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Wuktrio
Participating Frequently
April 12, 2020
Question

Images in PDF turn white/very bright blue upon downloading when over background

  • April 12, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 5089 views

This is a really weird problem. I downloaded a free PDF online and when I open it in Acrobat Pro 99% of the images are only white silhouettes (this is a PDF about Dungeons & Dragons, so all images are characters or creatures). However, they only are silhouttes in parts where the background image is. I attached an example. The example shows the bottom right of a page and as you can see the picture is a white silhouette and the parts where the font is above the picture have blue font. In the bottom right corner should be a page counter, which is a black corner with a white number in it, but that's not displayed. Instead, the actual image is displayed instead.

 

When I open the PDF in Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge it displays as it should, the problem only occurs in Acrobat Pro, so I think it has something to do with viewing options but I have no idea what I have to change. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

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    1 reply

    ls_rbls
    Community Expert
    ls_rblsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 12, 2020

    Hi,

     

    Can you share the link where you are downloading this type of PDF.?

     

    I am wondering if the PDF have any sort of 3D multimedia content. If that would be the case you may need to check a few preferences in the following areas:

     

    Edit --> Preferences -->

    • Document - uncheck "Restore last view settings when reopening documents
    • General - check or uncheck "Check 2D graphics accelerator"
    • Page Display - review settings in Resolution, Rendering (use system settings or custom)
    • 3D & Multimedia (self explanatory settings toggle at your discretion)
    • Accessibility - disable Assistive technology support
    • Security (Enhanced) - verify if Sandbox protections or Protected View settings  need to be modified
    • JavaScript - check "Enable interactive console"

     

    In addition, you can open your D&D in Acrobat and select the Prepare Form Tool.

     

    This will open your PDF in edit mode. Hit in your keyboard Ctrl+J keys to open the Javascript interactive console. Should there be any code running or trying to execute, See if you can spot any error messages .

     

    If you see anything then go to Edit --> Preferences one more time and in the JavaScript section

     

    W
    WuktrioAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 13, 2020

    Here's the link: https://thetrove.net/Books/Dungeons%20&%20Dragons/5th%20Edition%20(5e)/3rd%20Party/%20DMsGuild/Tobias%20Beis%20-%20Critter%20Compendium%20v1.1.pdf

     

    I tried all of your suggested solutions and it sadly changed nothing. However, I switched to the Foxit PDF Viewer and it doesn't have the problems, it's only when being viewed with Acrobat Pro or Reader.

    ls_rbls
    Community Expert
    ls_rblsCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 13, 2020

    So I am checking this PDF and while I get the same problem as you, when I click on "Edit Text & Images" I can actuqlly  copy the image and paste it in another program, like MS Paint , and I can see it. So the images are there.

     

    It seems like Adobe Acrobat doesn't open up the file as a flattened document (or postscripted) which may explain why in the FoxIt PDF viewer sees to work.  If you have Adobe Reader(which is free) you can also try and check if it would behave the same way.

     

    Open the Accessibility Tool and perform a Full Report.  It is about 270 pages so it might take up to five minutes for the Accessibility checker to perform all of its evaluation tests. See what tests failed. And then open the Print Production Tool. Select "Preflight" ---> PDF Fixups ---> "Analyze and Fix".

     

    This may or may not work and will take a lot longer than the accessibility checker takes to produce a  report. You may even get an out of memory error because is so many pages long to process though. Or just simply try the flattener previw option. 

     

    If using flattener preview presets consider reading this guidance:

     

     https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/using/transparency-flattening-acrobat-pro.html#transparency_flattener_options

     

    However, I am able to notice that when I right-click on any part of the document, if I select "Edit Text & Images", all of the images that appear to look behind a transparency you are able to bring them to the front.  So, I am thinking if saving this file as postscripted file would allow to open up the document without this image layering issue.

     

    This observation makes me suggest that you can also check all the layers in that document.

     

    BUT YOU KNOW WHAT?  This shouldn't be that difficult; quick easy fix, just open this PDF in a browser like Chrome, Firefox, or the new MS Edge browser which is Chrome based. Click on save and reopen in acrobat.

     

     

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