I have a 475 page book I've created in FM for a decade or longer. It's printed these days on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), formerly Createspace. (Note this is for a print book sold on amazon, NOT the kindle--for that, see below) I exported for the 2017 edition without incident by exporting the PS file, and then running it through Acrobat Distiller. I updated the book now in FM 2020 and tried that process again and now the file is rejected by KDP because (according to their tech support) of transparency issues. Below are their recommendation for printing. I figured out how to find PDF/X-1a 2001, and most of the other issues but not the "Transparent objects are flattened." one. I'm also confused by the many different ways to generate a PDF. Can anyone recommend a method that would do the flattening?Thanks! John With the native document open in the application you used to write your book, select "File > Print."Select "PDF" from the list of printers you can to print to. If you do not find "PDF" in the list, there may be a "Print to PDF" or "PDF" button in the dialog box. Select this option if it is available. Otherwise, try Option 2 below.Click "Properties", "Settings", or "Options" (naming depends on your system) to check the PDF settings that will be used to create your PDF file. If available, select "PDF/X-1a," "High-Quality Print" or "Press Quality" from the list of presets. If your system allows, make sure the following settings are chosen. Any other settings should be left to default in most cases.Fonts and images are embedded.Specified page size matches the intended trim size plus bleed (if applicable). You may lose the bleed you included in your native document if not printed to the proper size.Bookmarks, annotations, and comments are disabled.Document security (any type) is not used.PDF/X format is used. PDF/X is preferred, but if you are submitting non-PDF/X files (for example, PDF/A), any comments, forms, or other non-printing objects could be removed during our review.Transparent objects are flattened.Spreads and printer's marks are disabled.Downsampling, or decreasing resolution, of images is disabled. Provide a name and location for the PDF file you are printing to (may default to the current name and location of the native document). Click "OK" in the print dialog box.Once created, make sure to open the PDF file to see that it appears as you intended. Otherwise, make the necessary adjustments in the native document and re-create the PDF file.

Inspiring

Question

Help for Creating Framemaker Output for Kindle Direct Publishing (Print)

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
July 21, 2020
4 replies
1283 views

I have a 475 page book I've created in FM for a decade or longer. It's printed these days on Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), formerly Createspace. (Note this is for a print book sold on amazon, NOT the kindle--for that, see below) I exported for the 2017 edition without incident by exporting the PS file, and then running it through Acrobat Distiller. I updated the book now in FM 2020 and tried that process again and now the file is rejected by KDP because (according to their tech support) of transparency issues.

Below are their recommendation for printing. I figured out how to find PDF/X-1a 2001, and most of the other issues but not the "Transparent objects are flattened." one.

I'm also confused by the many different ways to generate a PDF. Can anyone recommend a method that would do the flattening?

Thanks!

John

With the native document open in the application you used to write your book, select "File > Print."
Select "PDF" from the list of printers you can to print to. If you do not find "PDF" in the list, there may be a "Print to PDF" or "PDF" button in the dialog box. Select this option if it is available. Otherwise, try Option 2 below.
Click "Properties", "Settings", or "Options" (naming depends on your system) to check the PDF settings that will be used to create your PDF file. If available, select "PDF/X-1a," "High-Quality Print" or "Press Quality" from the list of presets. If your system allows, make sure the following settings are chosen. Any other settings should be left to default in most cases.
- Fonts and images are embedded.
- Specified page size matches the intended trim size plus bleed (if applicable). You may lose the bleed you included in your native document if not printed to the proper size.
- Bookmarks, annotations, and comments are disabled.
- Document security (any type) is not used.
- PDF/X format is used. PDF/X is preferred, but if you are submitting non-PDF/X files (for example, PDF/A), any comments, forms, or other non-printing objects could be removed during our review.
- Transparent objects are flattened.
- Spreads and printer's marks are disabled.
- Downsampling, or decreasing resolution, of images is disabled.
Provide a name and location for the PDF file you are printing to (may default to the current name and location of the native document). Click "OK" in the print dialog box.
Once created, make sure to open the PDF file to see that it appears as you intended. Otherwise, make the necessary adjustments in the native document and re-create the PDF file.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Jeff_Coatsworth

Brainiac

In that case, the simplest thing you can do is just strip out the unused graphics - why put them in anyway if you're not using them??

J

JohnHuntingtonAuthor

Inspiring

See above.

They aren't "unused", but in some cases I'm only showing a part of a larger graphic file. It would probably be several full days of work to go back through and crop out each graphic individually, re save it, insert new file names, etc etc.

Again, I never had problems with this in the last two editions in Createspace/KDP so if it ain't broke...

Thanks!

John

Jeff_Coatsworth

Brainiac

Can you condition the extra graphics so that they are hidden from publishing?

J

JohnHuntingtonAuthor

Inspiring

I might be able to do that if I knew what that meant 🙂 I'm a never ending FM noob since I use it once every 3-5 years.

Thanks!

John

Jeff_Coatsworth

Brainiac

What I got from that thread was that you need to choose the PDF/X-1a option in your job options file and pick something like "compatible with Acrobat 4" to get the flattening effect happening.

J

JohnHuntingtonAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks yes I have tried 7 different submissions with various X-1a options so far and they just keep getting rejected with no explanation. Their support says they are "working on it". Lesson: Don't use Amazon KDP. Before they absorbed Createspace, Createspace was great.

Thanks!

John