - since more and more PDFs are NOT produced
> using Distiller but either "Direct Export" from authoring tools (such as
> Adobe Creative Suite) or using server-based workflow solutions.
Almost all these programs have the same basic options (compression, font embedding/subsetting, downsampling) those are the more critical pieces of information for us, why not include that information in the document info
I understand there may several ways to see what the resolution of an image is, but the advantage of seeing what the job options were is you can tell what the customer did to the file.
Is that image 72 dpi because it's that way in the source doc or did the customer apply downsampling in their job options? you don't know and that is what the preflight doesn't tell you. That information can be very helpful when dealing with novice customers.
Customers do some weird stuff with files, so having as much information as possible is critical in determining what might need to be done to fix the file.
I can easily tell if a file is bad, but finding out why is what I struggle with, when dealing with PDF's.
> {quote:title=leonardr wrote:}{quote}
> Whether the file was created by Distiller or not, and using what Job
> Option file, isn't useful - since more and more PDFs are NOT produced
> using Distiller but either "Direct Export" from authoring tools (such as
> Adobe Creative Suite) or using server-based workflow solutions.
Almost all these programs have the same basic options (compression, font embedding/subsetting, downsampling) those are the more critical pieces of information for us, why not include that information in the document info
leonardr
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
I agree 110% that the need for "audit trails" are becoming an important part
of modern workflows, and not just at the end of the process when creating
and printing PDFs. We are seeing an increased interest in them all the way
back to the creation and authoring of content.
For example, what if (conceptually!) the contents of the history palette
were persistent in your documents as you edit? Not that you could necessary
go back in time (ala version control), but just that you could at least see
every step in the process of creating a piece of content from start to
finish?
This would work on each individual asset, as well as the combination of
assets (eg. In InDesign) and then into the final PDF itself and it's
production and (possible late-stage) editing.
NOTE: this isn't a product or even a technology announcement - just talking
loud about ideas that I've been hearing from users and how we could leverage
our current metadata workflows.
Leonard
I agree 110% that the need for "audit trails" are becoming an important part
of modern workflows, and not just at the end of the process when creating
and printing PDFs. We are seeing an increased interest in them all the way
back to the creation and authoring of content.
For example, what if (conceptually!) the contents of the history palette
were persistent in your documents as you edit? Not that you could necessary
go back in time (ala version control), but just that you could at least see
every step in the process of creating a piece of content from start to
finish?
This would work on each individual asset, as well as the combination of
assets (eg. In InDesign) and then into the final PDF itself and it's
production and (possible late-stage) editing.
NOTE: this isn't a product or even a technology announcement - just talking
loud about ideas that I've been hearing from users and how we could leverage
our current metadata workflows.
Leonard
Re: pdf file
Hi Leonard
Count this as another vote from the trenches for including the joboptions settings in the metadata of the PDF. When we preflight a PDF and find problems, one of the first things we need to figure out (quickly) is why is the problem there in the first place? If you get a preflight flag for low-res images it means that they could have come from the original file or from the settings used to create the PDF. If we could see that it was created with the "Smallest File Size" settings that's a big clue that we can relate to our client as to where things are going wrong so they can quickly fix them and send us a new PDF.
Preflight is great for telling us where something has gone wrong, this would be information to help us find out WHY which is just as important for fixing the problems and getting the job on press.
Shawn
Hi Leonard
Count this as another vote from the trenches for including the joboptions settings in the metadata of the PDF. When we preflight a PDF and find problems, one of the first things we need to figure out (quickly) is why is the problem there in the first place? If you get a preflight flag for low-res images it means that they could have come from the original file or from the settings used to create the PDF. If we could see that it was created with the "Smallest File Size" settings that's a big clue that we can relate to our client as to where things are going wrong so they can quickly fix them and send us a new PDF.
Preflight is great for telling us where something has gone wrong, this would be information to help us find out WHY which is just as important for fixing the problems and getting the job on press.
Shawn
Re: pdf file
It appears to me with the number of respones to this thread that adobe should consider adding this info to the pdf, there are many work arounds to this problem but how hard could it be. If I had one customer I had 100 tell me that since its a pdf that its cross platform and printable. In all of Adobe's ads I have not once seen them tell people that there are different setting for different kinds of pdf.
To top it all off Distiller ships with the default setting of "smallest file size".
It appears to me with the number of respones to this thread that adobe should consider adding this info to the pdf, there are many work arounds to this problem but how hard could it be. If I had one customer I had 100 tell me that since its a pdf that its cross platform and printable. In all of Adobe's ads I have not once seen them tell people that there are different setting for different kinds of pdf.
To top it all off Distiller ships with the default setting of "smallest file size".
leonardr
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
Distiller ships with the default setting of "Standard" - always has! Of
course, what Standard represents in terms of actual settings has varied from
version to version. That's why I don't really understand the use of putting
the NAME of the joboptions into a PDF.
