PDF import/export screwing up images? Need urgent help please!

Hi everyone

New here and new to Xara. Using Xara Designer Pro X.

I have an existing PDF (this is the only format I have available), which is a company profile document with some images and some text. The images are 3 photographs and 2 logos.

I need to edit the file (not changing anything i.t.o. design, just want to change some of the text content).

When I open the PDF, it seems to import correctly, but one of the photographs appears to be filtered somehow. It almost look like a negative, although if I copy and paste the image to pixlr and make it negative I don't get the original image either, so not 100% sure.

I thought this was just a display issue, but it's not, because if I export the file to PDF (draft quality) that image remains a "negative" of what it was in the original PDF.

If I export the file to PDF in high quality mode (300dpi), it turns ALL the images into negatives (except that the one that's already negative just remains negative).

I've played around with a few options in the export and import processes, but haven't been able to find anything that helps. I'm attaching the original PDF and the end result (this was created by following just 2 steps namely open file in Xara Designer Pro X, then select File => Export and choose the option for high quality, 300 dpi.

Attachment 92720
Attachment 92721

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello.

I made several tries, even with my own files, and I have the same results.

I think the solution could be to export in another extension : then it works. TIFF 300 dpi for instance ?

Hi. The problem with that is I only have the original file in PDF and as soon as I import that the one photograph is already corrupted in this way. I could export to e.g. TIFF, but that only solves the second part of the problem. Any idea how I can undo this after the import so that I can get a TIFF or similar with all the images correct?

If you have Acrobat, you can make some simple copy changes without effecting the rest of the document.

There is something funky about the jpeg encoding or the transparency blending space when it was clipped into the oval on that JPG. If you want, here's a copy of the XAR file which might suffice for moving forward.

What I did. Using Acrobat, I exported that image to a TIFF, opened the PDF in XDP, unclipped both pages (which took a few remove clipview commands), created an oval to replace the oval the original was clipped into. Why create a new oval shape? Because such shapes in a PDF generally become a pair of shapes, one for the outer, one for the inner and one cannot use them for a clip operation.

While at it, my webdings did not map properly for the character used (the triangle), I replaced those.

BTW. Among all software that creates PDFs, InDesign as used for the original document, can be the most troublesome.

Take care, Mike

A solution to this has been provided through support after the OP submitted a support ticket.

It involved re-saving the PDF from Illustrator before importing that into Designer Pro, as Mike says InDesign can be troublesome. A suitable bug has been logged for this case as well.

Thank you, Pete.

Yes, I should have exported all the images and replaced them. I failed to output to PDF to test it. Only the single image I replaced was OK. I fixed the XAR file at my end (and checked the output <g>) and of course, cannot edit my post to replace the attachment.

Why did I use Acrobat instead of AI? Because there always will be PDF issues at one time or another and believe Acrobat is of use to the general and professional designer versus AI. Picking up one version back of Acrobat is considerably less expensive than AI and has a host of other benefits, the main one for me is checking color, preflighting, etc.

Take care, Mike

Hi everyone, and thanks for all the help.

I got a workable version out using mike's input above.

Just thought I would come and post some feedback as yesterday was too hectic:
@gwpriester: Thanks, but I don't have Acrobat
@PeteS: I did try the file received from support, however this had a different problem when I exported to PDF, in that it created a rectangular background in black around all of the images and the export seemed to make all the fonts fuzzy... Not sure what I did differently, but later on tried it again and it was fine (but by that time I had gone too far down the other road). The other problem with this was that it only gave me a copy of the original (i.e. my content changes not in yet) and that in itself was quite a lot of work because of the way the text was structured in the original. Does seem odd that the export to PDF exhibits this behaviour when exporting in 300dpi, but not in draft quality, but glad to note that a bug was logged too.
@Mike: Your modified version pushed it through. Although the modified file you gave me helped, it wasn't quite 100% as the other two photographs still had issues (i.e. going negative when exporting to PDF). Also, as noted in my comment to Pete above, this was still the original and by the time I got this, I had spent quite a lot of time changing and rearranging text, so the procedure to fix it turned out to be much more valuable than the file itself. This gave me the clue I needed and I was able to follow a similar procedure to get it done (minus the luxury of the Acrobat).



Thanks everyone for the input.