Terrible Export Quality to PDF

[RickChicago]

We created a magazine for a client last year, and are doing it again this year.  The printer requires PDF version 4, all fonts converted to outlines.  We maximized the quality as much as possible. A 20 page magazine was around 122 meg. Photos and client supplied ads (placed as TIFF or JPG) came out perfect. Anything created in InDesign looked terrible. Text looked like 50% quality JPG images (fuzzy with random gray grain around the text). Any double L's (all, ball, etc.) looked like big solid rectangles - I instead of ll. Lower case "i" looked almost as bad.  The PDF file looked this way before print, but the printer assured us it was a preview issue. We should have known better, but believed them. The print version looked worse.  Exporting using the default press quality was perfect - but the printer (PsPrint), refused to accept it. They wanted version 4.

Any suggestions? Right now I'm looking at exporting the pages as JPG because the quality as so much better than what they want as PDF.

[Eternal Warrior]

Can you show your export options in a screenshot? We need more information to judge what is going wrong.

[Jongware]

With "PDF version 4" you mean "1.4", or "compatible with Acrobat 4" (which would be "PDF version 1.3")?

Does your document contain lots of transparency, or other text/image effects such as Drop Shadow, Glow, Feather?

[Danny Whitehead.]

If this printer continues to insist on outlined type even after demonstrating that it prints poorly, and there's any possibility at all to ditch them, do so, and tell them why.

[Bill Silbert]

Unfortunately, dealing with the requirements of out-of-date printers is a fact of life in the graphics world. That being said have you tried using the default press quality settings but then adjusting the Compatibility setting in the upper right of the Export pdf dialog to read "Acrobat 4 (pdf 1.3)"? This will keep all of the quality settings intact while, hopefully, satisfying the printer's requirements.

[Eternal Warrior]

As stated previously and I will repeat: We NEED to see a screenshot of your export options...

Otherwise we can continue to play Sherlock Holmes wearing a blindfold, and earplugs whilst making deductions

[RickChicago · Accepted solution]

Found the solution. https://indesignsecrets.com/converting-text-to-outlines-the-right-way.php

This fixed every single problem with the export quality.