Preps 5.3.3 and Acrobat Pro 9

[Al Ferrari]

For a long time now I have kept Acrobat Pro 8 installed after I installed Acrobat Pro 9, and generally I try to use 8, simply because that's the application I had used for printing the IT8 target to have Chomix profile my Epson 7880. So Acrobat 9 would only launch if I double clicked a pdf when neither was running. Mac OSX 10.5.8.

That's the background; now comes the problem: I recently started allowing Acrobat 9 to be the working pre press version to do the kind of fixes allowed without additional plugins. Well I started to have problems with Preps accepting the edited pdfs the last few days and have narrowed it down to the Acrobat 9 saving of the edited pdfs. Even just a simple name change without any edits causes Preps 5.3.3 to not accept the pdf.

Simply continuing the pdf editing in Acrobat Pro 8 solves the problem. So Acrobat Pro 9 and Preps 5.3.3 don't play well together. Has anyone else seen this?

Thanks,

Al

 

[M@CK]

reduce the PDF to version to 5. In Acrobat 9 go to Menu Document - Reduce File Size - Acrobat 5.0 and later

 

[DCurry]

I know you said you're not using plugins, but if you happen to have Pitstop there's a preference you can set that will not allow the PDF version to be changed upon saving. Not sure if there's a such a preference in Acrobat.

 

[Al Ferrari]

That worked like a charm!!!

That worked like a charm!!!

M@CK,

That worked like a charm!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you...

Al

 

[Al Ferrari]

Thanks for the reply Dan.

Our trial period for Pitstop ran out and the company is too cheap to go for it.

Al

 

[Joe]

You can also edit a config file in Preps to get them to work without doing the "Reduce File Size" which degrades the quality.

- In the Preps 5.3.3 default.cfg file, modify:
USE_PPT_PDFLIB:NO
Change to:
USE_PPT_PDFLIB:YES

 

[Al Ferrari]

Hi Joe,

I like that better since I then will not have to process each pdf. But please explain what exactly does that instruct Preps to do? Does that tell Preps to use it's own pdf library? Or does it tell it to use the one coming in with the pdf? I imagine it is the former, but please confirm that.

Also, are there any negative consequences to that change?

I see you had posted about this in September 23, 2009 at http://www.b4print.com/index.php?topic=3903.0, but there is no discussion of any consequences there either.

Again, thanks.

Al

 

[DCurry]

As far as I can tell, the only thing Preps uses its "library" for is if you are running a mixed PS/PDF workflow. The option in Preferences is to tell Preps what to use to convert PDF to PostScript in that instance - do you want it to use Acrobat to convert or Preps' internal PDF-to-PS converter.

 

[Al Ferrari]

Hi Dan,

So are you saying that it does not play a role in a pdf to pdf work flow?

Al

 

[Joe]

Hi Joe,

I like that better since I then will not have to process each pdf. But please explain what exactly does that instruct Preps to do? Does that tell Preps to use it's own pdf library? Or does it tell it to use the one coming in with the pdf? I imagine it is the former, but please confirm that.

Also, are there any negative consequences to that change?

I see you had posted about this in September 23, 2009 at PDF Read Error, but there is no discussion of any consequences there either.

Again, thanks.

Al

Some from Kodak posted this at the GUA forum once:

Notes found in the Preps 5.3.2 release notes:

By default, the Preps internal converter continues to be used for PDF internal conversion, because testing shows that it handles most PDF files better. The new Acrobat PDF library can optionally be used, particularly for PDF files that contain newer features such as transparency and compressed objects. However, using Acrobat for conversion can cause preview and print performance issues.

If you need to use the Acrobat PDF library, you can set the new USE_PPT_PDFLIB profile option to YES in the default.cfg file.

 

[Al Ferrari]

Joe,

So that still leaves the issue in a quandary.

But let's go back to where you point out that using the pdf reducing method degrades quality. M@CK's suggestion was to reduce to 5. Is the degradation less if we reduce only to 6, or 7, or 8?

