Saving as PDF loses transparency when printing

[#1]

I have a design that has color opacity gradients in it. when i save it as a pdf, everything is shown correct until i try to print it with a  printer. In my printers program the transparency is gone, also the design is printed without transparency. I get this working by using the Print command to create a PDF with adobe pdf printer. Why is that I can't use save as to create PDFs with transparency for print production? 

[#2]

I have a design that has color opacity gradients in it. when i save it as a pdf, everything is shown correct until i try to print it with a  printer. In my printers program the transparency is gone, also the design is printed without transparency. I get this working by using the Print command to create a PDF with adobe pdf printer. Why is that I can't use save as to create PDFs with transparency for print production? 

[#3]

Please do not use Print command to create a PDF, as print flattens transparency (and layers).

The right way to get a PDF in Illustrator is with File>Save or File>Save As. (there is a dropdown list for saving as Ai, EPS, PDF, SVG,...)

[#4]

I am aware of Print not being the best option. How can i find the best options for saving as PDF, because sometimes the transparency effects disappear and sometimes they don't. Right now i have no clue why they do, and why they don't.

[#5]

Please tell us what exactly you have, what exactly you save, which options you use and what exactly happens.

Old PDF versions don't support transparency and when you save those PDF versions, transparency gets flattened.

[#6]

