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Mac PDF files not readable on PC

Feb 7, 2007 4:32 PM

  Latest reply: Mainer12, Dec 2, 2011 11:46 AM
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  • lrosenth
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    40. lrosenth,
    Nov 11, 2009 6:34 AM   in reply to obpobp
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    Without seeing the PDF in question, the best answer I can give you is that the PDF was created improperly...

     

    While the PDF itself is Portable - the ability for certain aspects of the file format to be properly rendered require that the creator of the file follow the standard AND use best practices in preparing the file (eg. Embedding all fonts).

     

    As the expression goes - "garbage in, garbage out".

     
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  • obpobp
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    41. obpobp,
    Nov 11, 2009 6:46 AM   in reply to lrosenth
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    Of course that's correct -- the file was improperly created. My question is: What can I do with it now?

     

    This is a file that was created by sub-contractor designers, so I can't just regenerate the file "properly". My question is whether there's any way to make sure that a PDF file I can read can be read by everyone else too.

     

    That's why I tried converting and opening it in different programs and saving in all sorts of formats -- I was hoping that there's some Adobe product that can always save a file "properly" (i.e. embedding all fonts etc.), given that it can read it.

     

    Is there?

     

    Thank you for your help.

     
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  • lrosenth
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    42. lrosenth,
    Nov 11, 2009 7:01 AM   in reply to obpobp
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    If you can post the PDF then I can tell you what is wrong with it.  Otherwise, anything I say is a guess (since my crystal ball is not functioning this week).

     
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  • obpobp
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    43. obpobp,
    Nov 11, 2009 7:43 AM   in reply to lrosenth
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    Ok, here's the solution I found:

     

    Take the file that doesn't display correctly.

     

    Open it in Preview on a Mac

     

    Select Print, but then select the pdf option in the print menu and save as a ps (postscript) file

     

    Convert the postscript file using the unix ps2pdf command.

     

    The end result is a file that doesn't give any error messages under unix and displays properly in all viewers I've tested

     

    Mac:

    Preview

    Adobe Reader 9.2.0

    Acrobat 6.0.6 Professional

    Adobe Illustrator CS   (Illustrator complained a bit, but displayed it correctly).

     

    Windows:
    Acrobat 7.0 Professional

    Adobe Reader 8

     
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  • lrosenth
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    44. lrosenth,
    Nov 11, 2009 7:50 AM   in reply to obpobp
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    You do realize that the version of Acrobat and Illustrator you have installed on your Mac are:

    1) No longer supported by Adobe

    2) Not compatible with the OS that you have installed

     

    Refrying the PDF, as you have done, is a hack - it doesn't solve the problem, just works around it.

     
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  • obpobp
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    45. obpobp,
    Nov 11, 2009 8:00 AM   in reply to lrosenth
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    Since I cannot reproduce the file from source because it was sent to me as it was, I can't think of another choice but to "re-fry" it. Is there?

    The problem is quite independent from my software -- I can read the file anyway, the question was: How can I make sure it can be read by anyone (without the option of recreating it using CS4, for example)?

     

    I'm testing as many old and no-longer-supported and incompatible versions of programs as I can get my hands on. Again: My problem is that I want this file to be readable with any program anyone might still be using, without being able to re-generate it.

     

    By the way: Which of the programs are incompatible with my operating system?

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    46. discinque,
    Nov 11, 2009 8:09 AM   in reply to obpobp
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    When I create a pdf file.. I get a pop up that asks me what version of pdf

    do I want it readable in.  I typically choose Ver7 or newer - but you can go

    older than that.  But I'm not sure where that choice is generated from -

    Adobe or Mac.

     
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  • obpobp
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    47. obpobp,
    Nov 11, 2009 8:19 AM   in reply to discinque
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    which program are you using to create the pdf?

     
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  • Currently Being Moderated
    48. discinque,
    Nov 11, 2009 9:20 AM   in reply to obpobp
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    Ok, just dug  through my programs to see where this pops up.  The problem is

    I use several programs to create the PDF - iWorks, Preview (some nice tools

    in there - and communicates better with my printer than Adobe), and CS4

    Acrobat Pro.  I do a lot of graphics and send them via email for approval.

    So in Acrobat I'll often use Document>Reduce File Size... and that is where

    I get the choice of how I want it read.  Might be in other places, but

    that's where I get the prompt.