Al

 

[Joe]

If you are using the Acrobat Optimizer there are settings to keep image quality the same as it is to start with but I think the "Reduce File Size" option doesn't give that choice. If I remember correctly, "Reduce File Size" changes the image resolution to 72 dpi. But it has been awhile since I used Acrobat 8 or 9 so I'm not 100% sure on that.

Before we moved to Prinergy I used the settings shown above in the Preps configuration file without any issues.

 

[Al Ferrari]

Joe,

I was so focussed on the success of simply being able to open the customer supplied pdf in Preps 5.3.3 when processed by the file reduction method that I blinded my self to the obvious fact that the reduce file size method accomplishes the file size reduction by reducing the images to 72 dpi. I even use that method several times a week to send low res pdfs soft proofs to customers.

As it turned out, the file I processed in responding to M@CK early in this thread was a text only file, so I was very gratified by the result.

Al

 

[Al Ferrari]

Joe,

I've done some homework reading:

Understanding Acrobat 9's Optimizer

I'll try using the compatibility popup in the Clean Up tab to make customer supplied pdfs acceptable to Preps 5.3.3.

Thanks for the lesson.

Al

 

[Joe]

Good luck!

 

[DCurry]

Hi Dan,

So are you saying that it does snot play a role in a pdf to pdf work flow?

Al

Yes, that is what I'm saying (as far as I know, anyway.) A PDF-to-PDF workflow simply passes the PDF code straight through - there is no conversion taking place. Conversions only take place if you use a mixed workflow, which is really just a PS workflow that converts PDFs to PS behind the scenes, either using Acrobat or Preps' internal converter based on your Preferences setting. If anyone knows for a fact that this is incorrect, please let chime in to correct me.

If I'm understanding your problem correctly, you are performing edits in Acrobat 9, then saving the PDF, then adding it into Preps. This is where you are seeing the error. All that error really is is Preps telling you (cryptically) that it can't handle the PDF version. By using the Reduce File Size to essentially backsave the PDF format, you're giving Preps something it can work with. My only problem with that is the lack of user options to control or at least see what is actually happening to the file to reduce the size. Size reduction is not really the goal here, so you might experiment with PDF Optimizer (under the Advanced menu) to see if that will work for you. The dialog window gives you control so you don't unintentionally downsample or recompress any images. You can even save your preferred settings as Presets.

I would take a PDF that you know exhibits the initial problem, then use Optimizer to make it Acrobat 8 compatible. See if that works. If not, try it again (from the original PDF, not the Acro 8 one you just made) and make it Acrobat 7 compatible and keep working your way back til you hit the one that works. Don't go back to 4, as that will flatten transparency. I'm hoping that Acro 8 compatible should work, since that was what you were using prior to upgrading to 9.

edit - I just took the time to read some subsequent posts, which already addressed the Optimizer vs. Reduce File size issue, so I'm sorry for repeating!

 

[Al Ferrari]

I just took the time to read some subsequent posts, which already addressed the Optimizer vs. Reduce File size issue, so I'm sorry for repeating!

Not to worry Dan, you did a fine job of fleshing out that particular corner of the discussion, at least for me. I only wish more forum members would take the time to go the distance with their posts as you have.

Well done. Thanks again.

Al

 

[Al Ferrari]

Any Preps users following this thread should be sure to read DCurry's post:
http://printplanet.com/forums/kodak-systems/29543-preps-5-3-3-acrobat-pro-9-a-post186184#post186184 of 7:55 8-26-2012.

Al

 

[Al Ferrari]

OK, I have done exactly as Dan describes in his third paragraph. I have done it both with Acrobat 8 and 9 to the same original file which caused me to post this thread. And with both versions it was not until I got to compatibility with 5 in the Clean Up tab of the Optimizer that the file became acceptable to Preps. Note that simply opening and Saving As from version 8 did not cure the problem.

This particular file was a Microsoft word generated pdf from Windows not needing any fixes beyond making it acceptable to Preps 5.3.3. I cannot post the customer file, but if anyone requests it, I can give all of the specific information from all of the tabs in the File Information window and the Additional Metadata popup.

Al