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Adobe Illustrator Saving PDF with Strange Blocks

New Here ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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Hi Community,

 

A recent strange thing has been happening when I have been saving PDFs from Adobe Illustrator. Nothing has changed from my side, so I can't understand why this is happening. I save my PDF as normal, as high quality, and then I get these strange blocks/blobs or pieces just missing completely from the document. When I saved the one PDF as smallest quality, the strange blocks were gone, but I can't send work to print when it is low quality. When I open the PDF in Adobe Acrobat, it says there is an error with the file, but I have no idea why.

 

Anyone have a similar experience or know how to fix it?

 

Screenshot 2023-09-21 at 08.55.21.pngexpand imageScreenshot 2023-09-21 at 09.39.59.pngexpand imageScreenshot 2023-09-21 at 09.40.12.pngexpand imageScreenshot 2023-09-21 at 09.40.29.pngexpand imageScreenshot 2023-09-21 at 09.40.55.pngexpand image

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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What kind of artwork is it we're looking at?

How did you create it, which functions have been used?

 

Did you already reboot the system?

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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Hi Monika,

These are vector artworks with vector illustration created in Adobe Illustrator.

No specific functions used except drawing (pen tool) and type tools. 

 

I have tried updating Illustrator and it still happens, I have not restarted my machine yet but will try that later when I am finished with work.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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Please be more precise about how you made it.

Also: this might be interesting for the Acrobat forum. https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat/ct-p/ct-acrobat?page=1&sort=latest_replies&lang=all&tabid=all 

And probably cannot be solved without having the PDF.

 

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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The artworks are created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator (vector artworks), then I saved the artworks as PDFs (as I always do to send to clients to review), then when opening or previewing the PDFs, those strange shapes and blocks appeared. Nothing different was done in Illustrator, I didn't change any settings, yet this problem started happening. 

The screenshots I sent are of a tasting sheet for a client, and the other is a label design for a wine label - both created from scratch in Illustrator - in vector. The artworks look perfect in Illustrator, but when saved to PDF format, they appear like that. 

Not sure how much more specific I can be. 

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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Are there freeform gradients involved? Effects? Patterns? Transparency?

How many objects?

 

Does it show that way when you open it in Acrobat? Or only on the client's side?

 

Can you try and find out which object is causing it?

Are those probably very tiny objects with a lot of anchor points in them?

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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No, no gradients, effects or patterns - only a detailed illustration with anchor points set on multiply. The illustration is also outlined (so the strokes are converted to shapes, not strokes). I have done detailed illustration my whole career and never had this issue.

 

The blocks don't show at all when opening in Acrobat, it shows the error "An error exists on this page etc." It shows when previewing the pdf file on mac, but when I preview the Illustrator file, it looks perfect. Very strange.

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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So the error shows in Apple Preview?

Forget that toy for serious prepress stuff.

 

Does Acrobat specify the error?

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New Here ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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Hi Monika,

 

Yes, the weirs blocks and lines show on apple preview - but when opening the PDF in adobe acrobat, the pages with the strange blocks will show an error message "An error exists on this page etc" - I did include it in my initial upload of screenshots but I've attached it again. Based on what the error says, it seems to me the problem is either an Illustrator or Acrobat problem, not an apple preview problem - but at this point, I have no idea.

 

Screenshot 2023-09-21 at 09.40.55.pngexpand image

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Community Expert ,
Sep 21, 2023 Sep 21, 2023

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How many anchor points are in that document?

It looks very detailed to me.

And as already mentioned, you might want to post in the Acrobat forum as well.

 

Artwork is made by the rules? Paths closed, no extreme handles? 

 

Which settings are you using when saving the PDF? PDF/X? 

Without even having the actual files, this could be impossible to solve. 

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New Here ,
Sep 28, 2023 Sep 28, 2023

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Hi Monika, I just wanted to reply and say that the problem has been continuing across multiple different files - not just the ones I mentioned above. I was on Adobe Illustrator V27.9 - I then installed V27.8.1 and it still happens. Then I installed V27.7 and the problem seems to no longer happen. So based on that I feel like it must be some issue when saving a PDF from Illustrator with those versions of Illustrator - some kind of bug. Because as I said, I didn't change my settings, and it wasn't just one specific file. I have done very detailed artworks before with no issues.

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