Background and image colors different in different Adobe readers

[boukasa]

When I create a PDF by exporting to PDF from a Microsoft PowerPoint:

If I view the PDF on Adobe Reader on a PC, it has a white background with gray images.

If I open it on Adobe Reader on my phone, it has a gray background with white images (looks terrible).

See screenshots below.

That can’t be right.

The Adobe people tell me it's Microsoft's fault, and the Microsoft people tell me it's Adobe's fault. 

Can someone please tell me what is wrong with the PDF that is causing it to appear differently on different readers?

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Can you upload one here?

Does your background image have any sort of effect applied?

[boukasa]

Yes, here is the PDF: https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:a5991f6a-c1a9-4f28-8cf7-75f428dd94d...

There's no special background - it's just the white default of a plain PowerPoint slide.

[boukasa]

Now that I uploaded the document to Adobe Document Cloud to share with you, when I open it there in a web browser, in the preview it has the gray background. But when you download it and open it with Reader, it looks correct with a white background. How is this possible? Surely this is not a "feature" as Adobe says - why would anyone want to have their documents show up randomly different at different times?

[JR Boulay]

Be sure that the "night mode" is not enabled.

[boukasa]

Adobe support says they get the same issue. I also gave a presentation out of town and sent the PDF in advance to the conference center. When they showed the PDF on their large screen - from a Mac - it also looked this way.

[JR Boulay]

MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER MOBILE FORUM

[boukasa]

I'm really frustrated by Adobe support, which says this is a "feature" of the mobile reader and that the solution is to "recreate the PDF" which of course does nothing. 

"

Thanks for your mail. We also tested the files that you shared with us on the mobile application and it gives the same result and the file displays with a grey background instead of white background as per the actual document that opens fine on the desktop application. The pdf features varies to desktop and mobile version. Hence it does not give the same output on the mobile version. As confirmed earlier, recreating the document by printing to adobe pdf is the solution for this issue."

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse · Accepted solution]

Okay. I've looked at your PDF, and it IS your background. It has a transparency of 50% White on it that's affecting what's behind it. PowerPoint doesn't write a "white page" background the way InDesign would, so your file is transparent.

This is your file opened into a Photoshop file (left) and Placed in InDesign (right) overtop of a black and red background.

The quick solution is to go back to your PP file and add a white background behind your background.

The other way (but you would have to do this in every PDF you've made), in Acrobat, is to Edit PDF > Edit Image (selecting the background) to open it in PhotoShop; flatten the image and close and save. The flattened imaged will replace the one in your PDF and all will be good!

 

[boukasa]

Thanks very much for figuring that out. I appreciate it. I’ll take your advice and put a slide-sized white image at the back in every powerpoint template.

Do you have a though about why it shows up on white in some Adobe readers and on gray in others? Does Adobe put a default gray background in some readers and not in others?

[boukasa]

Or white in some and black in others I guess?

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

My guess is because PowerPoint didn't specify to your PDF that the background should be white (and that's PowerPoint's fault) the different readers are making assumptions on whether the background should start white (like paper) or black (as an on-screen RGB image would). Acrobat on desktop is obviously assuming a white "paper" background, while the smartphone app seems to be assuming black.

If you open it in Mac's Preview app, it also seems to assume black, so your ghosted white background makes it grey.

The answer again is to bake the solid white background in by either flattening whatever image file you have put in the background to remove the transparency, or adding a white background behind it (and on that idea, I'm not sure if PP allows BOTH a background colour and an image at the same time on your slide masters, so that may not be the way to go).

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

Question: Exactly what procedure did you use to make the PDF from PP?

I think I may have found what causes the issue.

And, based on that, how to fix your current PDFs without too much fuss.

[boukasa]

I choose File/Export/Create PDF or XPS Document 

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

This is what I have found (I did a test file on a Win10 machine because I wasn't able to reproduce the issue on my Mac, so it seems this a PC-specific issue);

If you save a PDF using any of PP's built-in methods (Save As > PDF, Export As > PDF, etc), the file keeps the transparency of your background and will screw up. However if you use the Acrobat Save as PDF plugin (which you should have if you have full Acrobat), select that instead and, in Options, check PDF/X-1...: it forces a flattening to the file and the resulting PDF works fine!

Still, it would be better to fix the background image and replace it in your PP files to avoid the problem altogether going forward.

As for fixing existing PDFs, open them in Acrobat and "Save As PDF, Optimized..." : Click Settings and check Transparency and select one of the options (High-Res is best, of course).  This will flatten your file and then it will work properly.