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DaveRado
Known Participant
October 25, 2024
Question

Acrobat Pro printer not printing signature image correctly

  • October 25, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 2156 views

I'm using Acrobat Pro 2020 with Windows 10.

If I insert my signature as a Stamp (using Tools + Stamps) in a PDF and then print the PDF using the Acrobat print driver, then the signature doesn't print correctly. The colour changes from bright blue to dark blue and the quality of the image is significantly reduced - even if I select "press quality" in the PDF driver's printer options.

 

Is there any way to fix this?

 

Before.pdf attached is a blank PDF containing my signature, which I inserted using the Stamp tool.

 

After.pdf is how it looks after selecting File + Print, setting the printer to Adobe PDF and the the print quality to "Standard".

 

After-2.pdf is how it looks if I set the Adobe PDF driver's print quality to "Press Quality" - not noticably better than After.pdf and far inferior to Before.pdf  

 

Dave

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

MikelKlink
MikelKlink
Participating Frequently
October 27, 2024

A major change between the original graphics and the results is that a former RGB bitmap with transparency became a CMYK bitmap without transparency. Removing transparency is ok: The backdrop is known to be white, so the resulting appearance can be calculated. But the change from RGB to CMYK can change colors drastically.
A conversion to CMYK is plausible in the process of printing. Not using a printing approach likely helps preventing this issue.

Another approach would be to properly define transparency groups and color spaces in your PDF. Transparency can be really fickle, so telling the PDF more about the desired transparency handling may help here, too.

    D
    DaveRadoAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 25, 2024

    PS - I've just tried inserting my signature as an image rather than as a stamp, and exactly the same thing happens when I print the resulting PDF to a new PDF using the PDF print driver. So the print driver seems to have a problem with printing the signature image accurately rather than a problem with the stamp as such. 

    D
    DaveRadoAuthor
    Known Participant
    October 26, 2024

    Any ideas how to get round this problem?

    ls_rbls
    Community Expert
    ls_rblsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    October 26, 2024

    Hi @DaveRado ,

     

    There are many things involved that are not necessarily driver-related.

     

    For instance, for me the best approach  (and the easiest IMHO), is to export or Save As .tiff file instead of using the Adobe PDF virtual printer driver.

     

    Although you may achieve the desired result while printing to PDF, it involves many techincal aspects. Just trying to achieve the desired result and understanding the intricacies of imagae data compression, image resolutions, and how to manage image colors when printing, it  all becomes a steep learning curve; the equivalent to four college semesters in desktop publishing.

     

    On the other hand, exporting to an image file (or using the Save As method) doesn't involve the same PDF distilling processes, making the whole experience convenient, quick and easy. It eliminates the need to mess around with presets.

     

    In my screenshot below the image to the left (from top to bottom) is your original file "Before" (with the stamp signature). The image to the right is the exported file "Before" to a .tiff image file.

     

    The image at the bottom, is using a manually-modified version of Press Quality presets and other configurations that I had to combine, which are available at the virtual printer level.

     

    With this method, you can (and may may avhieve) a desired result.

     

    However,  during that learning curve, you may find yourself testing with numerous printing configurations until you get the best appearance. 

     

    For a regular end user, this becomes highly technical, specially if your line of work is the equivalent to someone who is not familiarized with layout design and desktop publishing. Nevertheless, it is worth giving it a shot.

     

     

    I hope this helps.

     

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