Clean PDF, BAD output?

[DonnaL]

I created a PDF from Publisher (ick!) and the PDF looks great, however when I send it to our copier (electronically), some text/page numbers come out all smooshed together. This is random. I sent it again and the smooshed text/page numbers are in different spots.
Why?
How come?
Does anyone know how I can fix this problem?

Thanks!

[D-Zine]

Did you use Distiller to create your PDF or just export from Publisher to create it? If you just used publisher, that is probobly why. Also...are you setting it to embedd your fonts? If you aren't that could be another reason why.

[DonnaL]

Yes, I used distiller... as for the settings in distiller, I'll have to double check that. DANG! I hope that's not what it is...
A customer supplied us with their Year Book. 136 INDIVIDUAL pages in Publisher!
--- OK, just checked the distiller settings. They're fine.
Any other ideas?

[D-Zine]

Are you dragging them into Distiller one by one to create the PDFs or dropping them into there all at one time?

[DonnaL]

Drag and dropped 1 by 1 - individually. I got no errors, the pdf's look perfectly fine, just when sending to the b/w printer we have here, it's random where some letters overlap. I can send the same pdf and it'll happen in other spots. you get the picture tho right? LOL!

[D-Zine]

Yeah - I get what you're saying..LOL! Only - I'm not sure how to fix it! Sounds like there is a short between your file and the RIP...haha ;)

Broacher!! Calling Broacher!! Clean up on PDF Isle 5 eh? ;)
Donna needs your help!!

There! Maybe that will help. Hopefully he will be along soon for some advice! :D

[DonnaL]

Hope so... boss lady just left for the day and next-in-line will start hounding me for the job. And I don't want my Friday blown by her. I'm still in a good mood and I don't want it to get ruined.

Thanks D-Z, in the meantime I'm gonna kick around with it a bit more. See what I esle I can do to muck it up some more.

[greyghost]

I can't figure it out either... part of my problem would be I don't work with publisher, but are the files entirely text? Could the support files be saved wrong? I have a love/hate relationship with these kind of errors... I hope Broacher can help!

Wait - have you tried a different font? Like a TT font if it isn't one already?

[DonnaL]

It seems to be just regular Times. It mostly shows up in the page numbers.
The customer did their year book in publisher. So there's tons of graphics/different fonts and school photos/collages etc. But where the font is bunching up together it looks like plain ol' Times. Don't forget tho, these are individual files not one big 136 page document.
Again, where the page numbers are and the names of the students under their photos are whats getting distorted.
Other fonts that she used I have no problems with. If I attempt to replace the times font, I'll be spending WAY to much time on this dang book!
Did I mention I HATE PUBLISHER?!

[Broacher]

Funny, I just had this strange, cold and clammy feeling of someone walking over my lower back region with a stinking Publisher file.

1) Have you checked, in Acrobat, the font status under File/Document Properties/Fonts tab? (assuming you have version 6 or 7) Pay extra attention to the embedding status of that errant Times font.

2) Have you tried taking an errant PDF page and saving it out as an EPS or a PS file (Level 1, all fonts and images embedded, blobbity bloo...) and THEN redistilling this file?

3) Have you considered a career in proctology? The pay is better, even if the view of your client doesn't much change.

[DonnaL]

Cripes! LOL... here's my dilemma... I'm trying EVERYthing possible to avoid re-PDF'ing the entire job again.
After I PDF each individual page, I have to open page 1 then I drag and drop all the remaining 135 pages below it, then use quite imposing to create an 11x17 booklet, then put in a Creep. That alone took me 7 hours to do on Wednesday.
BUT... I will reluctantly give #1 a look-see.
Anything I can do with the final 11x17 PDF w/creep instead of working with all the indies?

[DonnaL]

A little more info....
Under Adobe PDF Converter Advanced Options is: TrueType Font Download Option. This is set to Auto. The other choices are... Outline/Bitmap/Native TrueType. Should this be changed?
This is located in the Print dialogue box under Properties of the Adobe PDF chose printer. Or should it be left alone?
As for the Look-see on #1 - it's all fine.
Using Acrobat 6/Distiller 6 (for PC obviously, if I'm dealing with Pukeisher)
++++++++
LUNCH TIME!!!!! be back in an hour

[Broacher]

>>Anything I can do with the final 11x17 PDF w/creep instead of working with all the indies?<<

In Windows (and I think now, in the Mac version too) you can drag a list of individual PDF files displayed in a file browser directly into an open PDF and the files will add themselves automatically in the order that they are displayed in the file pane to the end of the open PDF. That should save some time.

As for the creeps thing (I thought all Publish files gave us those?), don't you apply this after the imposition with Quite Imposing's Control Panel (Trim and Shift)?

As for your Distiller settings: 'Adobe PDF Converter'? What's that? Are you not using Distiller proper? I don't get it.

As for TTF conversion: OUTLINES. Anything else is asking for a smacked bottom. Also, this guarantees that TTF font names are discarded and replaced with internally generated ones-- especially important in the case of 'Times' as it's one of the 'assumed' default fonts in the Acrobat setup. Distiller job options should be set to subset all fonts too, in my opinion.

Gotta go, long weekend awaits. Good luck!

[DonnaL]

>>>then use quite imposing to create an 11x17 booklet, then put in a Creep.<<<<

I did use quite imposing "trim/shift" for the creep.
Well... hmmmm
Guess I'll go back to distilling all the pages again and make sure the setting is set for outline.

All fonts are embedded subset 100%

As for the Adobe PDF Converter.. it's just an inside option in the Print Dialogue within Publisher.

Ok, back to square 1.
Thanks for all the input tho... seemed to help.
I'll let you know what happens.

[Broacher]

>>As for the Adobe PDF Converter.. it's just an inside option in the Print Dialogue within Publisher<<

If it's from Microsoft, it's a dead racoon on your desktop, as far as reliable PDF or postscript goes. Print directly to a PS file instead--much more reliable.

A note about Publisher>PDF. Beware the GIF borders and clipart that come with this package. They contain transparency and while they print okay directly from Publish, when going to PDF it's a nightmare because this kind of transparency is NOT supported directly in the format. Result? A gabazillion little pixel highed clipping paths, an unwieldy mess, and massive PDFs.

[DonnaL]

Worked 2 hours OT Saturday to re-pdf all them dang pages! What I ended up doing was selecting the printer as the PS printer instead of the Adobe PDF printer. Seemed to work.
As for the Trim & Shift in Quite Imposing... it didn't work. Boss lady took over job and she troubleshooted why the creep wasn't working.
Won't go into details as I was confused by her explaining it to me. LOL!