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pamelac62072871
pamelac62072871
Participant
December 3, 2018
Answered

Illustrator-saved PDF distorts in email

  • December 3, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 1857 views

Hi guys,

I've been having this problem several times now and I have not found an answer yet. Here's what happened:
I saved a print file in pdf format via Illustrator and I opened it on my end and it looks great, but after I have attached it to the email, I suddenly have a lighter block of colour in the middle and the gradient looks really bad. The colour looks different too.

What it should look like:

What it looks like after attaching it to the email:

I have no idea what's going on and right now the only thing I can think of doing is to just save a tiff and work with that..

Anyone who could enlighten me is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Pam

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Monika Gause

pamelac62072871  schrieb

Exactly how is the AI file built? Does it use transparency?

And why do you save a print PDF when you're going to send it via e-mail?

So I saved as high quality print via Illustrator. I mean... there's layers on there but there's no transparency, the whole artwork is backed on a gradient background colour.

I'm not sure what you mean by the question here. It's what I'm used to doing, it's what I was taught to do back in design school, to save as a pdf. I use the crop marks function as there's bleed. I tried to send them an eps file but they said "we can't open this file".

What type of print file do you normally send in emails? Out of curiosity.

Thank you for the explantion.

I was getting the impression that you wanted to send an HTML e-mail newsletter or the like.

Of course when sending something to the printing vendor, you send them whatever PDF they need. But then I wouldn't worry what the e-mail application shows. In most cases it will be wrong. What Acrobat shows is what matters.

2 replies

John Mensinger
Community Expert
John MensingerCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 3, 2018

ALso please consider: any other PDF viewer app than Acrobat might or might not show the PDF correctly.

Right. If double-clicking the attachment opens the PDF in Mac Preview or some viewing app other than Acrobat or Adobe Reader, you may be seeing an unreliable rendering.

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity Expert
Community Expert
December 3, 2018

In which way exactly did you "attach" it to the email?

Is this going to be an HTML e-mail?

Which mail app do you use?

Exactly how is the AI file built? Does it use transparency?

And why do you save a print PDF when you're going to send it via e-mail?

ALso please consider: any other PDF viewer app than Acrobat might or might not show the PDF correctly.

pamelac62072871
pamelac62072871Author
Participant
December 4, 2018

In which way exactly did you "attach" it to the email?

Just drag and drop really, like how I attach anything to gmail. It was gmail btw, browser form.

Exactly how is the AI file built? Does it use transparency?

And why do you save a print PDF when you're going to send it via e-mail?

So I saved as high quality print via Illustrator. I mean... there's layers on there but there's no transparency, the whole artwork is backed on a gradient background colour.

I'm not sure what you mean by the question here. It's what I'm used to doing, it's what I was taught to do back in design school, to save as a pdf. I use the crop marks function as there's bleed. I tried to send them an eps file but they said "we can't open this file".

What type of print file do you normally send in emails? Out of curiosity.

ALso please consider: any other PDF viewer app than Acrobat might or might not show the PDF correctly.

Actually I do use Acrobat. Funny thing is, when I use Acrobat to look at the file after downloading it again from my email it looks absolutely fine. But this has never happened to any of my other files in the past.

Below is a preview of the email in gmail, left pdf is saved as mentioned above, right is saved as a tiff first.

Thanks for answering

Monika Gause
Community Expert
Monika GauseCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
Community Expert
December 4, 2018

pamelac62072871  schrieb

Exactly how is the AI file built? Does it use transparency?

And why do you save a print PDF when you're going to send it via e-mail?

So I saved as high quality print via Illustrator. I mean... there's layers on there but there's no transparency, the whole artwork is backed on a gradient background colour.

I'm not sure what you mean by the question here. It's what I'm used to doing, it's what I was taught to do back in design school, to save as a pdf. I use the crop marks function as there's bleed. I tried to send them an eps file but they said "we can't open this file".

What type of print file do you normally send in emails? Out of curiosity.

Thank you for the explantion.

I was getting the impression that you wanted to send an HTML e-mail newsletter or the like.

Of course when sending something to the printing vendor, you send them whatever PDF they need. But then I wouldn't worry what the e-mail application shows. In most cases it will be wrong. What Acrobat shows is what matters.

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