Imported PDF Graphics do not display in saved PDF

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

I have several books that import PDF graphics just fine and the graphics display in the file Save As PDF and Export to Word. I have a new book that imports the graphics, just fine, but does not display them in Adobe Acrobat file and obviously not in the Word export file, either. What could be missing?

Thanks!

[LinSims]

The Chicken puts the Fox on her back, and the Fox dangles a Grain Feeding Tube in front of the chicken, so all of them get across. lol

By @defaultcbj1p6qywajq

I like that. I'm not sure the chicken wouldn't find itself eaten on the other side, though.

[LinSims]

Yes, but I know the answer to that one! I can even solve a moderately large Towers of Hanoi puzzle. 

It's just weird. The same forms have the problem every time but ONLY in this book and ONLY if the entire book is generated. That is really, really hard to pin down. I keep thinking that Word had to have done something odd when saving those files to PDF, but what? And why only some of them? Unless more than one person is creating the PDFs and just one of them is generating the non-working PDFs. I wonder what would happen if they asked for newly created PDFs of just those images. Or if they could open the original PDFs in something like Illustrator and save them out to a format like SVG or PNG.

<morose> They've probably already tried those, though, without success. </m>

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Try again. I got both the Word and PDF of one of these forms. I generated the Word doc into a PDF. I also got PDF copies of the same form. I even tried saving the PDF to Word and then regenerating it as another PDF. I also imported a known, good PDF from another book (same PDF in a working book). That didn't work either. I stopped trying to figure out whether it was Word or Acrobat generating the problem. It's not. The same Word file and/or PDF export is working fine in another book, so Word and Acrobat and not the issue. It has to be somewhere in one of the section files.

[LinSims]

Did you try the screenshot route and get the same result?

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

No didn't try screenshot, just the PDF to PNG conversion. I would think that that would work, but it didn't. PDF format is gone and now saved as an image but still not working. Updated news: I completely deleted and rebuilt section 6, including the images and still not displaying the PDFs. So, you might be right. Something between Word and PDF conversion (settings or something). However, I have copied over known, good image PDFs that are working in another book...just not this one. Go figure!!!

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Actually, I have imported PDF images from Book A, which all work, into Book B, where they don't work. So, I doubt that Word or the conversion of the Word form into PDF is the problem.I am leaning towards section file(s) compiling into the PDF book. If a section file displays the images fine but the book PDF doesn't, then the section files appear to not compile into the book PDF. Something with Distiller may be it, but the ringer is that all of Book A works perfectly. There is something in Book B that FrameMaker and/or Acrobat just doesn't like, and I will find out what that is if it kills me...and it might. lol

I am going to have to go back to creating this book from scratch and start with the first section that is giving me problems. I'll just start with Section 4, copy into Notepad, add styles, and see if that fixes anything. My guess is that it will, only because the sections work perfectly by themselves but the book doesn't. Will let you know what happens when I find the problem.

[Winfried Reng]

Meanwhile there are so many posts in this thread that I get confused 😁

It does not matter whether you import PDFs or PNGs.

And only single files in your book are affected. Are all PDFs in a problem file affected? Or only some?

Have you already switched on and off and on the display of graphics in all files of your book?

And I do not remember: structured or unstructured?

Does the location matter? Are the files on a network?

And I forgot: Do you have this issue also when you print to a PostScript file and distill to PDF? There is also the option to create single Postscript files for the files of a book.

[mk-will]

I think somewhere in this thread the OP stated that he is working over the network.

So if not already done the problematic book and all the needed files/resources should be copied to the local drive to see if the problem persists.

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

I agree, MK, and I am testing that theory right now. I moved all the files off the server and onto my hard drive, just to see if there is some server path length issue or something regarding the server. Will let you know.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

At this point I suggest you create a test environment on a fresh PC or fresh VM.

Start with a few simple docs, then create a book and add the worrisome graphics in until they stop working.

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

At this point, Matt, I have moved the files over to my laptop drive and I am creating a new book PDF now. I should know in a few minutes whether the server was at fault. If that doesn't work, I will try your suggestion.

Thanks, Ken

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Ok, Matt and company, after 2 and half days, I believe I've finally found the source of this issue. I moved all of the book files and images to my laptop hard drive and all of the images now display. At this point I have only added one section, so not sure if the other images will display, yet. It appears this is probably an issue with the server file path being too long or something similar. My next step is to move the Canadian book and image files up a level or two on the server and see if I still have all images displaying. Interesting that the US manual is at the same level on the server as the Canadian manual, and the US shows all images. Howver, only select images in the Canadian manual do not display. So, it's not a case of all of them missing in the Canadian manual, but just certain ones.

