Problem one - some documents. Certain documents, like the Pages '09 template Word Processing > Reports > Visual Report simply refuses to create any document. You can choose the menu item in the Print dialogue, you can enter a file name, but then you get a message: "Alert Couldn't create PDF/X-3 document."
Problem two - resolution. This limitation was likely here even before Leopard, but it is worth mentioning. PDF/X-3 does not support layers, and that means that the PDF/X-creator has to rasterise vector graphics over pictures, like text over shadows. The problem is that Mac OS X rasterizes to 72 dpi, and that is no way good enough for printing on most modern high resolution printers.
The resolution is defined in a Filter in ColorSync (Applications > Utilities > ColorSync Utility). Go to Filters and check the properties for "Create Generic PDFX-3 Document". The resolution is defined next to the "Flatten Transparency" checkbox. The annoying thing is that the Filter is read only, so we cannot change the resolution.
What we can do, is to create a copy of the original Filter and change the value there. (Do not try to change the values for Trimbox or Bleedbox. I do not know anyone who has made them work.)
Next, is something you should NOT do. The entry in the Print dialogue to print to PDF-X is defined in /Library/PDF Services. Do not be tempted to change any of those entries. You will get a warning message saying: The behavior of this workflow may have changed because of the reasons listed below. The workflow was saved with an older version of the action "Apply Qua... If you try to resave it, you may break it and stand with one less working entry in the Print dialogue.
Instead, to solve the resolution problem, follow the following steps.
Setup
- Open ColorSync.
- Go to Filters.
- Click on the circled triangle next to the filter Create Generic PDFX-3 Document and select the option "Duplicate".
- Double click on the name of the new filter and change the name, if you want to.
- Expand the filter elements and change the resolution to 300 and 300. You do not need to save the changes, but you may want to quit ColorSync and reopen it, to make sure that the change has been taken into account.
Usage
- Open the document you want to make into PDF/X.
- Print to PDF (standard PDF).
- Right click or control click on the created PDF file and select Open With > ColorSync Utility from the pop up menu.
- In the document window in ColorSync select the filter you created above from the list in the bottom left corner of the window.
- Click on Apply. (The Filter list will be reset to "None" through some quirk, but do not let that scare you.)
- Select Save or Save As... from the File menu. You will now have a high resolution PDF/X file. Probably.
15 comments:
Magnus I have always had the problem of ColorSync not accepting a changed name for the new Filter. The only time it seemed to change was when I entered XXXX and I wasn't even able to repeat that.
Also if you can't change the Trim Box or Bleed Box how are we ever going to have press ready output?
Hi Anonymous, I just loved your Codex Calixtinus - especially Alleluia - Gratulemur et letemur.
But this is no time to be laetus. We are talking about ColorSync. I have not had problems changing new filter names myself, but I do not doubt that the application can mess that up as well on some systems.
Press ready output? We may get it some future version of Mac OS X, if Apple sits down and sorts ColorSync out. Right now, it seems they are just letting it die with new bugs introduced in each version, and hardly any fixed.
Hi Magnus
Just to say thanks for your posting... I've managed to get my pdfx file thanks to your colorsync instructions !
There's a possibility to add new sync profile modified to menu during Save as PDF/X??
One step less
In Colorsync, do the action of the filter apply only on the page shown or all the document?
The filter in Colorsync applies to the whole document. It is quite easy to see by just testing with the Grayscale filter.
If you want to apply it to just one page, that can be achieved as well. Use Preview to cut and paste the pages to separate pages. Apply the filters to the pages you want to apply them to. Then cut and paste the pdfs back to one document.
Hi Magnus,
I'm having the same issue as you described as "problem number one". Whenever I try to save my Bachelor Thesis as a PDF-X document I get the error: "Alert: Couldn't create PDF/X-3 document". Is there any possibility to get around this?
Thank you in advance!
Cheers,
Jonas
Hi Jonas,
I do not know of any simple workaround. What you could do is to copy half the document to a blank document, and see if it will print to pdf.
If it does not, copy a quarter, and see if that one prints.
If it does print, copy another chunk.
In theory, you should be able to find the "offending" bits in this way, copy bit after bit.
Unfortunately, my experience was that it was not even this simple. There seemed to be some hidden formatting or dependencies between different sections of the document.
It may be worth a try though.
Feel free to comment back, and say if you found a solution.
Hi Magnus,
I tried to fix 72 DPI problem in native filter "Create Generic PDFX-3 Document" (ColorSync Utility Application).
I made a copy of default filter and changed the Flatten Transparency resolution to higher value 300 DPI.
After ColorSync Utility restart my Flatten Transparency settings were erased (my filter still exists but with no Flatten Transparency value).
I tried both in 10.6.2 and 10.6.3 also in Polish and English localization.
Any suggestions?
Regards
Mike
Hi Mike,
I am afraid I have no advice. That kind of problems appear, and Apple shows little sign of fixing them. I can reproduce it easily. The numbers are simply lost. The only solutions I can see are to go to competing products or to hope for a fix in next Mac OS X. However, this kind of problems have been there for so long time, that I have a feeling that Apple has given up.
This didn't work for me. I tried both printing (save as PDF) and export as PDF, from Pages.
After applying the custom filter in Colorsync and saving it, when I open and check the file size it shows 72 dpi resolution.
FYI to Mike (and Magnus), you can edit the XML by hand for the qprofile you create. It's located in your Users Library folder at : ~/Library/PDF Services/
Inside, just change the FlattenTransparencyResolution to the resolution values you're looking to set.
.qfilter is what I meant there...
Also, FYI, if you check the "Printing" box under Domain in ColorSync, it will show up directly when you go to Save as PDF. For me at least, this obviates the need to open the PDF in ColorSync and re-save.
Dear ReeD
I tried editing the xml file manually but the resultant pdf is still 72 dpi instead of 300 dpi.
ColorSync somewhat worked but it was really buggy and it didnt seem to apply filter to the 2nd page no matter what I did. The way I got it to be almost perfect was to print to postscript. Then I sent the postscript file to http://docupub.com.
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