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Thomas22842972ml5u
Known Participant
December 2, 2024
Answered

Everything Becomes Thinner When Saved as PDF

  • December 2, 2024
  • 1 reply
  • 617 views

Hello!

 

Please help with this extremely frustrating problem: 

 

The lines and text and everything else in my Illustrator project are made thinner when I save it as a PDF. It appears fine in the program but is then thinner when viewing the PDF outside of the program.

 

This mainly affects portions of the project which I had exported as a PDF from another program and then placed into the project. For instance, if I export a PDF from Word and then place it into a new project in Illustrator, when I save the Illustrator file as a PDF, the lines are noticeably thinner than they in the original Word PDF. 

 

I am really hoping this can be fixed by simply changing some setting. Please let me know!

 

Thanks!

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Larry G. Schneider

Preview only uses a subset of the PDF specs to display a page. It does not have the capability of an actual PDF processor.

1 reply

Brad @ Roaring Mouse
Community Expert
Brad @ Roaring MouseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 3, 2024

It's probably just a viewing thing. If you zoom in, does this difference disappear?

Does it happen if you view this PDF in another viewer other than Acrobat? (e.g. a browser or Preview (if you are on a Mac)

For instance, Acrobat has a setting in Preferences > Page Display for things like enhancing thin lines, etc. Some of these, on or off, may affect how smaller lines and text appear.

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Thomas22842972ml5uAuthor
Known Participant
December 3, 2024

Hi Brad,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

I had been viewing the finished PDFs in the Mac Preview app, where they appear thinner. However, when I open them in Acrobat, they appear normal again. Do you know what might be happening here?

 

I should add that I have been placing PDFs into Illustrator and then flattening the transparency, so that I can edit them. When I don't do this, I notice that this effect doesn't occur. Therefore, it seems that it may have something to do with the settings I choose there? But how does this explain the fact that the finished PDFs then look fine in Acrobat?

 

Thanks for your help!

Larry G. Schneider
Community Expert
Larry G. SchneiderCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
December 3, 2024

Preview only uses a subset of the PDF specs to display a page. It does not have the capability of an actual PDF processor.

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