Transitions Don't Play in Mac Preview or On PC w/Windows 10

[bgbevan]

I have a newer MacBook Pro with the latest OS X, Catalina.  I just downloaded a trial copy of Adobe Acrobat Pro DC.  Everything installed and came right up.  I am interested in transitions so I set up a simple file with 2 PDF pages.  I found all the menu items to set up a simple transition between the two pages and it played fine in Acrobat, View > Play Full Screen.  Then I "Save As" and when I open the saved file in Mac Preview > View > Enter Full Screen, the transition does not play when advancing with the space bar or the arrow key(s).  Is there something I need to do in the save sequence or, does preview not play transitions?

I emailed it to my brand new PC w/ Windows 10 and double clicked on the file.  It opened....I think Windows Explorer....but still no transitions.  I would buy Acrobat if this one feature worked reliably.

[Test Screen Name]

The feature only works when viewed full screen in Acrobat. Maybe some other apps support it too, we don't know. Most apps don't bother. For Preview, complain to Apple. For Internet Explorer complain to Microsoft. 

[bgbevan]

I kind of goes against the whole Portable Document Format. Now you have a “PDF” document that can only be played on a Mac/PC with Acrobat installed. For the casual user, which is where PDF really shines, this won’t work. These users won’t spend the money and don’t have the technical skills to run Acrobat at Full Screen. At the very least, the free Acrobat Reader should play these transition files.

Can’t complain to Apple or Microsoft, if Adobe doesn’t even support it.

Bill Bevan

[Bernd Alheit]

The users can use Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.

[Test Screen Name]

"I kind of goes against the whole Portable Document Format. "  Yes, of course it does. But Adobe can't make Apple, Microsoft and Google change their apps. 

" At the very least, the free Acrobat Reader should play these transition files." It does. Are you under the impression that Preview uses Acrobat Reader? It doesn't. Internet Explorer might, but other browsers don't; however, internet explorer only supports add-ons in windowed mode.

[Brian_Raila]

"I[t] kind of goes against the whole Portable Document Format. "  Correct.  You are starting to understand  –– Apple, and Microsoft, do not not have even one single application that plays a standardized portable document [look up ISO 32000, aka PDF].  Their 'word processor' programs are simply self-declared, proprietary, commercial file formats, uncompliant with any standards organization.

Preview.app is a rudimentary Image Manipulation Program; it is in no way a document reader.  How do you navigate to page 27 of 134?  How can you tell how many pages are even in the document.  How do you view detail at the sometimes-required 6400% magnification?  How should the chemist measure in units of angstroms, and microns, or the astronomer in parsecs, as we do in PDFs?  The angular measures of artists and architects are wholly unsupported by this uncalibrated Preview.app.  How do you open a document's attachments?  How do you manage bookmarks?  Or even return to your Previous View, for that matter?  How do you view two facing pages, in a scrolling mode?  How is one to comment/annotate/markup in ways necessary for productive collaboration, never mind matters of collecting and verifying a users's signature, configuring document security designations, etc.

Stick around, and you'll  marvel, and take delight, that full-functioned PDFs [e.g. w/ transitions] play on essentially any software operating operating sytem, with essentially any hardware traits [e.g. visual display specification], manufactured from essentially the year 1990, to the present day, importing from essentially any file format, exporting to essentially any file format, in essentially any language, essentially anywhere in the world.  No network required.  Now –– that's what I call portable.

[Brian_Raila]

"I[t] kind of goes against the whole Portable Document Format. "  Correct –– you are starting to understand:

Apple, and Microsoft, do not not have even one single application that operates a standardized, royalty-free, portable document of any sort whatsoever [look up the global ISO 32000, aka PDF].  Their 'word processor' programs are merely self-declared, proprietary, commercial file formats, uncompliant with any standards organization.

Preview.app is a rudimentary Image Manipulation Program; it is in no way a document reader.  How do you navigate to page 27 of 134?  How can you tell how many pages are even in the document.  How do you view detail at the sometimes-required 6400% magnification?  How should the chemist measure in units of angstroms, and microns, or the astronomer in parsecs, as we readily do in PDFs?  The angular measures of artists and architects are wholly unsupported by this uncalibrated Preview.app.  How do you open a document's attachments?  How do you manage bookmarks?  Or even return to your Previous View, for that matter?  How do you view two facing pages, in a scrolling mode?  How is one to comment/annotate/markup in ways necessary for productive collaboration, never mind matters of collecting and verifying a users's signature, configuring document security designations, etc.