[LinSims]

Now, see, this is why I assign a unique, short number as the name of each graphic and include the number as part of the graphic image. 

Keeping a list of which graphic is assigned to a number makes them easier to reuse, and the character length of the file name makes it far less likely I'll bump up against the character limit.

(A prior coworker set up the filing system I'm using right now and it's ... rather individualistic. Some of the path names get very, very long. This is also why I have a directory where ALL the graphics are kept.)

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Yeah, I get it, but that solution is a bit harder in my case to use numbers, since the image files themselves are also the figure titles in the manual. If I were to use numbers, then I am looking at two documents...maybe a spreadsheet for figure title and number, as well as the FM document to add the figure title. I have found that the figure names are no different in my US manual then they are in the Canadian manual, and the US manual works fine. Even the file and folder structure are exactly the same for both manuals. I believe I am going to move the book and image files up a level or two on the server, first, just to see if that totally fixes my problem. Unfortunately, I cannot move all of the books to my hard drive. They have to be on the server repository so everyone, including my boss and other writers, can access them.

[Matt-Tech Comm Tools]

So, path length was the issue?

That would explain why the book didn't publish, as the path length would be longer (and in this case, over the limit) by the length of the filename containing the graphics.

To add to Lin's advice: Short file names, short server and directory names, less nesting.

[mk-will]

Happy you find the issue and solution.

But you have to be aware of the following fact: Adobe software (with the exception of adobe servers) is NOT intended to work with resources over a network.

Adobe programs expect to find all needed resources locally and not on a network drive.

So maybe it is the path length, maybe it is a network time-out (takes too long to load the graphics?) or something similar or a mixture.

All the Best

Stephan

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Thanks, but I am a conceiver and then a believer. I recreate the issue, find a working solution, and then find out what really caused the failure. I am an engineering tech as well as a writer...just in my nature. Resources working over a network has worked almost 15 years, so I am not 100% convinced that the resources being on a network is the issue. FrameMaker itself is cloud-based. Isn't that a network? One-drive is a network and it stores resources. File path length could be the issue, maybe. However, I will have an answer to that questioin, later today.

[mk-will]

"FrameMaker itself is cloud-based."

Why do you think so?

"Isn't that a network?"

Are you working with your files on that cloud-storage directly so every read/write is done in the cloud?

If yes, that will explain, why you get/got trouble.

And as you wrote copying the files to your harddrive did solve the problem.

Regards

Stephan

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

For some reason, I was thinking FM was cloud based, but I was thinking of another app. No, the files being on a network had no bearing on the results of this issue. I have been using FM files on a network for 13 years and never had an issue with any file. The problem was that two PDFs used were fillable forms. I flattened them both and problem solved.

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

"FrameMaker itself is cloud-based." - nope, not at all. Only the licensing is subscription based in the cloud. You still download & install the software locally.

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Thanks for that info. I wouldn't know because I don't manage the installation or the licenses I use at work.

[LinSims]

Nope. FrameMaker is not now and never has been cloud-based, and it has had issues with having files located on a network drive instead of on the local drive for ... a couple of decades at least, that I know about. Especially if you have stuff in multiple locations. It's quite finicky about lag, although that has improved somewhat over the years. 

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Lin, Jeff, and Matt, after further research, I moved the files to my hard drive and the image files still do not work at some point. I added all of the FM files to the book and, again, the image files did not display certain images. I started adding documents to the book, one at a time, and it has worked for the first two documents added to the book. Therefore, I have ruled out the server or server path length as being the culprit. It is starting to look more like either the file (book) size or a corrupt document. I will keep adding files, one at a time, and find out when the images stop loading. 

[defaultcbj1p6qywajq]

Thanks, Lin. As mentioned, after 13 years, I have never had one issue with FM files on a network. Perhaps others have, but not in my expeience.

Thanks!

[Winfried Reng]

I always had my files on network drives and never had any issues. Almost 30 years. It could be that my network was always very fast.

Only now in the home office my files are on a local hard drive, because my network now is much too slow.

Of course it might be that there are specific network settings that could cause trouble, but generally FrameMaker does not have problems with files on a network.

And of course it seems that the network seems to be the cause here.