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maryr18
maryr18
Known Participant
September 16, 2018
Answered

Gradient colors disappear in PDF file

  • September 16, 2018
  • 6 replies
  • 50085 views

I have a yellow gradient on an Illustrator CC project. When I save it as a PDF file the color is not there, just a white space. How can I save the color in PDF?

No problem saving as ai file.

Thanks,

Mary

    Correct answer Monika Gause

    Finder / mac preview. (I'm assuming this is the same my client will be using to view it). 

    I guess I could rasterize the sketch but that kind of defeats the purpose of doing it in Illustrator.


    quote

    Finder / mac preview. (I'm assuming this is the same my client will be using to view it). 

    I guess I could rasterize the sketch but that kind of defeats the purpose of doing it in Illustrator.


    By @mariak4932866

     

    Apple Preview cannot be trusted with anything. So maybe you should report this to Apple, because there's nothing Adobe can change about Apple's code.

     

    You could instruct your customer to download Acrobat Viewer, which is free.

    6 replies

    Ton Frederiks
    Ton Frederiks
    Community Expert
    March 20, 2021

    The disappearing of colors seems to happen when Process RGB colors are used together with Spot RGB colors in a gradient.

    A gradient with RGB Spot colors seems to work fine.

    Actually all colors are still there and appear when Overprint Preview is turned on in Acrobat.

      T
      Theartofliria
      New Participant
      January 6, 2023

      and how do I do that?

        Ton Frederiks
        Ton Frederiks
        Community Expert
        January 6, 2023

        Whay is not clear from the discussion above?

          pl__a
          pl__a
          Participating Frequently
          December 19, 2020

          That doesn't work, converting to cmyk conpletely changes the colors.

          Ton Frederiks
          Ton Frederiks
          Community Expert
          December 19, 2020

          No need to change color mode, just change the color type of any Spot RGB color swatches that are used in the gradient to Process.

            A
            antonyo61585765
            New Participant
            March 20, 2021

            This is the final answer, you helped me a lot, thank you!

            lambiloon
            lambiloon
            Community Expert
            September 17, 2018

            hi issue is your document color mode is rgb please change it cmyk then it will be there just use illustrator defualt pdf options....thanks

            https://drive.google.com/open?id=1pBU_mczVNpVt5yupBLSWP8DIDjSHBvXi

            Ali Sajjad / Graphic Design Trainer / Freelancer / Adobe Certified Professional
              maryr18
              maryr18Author
              Known Participant
              September 17, 2018

              Perfect!  Works just fine.  Thank you for your help!

              maryr18
              maryr18Author
              Known Participant
              September 17, 2018

              That didn’t work. I used PDFX/4:2008

              lambiloon
              lambiloon
              Community Expert
              September 17, 2018

              share your ai file i check it and tell you what is problem

              Ali Sajjad / Graphic Design Trainer / Freelancer / Adobe Certified Professional
              maryr18
              maryr18Author
              Known Participant
              September 16, 2018

              Bill, I’m a newbie. I created the gradient in Illustrator. Where can I check the quality?

              Bill Silbert
              Bill Silbert
              Community Expert
              September 17, 2018

              When you save as an Adobe PDF you will get the Save Adobe PDF dialog window. The top pull-down menu next to "Adobe PDF preset:" will have all of the quality settings. The "Standard:" area is where you'd pick PDF/X4

              maryr18
              maryr18Author
              Known Participant
              September 17, 2018

              I’ll try that.

              Bill Silbert
              Bill Silbert
              Community Expert
              September 16, 2018

              Was the gradient actually created in Illustrator or is it embedded from Photoshop? What quality did you use? Did you use the High Quality or Press Quality settings? Try it using the PDF/X-4 as the standard.

                M
                Marisol Maltos
                New Participant
                October 4, 2021

                you saved me!

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