Stick around, and you'll  marvel, and take delight, that full-functioned PDFs [e.g. w/. transitions] operate, free of charge to the user, on essentially any software operating operating sytem, with essentially any hardware traits [e.g. visual-display specification], manufactured from essentially the year 1990, to the present day, import data from essentially any file format, export finished files to essentially any format, in essentially any language, essentially anywhere in the world.  No network required.  Now –– that's what I call portable.

[Bevi Chagnon - PubCom.com]

Let's complete the picture with some details.

The PDF "standard" (ISO 32000) was originally developed by Adobe and is now an international, opensource specification for how PDFs should be built and how they should operate when opened. Although Adobe is on the committee that maintains and develops the PDF standards, they have no longer owned or controled the standard since 2008.

Being an international standard means that any company in the world can make a software program that can render/process a PDF file (aka, a "PDF Processor" in the standard's parlance). Sections 6.3.2.3 and 8.1.1 specify how "optional" interactive content should be processed.

There's nothing stopping Microsoft and Apple from making their programs fully compliant with the PDF standard and give users all the features they expect when using PDF files, including page transitions and other interactive features the OP mentioned. It's only their greed, arrogance, and sour-grapes attitude that are preventing their programs from doing this.

Microsoft Edge processes a PDF at the lowest, barbones level...it only renders the content (text and graphics). It does not provide any other functionality that's defined in ISO 32000 standard, such as accessibility, usability features like bookmarks and comments, and interactivity. That is Microsoft's choice.

Apple Preview is similar...it only renders the content, too, and doesn't provide any features in the PDF standard. That is Apple's choice.

FYI, neither Microsoft nor Apple have representatives on the ISO committees that create the PDF standards. They could have reps, but they choose not to.

Suggestion:

Use a true, bonifide ISO 32000-standards-compliant PDF processing program, such as:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader (free), Adobe Acrobat Standard, and Adobe Acrobat Pro (Windows and Mac).
• Fox-It Software's PDF programs https://www.foxitsoftware.com/ (Windows and Mac).
• PowerPDF by Kofax Software (formerly owned by Nuance) https://www.kofax.com/Products/power-pdf (Windows and Mac).

And contact Microsoft and Apple directly to request that they re-tool their programs to become fully compliant with the PDF ISO 32000 standard.

[Farwander]

Interesting feedback. I am actually using "a true, bonifide ISO 32000-standards-compliant PDF processing program" on a MacBook Pro/Big Sur/11.1. The program is Adobe Acrobat Pro DC v. 2020.013.20074. 

It allows me to add transitions to PDFs, but it will not display them when the file is viewed in Full Screen Mode. The setting to allow transitions in full screen mode is enabled in Acrobat Preferences, yet Acrobat on the MacBook refuses to display them. Viewing the same file in Acrobat Reader on Windows 10 (under Parallels Desktop, same MacBook Pro) does show the transitions.

Perhaps this is related to some implementation of Apple's PDFkit, or maybe it's actually an issue with the Acrobat software on the Mac side. Either case, I can find no satisfactory solution to the issue. This thread has been the closest I have come to finding the matter defined and discussed, and even it provides no solution. Glorious advocacy for the wonders of PDF, but no solution.

[mattp11618056]

I have this issue also, page transitions do not work when viewed on my 2019 5k retina screen imac, but when opened on my old POS windows rig they display fine. I have been wrestling with transitions for a few days now, read all the googles, afaict everything should work but whether I set the transitions in indesign or acrobat or both I could not get them to function. Then this morning on a whim I tried opening the pdf on my pc just to see, just in case, and sure enough, the problem is the mac. Why the mac is unable to display pdf transitions I have no idea but it does indeed appear to be the case. 

Big Sur 11.2.3

Indesign 16.1

Acobat DC 21.0

Radeon Pro 580X 8gb video

[Brian_Raila]

Here is what works for me –

I cannot imagine this is related to display hardware [e.g. 5k retina screen].  Consideration of such as Apple PDFKit may be more fruitful.  In my case, all works as specified on MacBook Pro 2019 16"/macOS 10.15.7 Catalina. The reader program is Adobe Acrobat Pro DC v. 20.006.20042.

The attached Not Only in the Movies - A PDF Love Story properly executes transitions in 'Full Screen Mode', on the above setup.  Acrobat Preferences Settings attached, though I would think only 'Preferences 1' to be germane. If you lack Flash Player, a video recording of the document in action can be seen here. 

In any event, you should be able to view the introductory pages of text, and subsequent text and images, apart from media insertions, executed in full compliance with the transition settings of several types, and durations.

