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Powerpoint 2003 Colour Problem.. HELP!

dablo81
Registered: May 1 2008
Posts: 10

Hi,
Can anyone help me? My colleague and I create a lot of PDFs for our job, but when we create them, a difference occurs in the final PDFs.

The difference relates to colours. When I create a PDF from Powerpoint 2003, using Acrobat 8 professional (as part of CS3) and the PDFMaker icon within Powerpoint, the PDF is perfect (i.e. as created in powerpoint). However, when my colleague creates a PDF, using the exact same document, using the exact same method, but with Acrobat 7 professional (stand alone version), some of the coloured boxes become chequered. with lines running horizontally and vertically.

I have checked both of our settings and they're identical. I have also looked at the PDF properties once they've been created and the only difference I can see is that my version (8 pro) is tagged, whilst my colleagues (7 pro) is not.

Can anyone suggest how I can fix the problem as I am getting tired of having to create all of his PDFs to avoid the chequered boxes.

Many thanks,
David

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 8.0, Windows
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Do the chequered boxes disappear if you do the following:

1. Choose Edit > Preferences.2. Choose Smoothing.

3. Deselect Smooth Line Art and Smooth Images.

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

dablo81
Registered: May 1 2008
Posts: 10
lkassuba wrote:
Do the chequered boxes disappear if you do the following:1. Choose Edit > Preferences.2. Choose Smoothing.

3. Deselect Smooth Line Art and Smooth Images.
Thanks for the suggestion but this makes it worse. Any other suggestions? Can I post images into the forum? I could then show you what is happening.
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Does the problem only occur on screen or when you print as well?

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.

dablo81
Registered: May 1 2008
Posts: 10
lkassuba wrote:
Does the problem only occur on screen or when you print as well?
It only happens when on screen. Unfortunately the nature of our business means that we send a lot of our PDF documents out via email rather than post, hence the need the rectify the situation.

I did consider the possibility that it was a problem with the monitoe, but I have opened the same powerpoint document as a PDF, one converted to PDF by my colleague, the second converted by myself, and his document has the chequered lines whilst mine doesn't, thus ruling out an issue with the monitor.
lkassuba
ExpertTeam
Registered: Jun 28 2007
Posts: 3636
Since this is only occurring on screen, I believe you've run into the issue where the PostScript driver (used when creating the PDF) creates a bit mask and a color image to reduce the file size when it draws images. When Acrobat resamples 1-bit images on-screen, it doesn't resample the bitmask, and part of it may appear as black lines or a border around an image due to inexact alignment of the bitmask and the color image.

You can try updating your version of Acrobat 7 to 7.0.9 to see if it corrects the problem but this might have been something that was addressed in version 8. Here is a technical note with additional information:

http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=329667&sliceId=1

Lori Kassuba is an AUC Expert and Community Manager for AcrobatUsers.com.