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leeg69612642
Participant
November 22, 2016
Answered

Enhance thin lines

  • November 22, 2016
  • 3 replies
  • 10261 views

Is there any way to save a PDF without the "Enhance thin lines" option so others can view the file the way it was designed to appear? I really wish this preference setting was not turned on by default.

    Correct answer Dov Isaacs

    The Enhance thin lines feature is an option of the viewer, in this case Acrobat or Reader. It is not an attribute of the PDF file itself (i.e., it is not something defined within the PDF specification and stored in the PDF file). As such, there is no way to assure that others viewing your PDF file don't have this “feature” enabled on their system. (Note that Adobe's mobile PDF readers for iOS and Android as well as most other PDF viewers on other platforms don't even have such an option!)

    The feature was designed to deal with the lower resolution CRT monitors of yore (can you say VGA 640x480?). I would generally agree that this option has outlived its usefulness. I have it disabled on all my computer systems here at Adobe. I'll try to recommend that it be defaulted off for future new installations.

              - Dov

    3 replies

    G
    Gravnetic
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2018

    It is absolutely ridiculous that this is not a feature I can enable or disable from my design export.  I have been sending my design resume out and just received a screenshot back to how unprofessional my resume looked.  This document I have spent hours perfecting every aspect of the type including:  grid, baseline, kerning, and font...line length, wrap, ETC.  Every 'L' in my document looks like it has been stroked.  I am so bummed out by this...

    ...Adobe has let me down on details like this so frequently lately.  I lose my layout preference on every major update which takes forever to reapply.  I just did a clean install hoping all my preference would work as expected and guess what, not a single one did.  This includes, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, ETC. 

    The reason for the clean install was Illustrator totally borked SVG output with those updating to the latest version from an old version.  This is a huge deal as I am a web developer. 

    I am sorry but Adobe has to get it together and re-evaluate features like this continually and set them to the best option for the most people today!  Not what was best for CRT display 10 years ago!!!

      Dov Isaacs
      Dov IsaacsCorrect answer
      Legend
      November 22, 2016

      The Enhance thin lines feature is an option of the viewer, in this case Acrobat or Reader. It is not an attribute of the PDF file itself (i.e., it is not something defined within the PDF specification and stored in the PDF file). As such, there is no way to assure that others viewing your PDF file don't have this “feature” enabled on their system. (Note that Adobe's mobile PDF readers for iOS and Android as well as most other PDF viewers on other platforms don't even have such an option!)

      The feature was designed to deal with the lower resolution CRT monitors of yore (can you say VGA 640x480?). I would generally agree that this option has outlived its usefulness. I have it disabled on all my computer systems here at Adobe. I'll try to recommend that it be defaulted off for future new installations.

                - Dov

      - Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)
      John T Smith
      Community Expert
      John T SmithCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      November 22, 2016

      The Forum Lounge is not for technical help, please provide the name of the program you are using so your message may be moved to the correct program forum

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      leeg69612642Author
      Participant
      November 22, 2016

      Acrobat DC

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