The work was created on MacBook Late 2007/OS X 10.7.5 Lion/Adobe Acrobat Pro 11.0.11.  It has been reported to run, without exception, on all kinds of Mac and Windows setups, incl. Acrobat Pro X, all Pro DC versions through the above, and innumerable variants of Adobe Reader, Acrobat Reader, and Reader DC. 

I, just this moment, created a new test file to confirm result if created in Adobe Acrobat Pro DC v. 20.006.20042.  Everything performed properly, viewing in Full Screen Mode.

If the attached fails for you, we'll have things narrowed down.

[Farwander]

Hi Brian -

Appreciate your input. My setup: MacBook Pro 16"-2019/Big Sur/11.2.3/64GB RAM. The program is Adobe Acrobat Pro DC v. 2020.001.20145. 

Downloaded the PDF and compared it to the Vimeo version for playback. Matched my Acrobat prefs to yours. No luck. The Mac version of Acrobat is not playing the transitions in Full Screen Mode. Please let me know if there are other details you'd like to know.

All the best -

- DM

[mattp11618056]

No joy for me either. 

[Brian_Raila]

Curious.  Let's see.  

1)  I'll presume you gain the same with attached Transition Test.pdf.

2)  Narrowing down the software versions is next.  

Mattp notes a version 'Acobat DC 21.0', which I've never heard of.  Please clarify what you're in fact running.

Farwander –– I noted previously your mention of Acrobat Pro DC v. 2020.013.20074.  This DC realm of Adobe complicates matters.  The answer to the following question is a whole Subject Area in itself; all I know is that it's not simple.  Can you run Adobe Acrobat DC v. 20.006.20042 ?  Then we've at least an application baseline.  [I disfavor the 'continuous track' model, in general, and typically block updates.]

I'm not running Acrobat DC v. 2020.013.20074 for several reasons.  But I have successfully operated Not Only in the Movies - A PDF Love Story.pdf on this rig, running Acrobat Reader DC 2020.013.20074/Catalina.  Perhaps we should start with this –– what's your Reader DC version?  Please don't say 2021.001.20145.  Can you run Reader DC v. 2020.*.* ?  [I know; Adobe doesn't make version swapping easy.]

Then you and I are identical, apart from macOS Catalina vs. Big Sur.

[Farwander]

Thanks, Brian. I'll give this a shot, once I can backgrade to an older version. Will update here when I do, so we can troubleshoot further. I will say, tested it on another machine running... 2021.001.20145... and no dice.

🙂

That you're able to run both test files on your MacBook Pro gives me some hope, but the number of people unable to run Transitions as designed remains disheartening. Still, I want to figure this out, if possible, so will see how far my viable backups go for using older Acrobat.

[Brian_Raila]

1)  If you've a particular Acrobat Reader DC version in mind for test purposes, I've likely its disk image on hand.  You can reach me, if needed, by Private Message.  As for backgrade of Acrobat DC, that I find more difficult, given the way Adobe manages subscriptions.  If you are able to do that, I'm interested in the approach.

2)  Yes, when we're running effectively identical setups, that should allow insight.  As for 'the number of people unable to run Transitions', I don't get it.  I can point to certain version-by-version bug complexities [typically remedied in the next-subsequent version].  But as for Transitions, I can't point to a single failure, in any version, going back at least 13 years.  And that, without ever paying the slightest heed to 'insuring' that the feature works as expected.  For me, it's always just worked, as reliably as Zoom, ⌘←, Next Page, or Close File.

[Rai Deck]

Since the update from Catalina to Big Sur and now to Monterey, PDF page transitions no longer work on the Mac. I have tried everything: Windows can do it as usual, but macOS can't do it anymore - what a bug! But the worst thing is that neither Adobe nor Apple are interested in the problem. The feature we've been using for years in our agency to make PDFs look a little more interesting very quickly just falls away and no one cares. That's amazing and scary at the same time. Adobe InDesign in particular, but also Adobe Acrobat, are now using PDF features that no longer work on a Mac, but are still being sold as if everything is as it used to be. This is unfortunately very very unprofessional.

[Thom Parker]

Page transitions are not a portable feature, nor are any of the interactive features. Only static viewing features (i.e. page rendering) like font, color, and text position are portable. 

[mattp11618056]

Personally I am not referring to embedding page transitions during the creation of a pdf (if that is what you are referring to, and fwiw does not work either), I am simply talking about the feature itself under settings/full screen/full screen transitions, when I set it to fade or whatever it does not do anything, the transition does not occur when paging through a pdf. Works perfectly on my pc does not work on either of my imacs (a 2019 and a late 2012), and has not for a couple years I think, not sure when I noticed it not working. All running the latest acrobat build from adobe cc.