Strange shadow appearing on image when I export to PDF. How do I get rid of it for printing?

Forum|Forum|2 days ago
September 12, 2026
6 replies
35 views

Hello everyone, I am having a strange problem with exporting to PDF. I am working on a print book cover for Amazon Kindle and the book cover I have looks fine in my InDesign Program. But then when I export to PDF (using the X-1A option) this strange shadow shows up beneath my name and behind the image on the Kindle Print Previewer. I’ve checked the transparency and I believe everything is 100% opaque (except of course for the border which is a PNG file). I tried adding a box with the cover color behind the image to no luck.

Now I checked with someone on Amazon’s end and they said my image wasn’t flattened. When I tried “print to PDF” the grey shadow box thing disappeared. But of course I can’t upload the Print to PDF option in Amazon because there is no size option for the size of my cover (all the options in print to PDF are for very specific paper options).

Does anyone know how to get rid of this shadow or what is causing it?

C

CatherineMullinsAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you everyone for your help!

rob day

Community Expert

the book cover I have looks fine in my InDesign Program

Hi @CatherineMullins , Does the cover look correct in InDesign when you turn on Overprint/Separation Preview? Make sure all the Layers in the Layers panel have their visibility turned on. And does the problem show if you open the cover in the Adobe Acrobat application rather than a web browser?

BobLevine

Community Expert

Others may disagree, but if you have to use archaic formats like X/1-a then design accordingly. Transparency flattening, unless everything is set properly, can be problematic.

leo.r

Community Expert

First, try to export to PDF/X-4. If the problem persists, then how does this PDF look in Acrobat?

C

CatherineMullinsAuthor

Known Participant

Thank you. I got rid of the problem by exporting to PDF/x-4, checking the “fast web display” box and changing the color from CMYK to something else, but I don’t know which change fixed the issue. Do you think it was the x-4?

leo.r

Community Expert

Do you think it was the x-4?

Most likely. PDF/X-1a doesn’t support live transparency and therefore transparency is being flattened, as @BobLevine has already stated.

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