     
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  • obpobp
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    49. obpobp,
    Nov 11, 2009 9:24 AM   in reply to discinque
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    Excellent, thank you. I'll try that too.

     
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  • BeeleJoachim
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    50. BeeleJoachim,
    Apr 13, 2010 3:35 AM   in reply to (Michael_Murano)
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    Naming conventions

     

    Try to rename your document.

    Avoid dots in filenames.

    Remove all dots except ".pdf".

    Example:

    Rename

    "10. Title pp. 40-56.pdf" to

    "10 Title pp 40-56.pdf".

     

    Now try to open the renamed file on the PC.

    Does it work?

     
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  • BeeleJoachim
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    51. BeeleJoachim,
    Apr 13, 2010 3:41 AM   in reply to (Michael_Murano)
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    Naming conventions

     

    Try to rename your document.

    Avoid dots in filenames.

    Remove all dots except ".pdf".

    Example:

    Rename

    "10. Title pp. 40-56.pdf" to

    "10 Title pp 40-56.pdf".

     

    Now try to open the renamed file on the PC.

    Does it work?

     
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  • sdona87
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    52. sdona87,
    Dec 29, 2010 4:43 PM   in reply to (Michael_Murano)
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    I had problems reading PDFs created (not my me) with Quartz Context on Mac. Graphs read on e-book reader Sony PRS-650 (running Adobe Reader) were faulty. Same graphs created with Adobe were ok.

    I found a workaround using Ghostscript:

    gs -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sOutputFile=newfile.pdf file.pdf


    The new files are perfectly readable on the reader now, and the pages are again text-based.

     
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  • Pnaujeck
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    53. Pnaujeck,
    Aug 16, 2011 11:10 AM   in reply to (Michael_Murano)
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    I'm also experiencing the same problems,I want to upload a copy of the file but i don't know how!

     
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  • WebbDesignLLC
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    54. WebbDesignLLC,
    Oct 18, 2011 12:45 PM   in reply to (Michael_Murano)
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    I'm having trouble with my PC opening all the data in a PDF sent from my Mac. When the PC opens the PDF, a few lines of text will be missing here and there. What can i do to fix this?

     
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  • Dov Isaacs
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    55. Dov Isaacs,
    Oct 18, 2011 1:04 PM   in reply to WebbDesignLLC
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    PDF files are not platform-specific.

     

    How was the particular PDF file created? Programs? Joboptions?

     

    What program (and version) did you view the PDF file with on the Macintosh?

     

    What program (and version) did you view the PDF file with on Windows?

     

    Assuming you used either Adobe Reader or Acrobat on both platforms, I might suggest checking whether you have the latest video driver on your Windows system and if not, update that and try viewing the PDF file again. The fact that the file opens on Windows and I assume doesn't yield an error message would be indicative that the file was not corrupted in the e-mail transfer.

     

              - Dov

     
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  • Mainer12
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    56. Mainer12,
    Nov 28, 2011 8:17 AM   in reply to Dov Isaacs
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    Just to add to the mix:  I downloaded PDF files and zip files containing PDFs from the net to my Mac.  I then dragged them to a thumb drive and tried to open them on a PC.  None would open.  All Adobe products were current.  Renaming would not work.  However, several things did work--eventually.  For the PDFs, I brought the drive back to the Mac and exported each PDF file back to the drive and replace the old file.  All were now readable on the PC.  For the zip files, I just opened each one on the thumb drive.  Folders were created on the drive and all were readable on the PC.

     

    A more complicated solution was to e-mail each file as an attachment and pick them up on the PC. They all opened.

     

    There might be an easier way, but I couldn't find it. ( Working in Lion and XP2 service pack 3.)

     
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  • cdisanto2
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    57. cdisanto2,
    Dec 2, 2011 8:11 AM   in reply to Mainer12
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    I too am having problems with PC users viewing my PDFs. I have links in the PDFs to other PDFs, DOCs, PPTX, etc. and they are not able to open the links. Seems ok from Mac to Mac. I zipped the files for the PC users to download, could the zipping have something to do with it? (Acrobat 9, Mac OS 10.6.8)

     

    Thanks!

     
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  • Mainer12
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    58. Mainer12,
    Dec 2, 2011 11:46 AM   in reply to cdisanto2
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    One more thing.  The mail program was NOT Mac Mail, but Thunderbird.

     
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