Latest Acrobat Reader 24.002.21005 prints BARCODES BLURRED BLURRY!?!

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Does anybody else experience this issue? I'm using the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 24.002.21005) to open and print shipping labels generated by Canada Post as PDFs which include a shipping BARCODE. On every printer I have (HP laserjet and Brother lasers) the BARCODE prints BLURRED (BLURRY)! I downloaded PDF24, and it prints the barcode just fine -- crystal clear!  I discovered this when my local post-office said they can't scan my shipping labels any more because the BARCODE is BLURRY!  So it's not my Windows 11 PC or Windows fonts (nothing has changed recently on those that I'm aware of), and it's not my printers, because they print the barcode crystal clear from the PDF24 application.

Do I need to download and install some barcode font file from Adobe?

I hope somebody from Adobe can help, because it's useless trying to contact Adobe support!

[shaktikeshri]

Hi @KMSDatasystemsInc 

Sorry for the incovnience caused to you.

• Is it recent problem with Adobe Acrobat Reader you are encountering? Like when was last time it worked fine from Adobe Acrobat Reader as well? 
• Please share a sample document in which issue is being reproducible. 

Thanks,

Shakti K

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Yes, when I spoke with my local Canada Post office yesterday, they said they're getting blurry barcodes from other customers too -- for the past 2-3 weeks! So it's not just my version of Adobe Acrobat Reader!  See the example files here in my secure OneDrive folder at this link (NOT a virus link!):  Adobe_Reader_Prints_Blurry_Barcodes

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

What was JR Boulay's post as a reply to my original post? It says "moved to the Acrobat Reader Discussions". 

[shaktikeshri]

It's just the discussion has been moved to the right channel in community. It is an Adobe Acrobat Reader issues hence moved to the acrobat reader discussions. Thanks, for the testfiles. Will get it investigated at my end and update you with next steps.

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Thanks. Yes, please get this resolved ASAP! It's affecting lots of businesses needing to print barcodes!!

[angela_9865]

The new version of Adobe has also caused a font issue at my company. Fonts are overlapping for Solidworks drawings that were converted to PDFs. These drawings will open on all older versions of Adobe, but when the new version installs it only works on a few computers. Most users have the overlapping text. We have checked Windows versions and there is no coorelation with which ones have the overlapping text and which do not. Some of the PCs are Windows 11, most are Windows 10. 

[abhisi]

Hi KMSDatasystemsInc,

Sorry for the inconvenience caused to you.

I tried the workflow on the same version of Adobe Acrobat Reader with the help of the file shared by you and 
issue is not reproducible at my end.

Could you please provide the following information:

1. Did you try on any other Windows machine. If not, then could you please try it with any other machine and share the observation here.

2. Could you please reinstall Acrobat Reader and check again.
3. Is the issue happening every time, or is it happening intermittently.
4. Is it happening with any specific file or with every PDF file having the barcode.

Thanks,
Abhishek Ranjan Singh

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

That's strange, because other people are having the same problem from completely different machines/companies. 

Answers to your questions:

1. Did you try on any other Windows machine? If not, then could you please try it with any other machine and share the observation here. YES, I get the same results from EVERY Windows machine in our company, printing to ANY laser printer.
2. Could you please check the quantity of the ink in the printer. LOTS of Ink in the toner cartridges on ALL printers.
3. Could you please reinstall Acrobat Reader and check again. I shouldn't have to do that. But I did, and I get the same result: BLURRY BARCODES. I even tried the latest 64-bit version as downloaded from get.adobe.com, but get the same results as the 32-bit version.  I also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the Acrobat Reader app from another Windows machine. Same result.
4. Has the problem started happening recently, or has it been going on for a while. Yes, this problem started perhaps within the last few weeks or a month. 
5. Is the issue happening every time, or is it happening intermittently. This happens with EVERY PDF containing a BARCODE.  I generate PDFs as shipping labels with BARCODES from Canada Post's website. As I mentioned, the exact same PDFs will print barcodes crystal-clear from the FREE PDF24 program (and other competing PDF reader programs).
6. It will be great if the customer provides a video of the bug that’s happening at their end.  N/A.
7. Is it happening with any specific file or with every PDF file having the barcode. PDFs without barcodes print clearly for me. It's only the barcodes themselves within the PDFs that print blurry.

Thanks.

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

The problems reported in this blog-post by angela_9865

may be related to my BLURRY BARCODES issue.

[shaktikeshri]

Hi @KMSDatasystemsInc 

We are able to replicate the issue at our end. Engineering team will work on now debugging and resolving the issue now. Thanks for your support in helping us reproducing the issue.

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Excellent! I'm so glad, because this affects probably THOUSANDS of Canada Post small- and large-business customers needing to print shipping labels with BARCODES!  Please update this blog-post when it's fixed so I can download the latest Acrobat Reader and confirm the BUG is resolved!  Thanks!!

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Is there any update on this?!?

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Everybody is STILL STANDING BY for BARCODE printing to be FIXED!

I see my Adobe Reader got updated to version 24.003.20054, and the BUG is STILL THERE as of today (29-AUGUST-2024)! BARCODES are STILL PRINTING BLURRY!!!

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Still no update?!? Please remember, this is affecting THOUSANDS of Canada Post (and also USPS?!) business customers who print shipping labels with BARCODES, and it's costing CanadaPost (and maybe the USPS too?!) extra money and time for their workers to manually key-in the tracking numbers of shipments at every stop along the way for each delivery, instead of being able to SCAN the BARCODE !!! SHEESH!!!

[shaktikeshri]

Hi @KMSDatasystemsInc 

The issue is in radar for engineering team and fix investigation is in progress. I'll update the thread when the issue will be fixed. 

[KMSDatasystemsInc]

Thanks for the update. Please ESCALATE THIS ISSUE!  It should be engineering's TOP PRIORITY!!! It's affecting MILLIONS OF CUSTOMERS!!! Fortunately for now most of us have switched to competitors like PDF24 to reliably print barcodes!