Quark 2015 changing placed PDF's upon output

[nagarj]

This PDF output corruption bug, which I reported and documented in November, 2015, is still not fixed. Apparently now my support ticket for it is closed. Can someone at Quark explain the status? My sample files proving the software fault are still available at the link I provided in this thread. Will this ever be fixed?

Thanks,
Bill

[A Palaniappan (Quark)]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Quark.

Kindly download and install the QuarkXPress 2016 latest update and verify the PDF import issues.

If you still facing the issue, kindly share the PDF to analyze.

Thanks
A. Palaniappan

[nagarj]

Thanks for your reply. Here are updated test files proving the fault in the software using a fully updated Quark 2016 installation. I have highlighted in yellow the corrupted areas on the output PDF.

Previously Quark did fix some of the output corruption problem, but as you can see PDF output corruption remains in the current build.

This problem occurs, specifically, when Quark is set to Export Transparency Natively. This is the default for Quark 2016 and required for many workflows. This is a very bad bug, and I hope Quark will finish fixing it as quickly as possible.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1z7t9t3ujk05f ... s.zip?dl=0

Thanks,
Bill

[max.peter]

I've checked the test files from Dropbox.
I opened the Quark file in QXP v. 12.2 and I've exported it as PDF-X1a, PDF-X3 and PDF-X4 (predefined preferencies). All three resulting pdfs have not any error, so I guess some exporting preferences may cause them.

[nagarj]

@ max.peter

Did you set Quark to Export Transparency Natively? That is when the corruption occurs.

[MikeWenzloff]

In my opinion, PDFs out of ID simply need dealt with by Quark. The text gets encoded out of ID in a funky way.

Until such time as Quark deals with it, I just use Acrobat on problematic files and convert the type to curves and import them. No issues on export.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, but it is quick and pretty much assured that it will work.

[A Palaniappan (Quark)]

Hi,

Thank you for contacting Quark.

I have downloaded the PDFs from dropbox and verified the issue.

The issue is still reproducing in QXP 2016 update and I have reported the new defects for this.

As a workaround kindly output with flatten transparency option.

Thanks
A. Palaniappan

[nagarj]

@MikeWenzloff

Thanks for the idea. But not all of the problematic placed PDF's came from InDesign. And I tried converting those PDF's to outlines and found that while one of them then output correctly the other two did not. So this output corruption bug in Quark is not limited to InDesign-generated PDF's and it is not completely fixable by converting fonts to outlines. I wish it were that easy!

Thanks,
Bill

[MikeWenzloff]

Hi Bill--it works on these three PDFs, two of which are ID-generated, one is a QXP-generated file. It works here 99% of the time. On any that do not work properly--and I cannot remember the last time it didn't--I have opened them in PS and flattened them perfectly.

I can upload the three I did convert the type to curves if you would like.

It's good that Q has recognized the issue. Hopefully a real fix is forthcoming. But even so, just like for my ID jobs, I'll still likely find PDFs that will not place properly and will then still convert type to curves. I do too much with ads that come from whatever software and will likely find ones that do not work properly in whichever layout application I need to use.

Mike

[nagarj]

Thanks, Mike. I retested. Interesting, I see now that converting fonts to outlines with Pitstop Pro fails to convert the "Mayflower" fonts in the Plymouth ad for some reason. When I convert to outlines using Acrobat those fonts do convert and the ad outputs fine.

However the same is not true for the MV ad. After converting to outlines with Pitstop no fonts are present. Just for the hell of it I converted again via Acrobat. But that does not prevent the Quark output corruption. Note the Massachusetts logo at the bottom. Are you not seeing that logo corrupted?

Interesting that you seem to be right: the two InDesign generated PDF's did output OK after complete conversion to outlines (in one case requiring Acrobat rather than Pitstop). The MV ad is Quark generated and neither the problem nor solution you identified for InDesign files seems to apply.

What I don't understand is how Quark has gotten away with not fixing this awful output bug for so long. Why aren't many, many users screaming? After all, exporting PDF's with native transparency is now the default setting and I'd imagine the preferred workflow for most people. I'd think many others would be getting ruined PDF files from Quark.