Blurry Images in PDF from InDesign

Troubleshooting steps suggested.

This sort of thing often turns out to be a problem of expectation, and/or information not communicated. It it were me, I would do the following. They are kind of in the order the user is likely to be helpful. The chances of getting full info and accuracy is remote.

1. Ask the end user to return the PDF file to you so you can check it has not been damaged. A long shot, but easily done. Compare the exact file size when you get it back.

2. Ask the user if they regularly print other PDF files, of this kind, and whether they see the same problem. (Don't be surprised to hear, yes they are always like this, or that they never tried a PDF with pictures before).

3. Ask the user for the exact version of Acrobat Reader (or other software) they are using, from the Help > About menu.

4. Ask for a screen shot showing the blurriness. You'll probably have to help with this. Emphasise you do NOT want a photo of the screen.

If the PDF looks good before you send it via email, then your email program is possibly downsampling it to reduce the size. Check your email preferences for such a setting. You could zip the PDF before sending it, which would protect it from downsampling, but the recipient would need to un-zip it before it can be viewed, and zipping it is usually not necessary. Does this happen to other recipients, or just the one? Ask the recipient to copy the PDF to their desktop before trying to open it, they may be opening and printing a preview of the PDF by mistake. Try including the PDF as an email attachment, not in the text copy of the email.