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Question

Placed PDF is way too small

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
September 13, 2022
18 replies
9576 views

Banging my head on the keyboard over here. I've got a multipage PDF exported from an illustrator file with multiple artboards. Each artboard's dimensions match the InDesign document's page size, yet when I place the PDF it comes in at a tiny thubnail size and super pixelated as well despite Display Performance settings.

I'm thinking it's a glitch with the multiple artboards? Any suggestions are much appreciated.

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Brad @ Roaring Mouse

Community Expert

Wow, this is weird. The same thing happens when placing the .ai file as it is.

I tried deleting all but one artboard, and the same thing happens. Even trying to copy and paste the items from this file to a brand new 5.5" x 8.5" document results in it pasting at 10%.

Sorry, I have no answers at this point!

L

Laubender

Community Expert

Hi @Brad @ Roaring Mouse ,

without looking into the issue for now, the problem that arises could be because of a feature in Illustrator where you can create very large artboard sizes. Street maps for example. Internally in the bounding box comments of the PDF or the PDF part of the AI file the dimensions are scaled down to 10% perhaps.

Just a guess:

This is done for artboard dimensions old PDF specs cannot handle at all.

In the end this is done to make the PDF more compatible all over the place…

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Professional )

Peter Spier

Community Expert

I can't say I know why this is happening, but I think it's related to how it was saved in Illustrator. When I I saved as a PDF using the HQ Print Preset before changing to Acrobat 7 compatibility as you did I got a warning message that unless the file was saved in Acrobat 1.6 or later it would be scaled to 10%.

Doing that doesn't seem to affect InDesign, and I'd say that was a bug (or at least a failure to take that into considersation in the import coding).

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Hi @gabrielamadeus:

Here's what I have so far, and it's not an answer—it just represents as far as I could go with it. It's something about how the .ai file was built because it happens in any .indd doc, not just yours.

When I unlock everything and select all on active artboard, the contents on artboard 41 (the top-most artboard) shows a height value of 2,275.4167 inches in the Transform panel. If I try to copy the contents to a new 8.5 x 5.5 page, the guide layer causes issues. If I hide the guides layer, I can copy the contents of artboard 41 to a new file, and the file places normally. Deleting the guide layer doesn't fix the issue, but it does allow you to move to the content to a new file.

Maybe another InDesign forum expert can pick it up from here, or perhaps you could ask on the Illustrator forum.

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

manal shanableh

Legend

for placed pdf, when select the intire artwork, check the scale from control panel, should be 100%, it seems scaled down.

and dont forget to make right click,, display performance and choose high quality preview.

gabrielamadeusAuthor

Participating Frequently

It's placed at 100% but displays at ~1/10th the size it should.

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

As the AI file is a vector file, what hinders you to scale it up in InDesign?

Jumpenjax

Community Expert

Check your compression or ppi. It should be set at 300ppi and highest quality.

Lee- Graphic Designer, Print Specialist, Photographer

gabrielamadeusAuthor

Participating Frequently

That's not it, but thanks!

Barb Binder

Community Expert

Are you able to share a file? I'm happy to take a look. You can direct message me a link (private) or post a link here (public).

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

gabrielamadeusAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for taking a look.

The indesign file is here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1k_yFwPXhzX8-kdBcqHLh-U6ieAcs3PiW

The ai file is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kbp9t8QmU_9EYCQU3FHJ4ptja2_tIWo0/view?usp=sharing

Barb Binder

Community Expert

I can't recreate this issue so I think we need more information. How are you exporting the multi-artboard file to PDF, exactly? Are you placing the content into existing frames in InDesign (which may have frame fitting options assigned in advance)?

Do you know that you can just place a multi-artboard native .ai in InDesign, by activating Import Options and adjusting the range? Does that make a difference?

~Barb

~Barb at Rocky Mountain Training

gabrielamadeusAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the quick reply. I have tried multiple import options and they all have the above issue whether importing a PDF (high quality print, see attached) or importing the native ai file. I'm doing a direct place, not within an exisitng content box. Also have tried just exporting/importing a single page from the ai file and still no luck.

BobLevine

Community Expert

When you place the file, choose show options and crop to the media.

gabrielamadeusAuthor

Participating Frequently

That is what I've been doing, but thanks for the suggestion.

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