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Wierd PDF file format/version problem

syswizard
Registered: May 29 2010
Posts: 46

I had my wife use Paperport Scan feature to create PDF files from scanned documents.
When I imported them into Acrobat 9, a lot of features were disabled:
1) could not Edit Image
2) could not use Typewriter - the font control options were disabled
3) could not use Textbox - once again, no control over the font.

I re-distilled the whole thing, and viola, the above started to work.
However, I am curious how I could detect a "bad" or non-compliant PDF file ?
Note: when I re-distilled the original PDF, the new one was not as sharp....
despite using the High Quality print image setting.

Is the problem related to third party vendors creating non-compliant PDF versions or what ?
If so, how could I detect these ?

My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro Extended 9.3.1, Windows
gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
SysWizard,

Scanners are a variation of a camera. They just take a picture of the document. One then needs to perform an OCR, Optical Character Recognition, of the image to create the text from the image.

If Acrobat opened the PDF then it is a gook PDF.

There is an ISO standard for PDFs, how did the "bad" PDFs not meet that standard?

George Kaiser

syswizard
Registered: May 29 2010
Posts: 46
gkaiseril wrote:
SysWizard,Scanners are a variation of a camera. They just take a picture of the document. One then needs to perform an OCR, Optical Character Recognition, of the image to create the text from the image.

If Acrobat opened the PDF then it is a good PDF.

There is an ISO standard for PDFs, how did the "bad" PDFs not meet that standard ?
I get it...but understand that it is the scanning SOFTWARE that is at question here.
There is obviously SOME CHARACTERISTIC or PROPERTY of that PDF that was created by Paperport's SCANDIRECT software that is causing the problem.
That's what I need to know.
In retrospect I would not be having a problem had I specified to have the scanner software output in TIFF format vs. PDF format.

Again, by distilling the PDF, I was able to get back to a "normal" PDF...one that could have Typewriter and Textbox annotations added. I have a funny feeling the problem has something to do with LAYERS.
daka630
Expert
Registered: Mar 1 2007
Posts: 1420
Just an observation --
To resolve issues with the Paperport product I'd track that provider's updates, knowledge base, and user community.
As PDF is an ISO standard and "doing" PDF is a competitive thing I'd guess that the non-Adobe vendors will be improving their products.

jmo - but, if a non-Adobe "PDF" product is not providing PDFs the can be "worked" I'd uninstall it and run with Acrobat Standard/Pro/Pro Extended.
You cannot retrieve life minutes lost to use of something that does get it quite right, eh?

Be well...

Be well...

gkaiseril
Expert
Registered: Feb 23 2006
Posts: 4307
With Nuance products, you may have choices on how to save the PDF. The choices could be image, image with hidden text, or text and images.

The problem with refrying the PDF is that Acrobat re-samples and uses a lossy compression technikque so some information about the image or how to draw text data is lost during the compression.

George Kaiser

syswizard
Registered: May 29 2010
Posts: 46
gkaiseril wrote:
With Nuance products, you may have choices on how to save the PDF. The choices could be image, image with hidden text, or text and images.
Thanks for that...I'll check out which was the default.

Quote:
The problem with refrying the PDF is that Acrobat re-samples and uses a lossy compression technikque so some information about the image or how to draw text data is lost during the compression.
Is there any way to minimize this effect ?
The settings that I used:
General: resolution=2400
General: optimize for fast web view=checked
Advanced: Allow postscript to override PDF settings
Images: Grayscale Image: Downsample to 300 pix/in; Compression=Automatic(JPEG)

OK..I think I answered my own question.
Since the entire document was an image, and I selected black/white as the color option, the compression should have been set to OFF.