As I said before - we are aware of the issue/concern and are looking at
various ways to provide the most useful information in an appropriate
fashion.
Leonard
Distiller ships with the default setting of "Standard" - always has! Of
course, what Standard represents in terms of actual settings has varied from
version to version. That's why I don't really understand the use of putting
the NAME of the joboptions into a PDF.
As I said before - we are aware of the issue/concern and are looking at
various ways to provide the most useful information in an appropriate
fashion.
Leonard
leonardr
Well-known member
Re: pdf file
Since a user can modify the settings of the job option, but keep the
name - I can most certainly produce a PDF with a "smallest file size"
job option and have it meet print quality.
In addition, "Standard" in Acrobat 6 is not the same as in 7 is not the
same as in 8 - there are variances. Maybe in some future version of
Acrobat, Standard would be the same as "High Quality Print".
A name is arbitrary. The values of the settings (resolution, font
policies, color, etc.) are useful.
Leonard
Since a user can modify the settings of the job option, but keep the
name - I can most certainly produce a PDF with a "smallest file size"
job option and have it meet print quality.
In addition, "Standard" in Acrobat 6 is not the same as in 7 is not the
same as in 8 - there are variances. Maybe in some future version of
Acrobat, Standard would be the same as "High Quality Print".
A name is arbitrary. The values of the settings (resolution, font
policies, color, etc.) are useful.
Leonard
Re: pdf file
Hi Leonard
Aren't the standard Adobe joboption settings protected? I've never been able to re-save with the exact same name or remove the originals. It either gives me an error or forces a (1) or (2) into the name. Just tried with Acrobat 7 and 8 and it wouldn't let me replace the Smallest File Size setting. Granted, I'm sure I could find a way if I really wanted to, but in real world use it's unlikely that an end user would go through the trouble. It's far more likely that they would create a PDF using the smallest file size settings and then claim to have used the PDF-X or our own custom settings.
A simple metadata tag of the Joboptions name along with the other info that's already available in the Description tab of Properties palette would make it very easy to tell when this happens. Not to mention that a savvy prepress operator would be able to see +which+ PDF library was used for the PDF Producer tag which would give them a quick clue as to whether the Standard joboptions from Acrobat 5 or Acrobat 8 were used.
None of this would be a substitute for a true preflight, but it would still be helpful in pointing to WHY certain values (resolution, font policies, color settings) that are determined by the joboptions are showing up in a PDF file. When PDFs are used for production printing, knowing WHY a problem happened is just as important as knowing that the problem exists in the first place.
Shawn
Hi Leonard
Aren't the standard Adobe joboption settings protected? I've never been able to re-save with the exact same name or remove the originals. It either gives me an error or forces a (1) or (2) into the name. Just tried with Acrobat 7 and 8 and it wouldn't let me replace the Smallest File Size setting. Granted, I'm sure I could find a way if I really wanted to, but in real world use it's unlikely that an end user would go through the trouble. It's far more likely that they would create a PDF using the smallest file size settings and then claim to have used the PDF-X or our own custom settings.
A simple metadata tag of the Joboptions name along with the other info that's already available in the Description tab of Properties palette would make it very easy to tell when this happens. Not to mention that a savvy prepress operator would be able to see +which+ PDF library was used for the PDF Producer tag which would give them a quick clue as to whether the Standard joboptions from Acrobat 5 or Acrobat 8 were used.
None of this would be a substitute for a true preflight, but it would still be helpful in pointing to WHY certain values (resolution, font policies, color settings) that are determined by the joboptions are showing up in a PDF file. When PDFs are used for production printing, knowing WHY a problem happened is just as important as knowing that the problem exists in the first place.
Shawn
Re: pdf file
I get files from all different soures, from secretary's who are in Word who hit the pdf button and think thats it, to people who print from there desktop printer. Almost every time I call these people they don't even know they have Distiller much less know where the setting are!! I know you can monkey with the setting to get a pdf to print but how does that help me? I deal with the general public who have no ideal what goes on in the backround. Adobe is telling everybody that pdf's are the greatest thing since sliced bread, then how about giving the printer some help. That all I'm asking is under File>Document Properties>Description> you alredy give what version of Distiller can you just add what setting?
I get files from all different soures, from secretary's who are in Word who hit the pdf button and think thats it, to people who print from there desktop printer. Almost every time I call these people they don't even know they have Distiller much less know where the setting are!! I know you can monkey with the setting to get a pdf to print but how does that help me? I deal with the general public who have no ideal what goes on in the backround. Adobe is telling everybody that pdf's are the greatest thing since sliced bread, then how about giving the printer some help. That all I'm asking is under File>Document Properties>Description> you alredy give what version of Distiller can you just add what setting?
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