I have several documents created with InDesign 3.x that are spit out to layered PDFs. I then took these into Acrobat 9.x and set certain layers to be visible but to never print. I then put all of these PDFs into a nice PDF portfolio. The problem appears to be that when the PDF portfolio is printed, layers are printing that shouldn't and others are not that should. Basically, the PDF portfolio is not honoring the settings in the layers of the individual PDF.
If I open the PDF in the porfolio and print just the current page, it works fine. If I extract the PDF from the portfolio and print, it works fine. It only does not work correctly when the PDF is part of the portfolio and I choose to print the entire portfolio.
This is very annoying and would seem to be another reason that the PDF portfolio feature is half baked. Any ideas anyone? Any at all would be helpful.
printing all PDFs in a portfolio and running into an issue with layers
2011-04-04 09:05:28
Answered
My Product Information:
Acrobat Pro 9.4.2, Macintosh
Acrobat Pro 9.4.2, Macintosh
2011-04-04 11:14:27
#2
This is a bug. There is a calculation that has to be performed on each Layer, using the layer settings, to determine whether or not the layer is displayed. If the calculation is not performed, then all layers are displayed. This happens with PDF viewers that do not implement the layer feature. Seem like the portfolio print is acting like a cheap 3rd party viewer. In a way this makes sense. In Portfolio display mode the PDF pages are shown using a "Preview", which is a simplified viewer. It's entirely possible that the previewer doesn't honor Layer settings.To test this idea, set a layer to not visible on the screen. Then add it to a portfolio and view it in the Portfolio preview. If the layer displays you know that the previewer is not using the settings.
Hello Thom.I appreciate your response. Ironically enough, the PDF in question uses document scripts to turn on and off OCG layers thanks to another excellent tutorial from you. I can indeed confirm that when I view the "thumbnail" of the page in the PDF portfolio, the layers that are visible do not match up to the view when you view the PDF itself.
Unfortunately this "bug" totally kills the usefulness of the PDF porfolio itself. Combined with the fact that individual PDFs can't be emailed from inside and user data can't be populated across the individual PDFs, the whole PDF portfolio is nice to look at, but useless in real world applications.
On the bright side. Some of your other tutorials have been very helpful to me. Perhaps Adobe can work on making their software work as advertised in their slick PDF brochures.
2011-04-04 12:11:03
#3
... It's entirely possible that the previewer doesn't honor Layer settings.
Correct, it does not (and neither does the thumbnail handler for the OS explorer window, which uses the same engine). The issue with printing from the Portfolio context has been noted, though I can't say if/when it'll be fixed.
2011-04-04 12:37:19
#4
Since this portfolio was created in Acrobat Pro 9.4.x and the end users are printing it using either Acrobat 8 Pro, Acrobat Reader X or Acrobat 9 Pro, I have to conclude that this bug is still present in Acrobat X. Unfortunately, based on previous experience, I also know that the chances of this issue being fixed are slim to none. Problems such as this will make me think twice about investing time and energy into using a flawed workflow.
2011-04-04 12:47:02
#5
You can always write a script to print the individual attachments in the Portfolio. It's not ideal, but then what is;)
2011-04-04 12:50:33
#6
I have to conclude that this bug is still present in Acrobat X.
Yes it is, but as I said it's been noted.
To test this idea, set a layer to not visible on the screen. Then add it to a portfolio and view it in the Portfolio preview. If the layer displays you know that the previewer is not using the settings.
Thom Parker
The source for PDF Scripting Info
www.pdfscripting.com
Very Important - How to Debug Your Script