Save as PDF Error with Bevel Stroke Emboss

[adamlach]

I'm trying to export a few hundred PSDs to PDFs and many of them suffer from the appearance of random vector shapes. Basically a bunch of the text layers have a bevel applied as a stroke emboss. The stroke is set to interior and covers the entire object. I know that's a really dumb way to color an object, the designer should have used a solid fill or a color overlay, but it's a little late for that. So I'm trying to figure out how to bypass this bug?

Demo PSD and PDF output:

Dropbox - Photoshop Forum Post

[Jeff Arola]

Are you downsizing the image when saving to pdf?

If you use Image>Image Size and check Scale Styles, that should provide better results before saving as a pdf.

[adamlach]

I was downsizing from 600DPI to 300DPI in the PDF settings. I tried it without downsizing and it does the same thing. Files updated.

Re: Save as PDF Error with Bevel Stroke Emboss

[Jeff Arola]

What version of photoshop and operating are you using?

Can you list the steps your using when you save the psd as a pdf?

[adamlach]

Windows 10 Pro v1703, Latest version of Photoshop. I simply open the PSD file and choose File > Save As > Photoshop PDF with layers > Preset: Press Quality > Save.

[Jeff Arola]

See if flatting the psd first or unchecking layers when saving as a pdf works any better.

Maybe it's a bug in photoshop, although photoshop cs6 and cs4 do the same thing.

[adamlach]

Can't flatten it. I need vector type for clear printing.

[Jeff Arola · Accepted solution]

What about if you use Create Layers to convert the Layer Style to layers leaving the Type layer intact before saving as a pdf.

Layer>Layer Style>Create Layers

or

Convert the Text Layer with the effects to a Shape layer before saving as a pdf

Type>Convert to Shape

There is something in the layer style in your example Stroke Emboss psd that photoshop can't deal with and to add to that you sometimes can't see there is anything wrong until one opens the saved pdf in acrobat.