Cannot set page size with 211.1 mm - exports PDF as 211.0 mm

[kaadeewee]

Hi

I need to setup an document for printing.

The book cover needs to be 211.1 mm wide.

I change the width to 211.1 mm in the document setting and everything seems to be ok.

But when I export to PDF, the resulting PDF has a width of 211.0 mm.

My online book printer does not accept the "wrong" width.

Any ideas what to do?

Thanks,

Karsten

[Jongware]

Internally, all measurements inside a PDF are in points, so some rounding may be applied. When exporting a file with your dimensions, the otherwise rather reliable Acrobat Pro suddenly is unsure of what measurement to display!

My preferred default is millimeter, and for this it shows as a plain "211 mm".

In "centimeters", it gains not one but two decimals: "21.108 cm"

In "points", it is displayed as "598.4 pt", which equals 211.102222 mm.

"Inches" is the most unreliable with only 2 digits of precision: "8.31 in", which equals 211.074 mm.

However, I don't think that is a problem. Clearly, there is a lot of on-screen rounding going on! Let's take a peek inside the document and see what it actually says.

The MediaBox is reported to be 598.39398 pts wide ^a, which already is far more precise than what the main window of Acrobat reports. This is "211.1000985" in mm, that is, just a hair's breadth too much – 2 parts per million. (Oh wait a minute and let me look up what a typical hair's breadth is. According to Hair's breadth - Wikipedia , it is 75μm – 0.075 mm –, so to be pedantically precise, it is 761.4 times smaller than a hair's breadth.)

kaadeewee  wrote

My online book printer does not accept the "wrong" width.

Ask him why.

Older software may not be able to work with decimals in the MediaBox (and others) values. For your correct document, a size of 598 pt may get reported, which is 210.961 mm, which, in turn, may get displayed by that printer's software as "211.0 mm", which is technically the proper way to round this number to 1 decimal.

^aHow low. The PDF Structure Browser states this number with confidence, but further inspection in the physical file shows it's actually actually stored as the exact string "/MediaBox[0.0 0.0 598.394 598.394]", that is, 211.1001056 mm. Still, the error is after the 4th decimal of a millimeter value, which is incredibly small by graphic standards. For example, it is 1/60th of the pixel size of a Very High Quality 4000 dpi laser typesetter.

[Eternal Warrior]

kaadeewee  wrote

I change the width to 211.1 mm in the document setting and everything seems to be ok.

But when I export to PDF, the resulting PDF has a width of 211.0 mm.

So to clarify - You didn't set the page width as 211.1 to begin with?

Have you checked that the master pages applied are also set to the same size as in your document settings?

If your only changing the page size but not the Master pages etc then this could be the reason. Master pages have the power to override and apply "global" settings to other pages in the document.

Best,

EW

[Migintosh]

I made a quickie document at 211.1x297 and exported to PDF. When opened in Acrobat, it showed as 211x297. When placed into an InDesign document with Cropping set to Art, it showed as 211.1x297.

kaadeewee  wrote

My online book printer does not accept the "wrong" width.

Have they actually rejected it, or is this just speculation? My desktop calculator says that 211 is 0.99952529085741 as big as 211.1, and if your printer can tell that difference in their production, they are much more sophisticated than anyone I've ever heard of.

[kaadeewee]

The have rejected it and I talked to them, and they said "Sometimes our system is not taking it the right way".

But it is strange, that the PDF also says 211.0 - I will try to set it 211.2 and see what happens and report it

thanks to all!

and yes: .1 mm is incredibly small and that is a stupid way to handle uploaded printing files…

[Migintosh]

Try placing it into a new ID file that is large enough to hold it. If it comes in at 211 and not 211.1, double-check Eternal Warrior's advise about the master pages.

[Test Screen Name]

Just a quick check since the height is 297... are you actually trying to make a4 size? Because that's 210, not 211.