<<
  /ASCII85EncodePages false
  /AllowPSXObjects true
  /AllowTransparency false
  /AlwaysEmbed [
    true
  ]
  /AntiAliasColorImages false
  /AntiAliasGrayImages false
  /AntiAliasMonoImages false
  /AutoFilterColorImages true
  /AutoFilterGrayImages true
  /AutoPositionEPSFiles true
  /AutoRotatePages /All
  /Binding /Left
  /CalCMYKProfile (ISO Coated v2 \050ECI\051)
  /CalGrayProfile (Gray Gamma 2.2)
  /CalRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
  /CannotEmbedFontPolicy /Warning
  /CheckCompliance [
    /None
  ]
  /ColorACSImageDict <<
    /HSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
    /QFactor 0.40000
    /VSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
  >>
  /ColorConversionStrategy /LeaveColorUnchanged
  /ColorImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /ColorImageDepth -1
  /ColorImageDict <<
    /HSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
    /QFactor 0.15000
    /VSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
  >>
  /ColorImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /ColorImageDownsampleType /None
  /ColorImageFilter /DCTEncode
  /ColorImageMinDownsampleDepth 1
  /ColorImageMinResolution 150
  /ColorImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /ColorImageResolution 150
  /ColorSettingsFile ()
  /CompatibilityLevel 1.4
  /CompressObjects /Tags
  /CompressPages false
  /ConvertImagesToIndexed true
  /CreateJDFFile false
  /CreateJobTicket false
  /CropColorImages false
  /CropGrayImages false
  /CropMonoImages false
  /DSCReportingLevel 0
  /DefaultRenderingIntent /Default
  /Description <<
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
  >>
  /DetectBlends true
  /DetectCurves 0
  /DoThumbnails false
  /DownsampleColorImages false
  /DownsampleGrayImages false
  /DownsampleMonoImages false
  /EmbedAllFonts true
  /EmbedJobOptions true
  /EmbedOpenType false
  /EmitDSCWarnings false
  /EncodeColorImages true
  /EncodeGrayImages true
  /EncodeMonoImages true
  /EndPage -1
  /GrayACSImageDict <<
    /HSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
    /QFactor 0.40000
    /VSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
  >>
  /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG
  /GrayImageDepth -1
  /GrayImageDict <<
    /HSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
    /QFactor 0.15000
    /VSamples [
      1
      1
      1
      1
    ]
  >>
  /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /GrayImageDownsampleType /None
  /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode
  /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2
  /GrayImageMinResolution 150
  /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /GrayImageResolution 150
  /ImageMemory 1048576
  /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict <<
    /Quality 30
    /TileHeight 256
    /TileWidth 256
  >>
  /JPEG2000ColorImageDict <<
    /Quality 30
    /TileHeight 256
    /TileWidth 256
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict <<
    /Quality 30
    /TileHeight 256
    /TileWidth 256
  >>
  /JPEG2000GrayImageDict <<
    /Quality 30
    /TileHeight 256
    /TileWidth 256
  >>
  /LockDistillerParams false
  /MaxSubsetPct 100
  /MonoImageDepth -1
  /MonoImageDict <<
    /K -1
  >>
  /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000
  /MonoImageDownsampleType /None
  /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode
  /MonoImageMinResolution 1200
  /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK
  /MonoImageResolution 300
  /Namespace [
    (Adobe)
    (Common)
    (1.0)
  ]
  /NeverEmbed [
    true
  ]
  /OPM 1
  /Optimize true
  /OtherNamespaces [
    <<
      /AsReaderSpreads false
      /CropImagesToFrames true
      /ErrorControl /WarnAndContinue
      /FlattenerIgnoreSpreadOverrides false
      /IncludeGuidesGrids false
      /IncludeNonPrinting false
      /IncludeSlug false
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (InDesign)
        (4.0)
      ]
      /OmitPlacedBitmaps false
      /OmitPlacedEPS false
      /OmitPlacedPDF false
      /SimulateOverprint /Legacy
    >>
    <<
      /AllowImageBreaks true
      /AllowTableBreaks true
      /ExpandPage false
      /HonorBaseURL true
      /HonorRolloverEffect false
      /IgnoreHTMLPageBreaks false
      /IncludeHeaderFooter false
      /MarginOffset [
        0
        0
        0
        0
      ]
      /MetadataAuthor ()
      /MetadataKeywords ()
      /MetadataSubject ()
      /MetadataTitle ()
      /MetricPageSize [
        0
        0
      ]
      /MetricUnit /inch
      /MobileCompatible 0
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (GoLive)
        (8.0)
      ]
      /OpenZoomToHTMLFontSize false
      /PageOrientation /Portrait
      /RemoveBackground false
      /ShrinkContent true
      /TreatColorsAs /MainMonitorColors
      /UseEmbeddedProfiles false
      /UseHTMLTitleAsMetadata true
    >>
    <<
      /AddBleedMarks false
      /AddColorBars false
      /AddCropMarks false
      /AddPageInfo false
      /AddRegMarks false
      /BleedOffset [
        0
        0
        0
        0
      ]
      /ConvertColors /NoConversion
      /DestinationProfileName ()
      /DestinationProfileSelector /NA
      /Downsample16BitImages true
      /FlattenerPreset <<
        /PresetSelector /MediumResolution
      >>
      /FormElements true
      /GenerateStructure false
      /IncludeBookmarks false
      /IncludeHyperlinks false
      /IncludeInteractive false
      /IncludeLayers false
      /IncludeProfiles true
      /MarksOffset 6
      /MarksWeight 0.25000
      /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings
      /Namespace [
        (Adobe)
        (CreativeSuite)
        (2.0)
      ]
      /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /NA
      /PageMarksFile /RomanDefault
      /PreserveEditing false
      /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged
      /UntaggedRGBHandling /LeaveUntagged
      /UseDocumentBleed false
    >>
  ]
  /PDFX1aCheck false
  /PDFX3Check false
  /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [
    0
    0
    0
    0
  ]
  /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly true
  /PDFXNoTrimBoxError false
  /PDFXOutputCondition ()
  /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier ()
  /PDFXOutputIntentProfile ()
  /PDFXRegistryName ()
  /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true
  /PDFXTrapped /False
  /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [
    0
    0
    0
    0
  ]
  /ParseDSCComments true
  /ParseDSCCommentsForDocInfo true
  /ParseICCProfilesInComments true
  /PassThroughJPEGImages true
  /PreserveCopyPage true
  /PreserveDICMYKValues true
  /PreserveEPSInfo false
  /PreserveFlatness false
  /PreserveHalftoneInfo false
  /PreserveOPIComments false
  /PreserveOverprintSettings true
  /StartPage 1
  /SubsetFonts true
  /SyntheticBoldness 1.00
  /TransferFunctionInfo /Apply
  /UCRandBGInfo /Remove
  /UsePrologue false
  /sRGBProfile (sRGB IEC61966-2.1)
>> setdistillerparams
<<
  /HWResolution [600 600]
  /PageSize [612.000 792.000]
>> setpagedevice

these are my settings

PDF link is below

Pdf shows it correct, eveyr pdf viewer shows it's correct, but the printer and it's software shows no transparency in the opacity gradients. 

[#7]

Can you please upload a link to your PDF using the buttons at the top right of the window in Acrobat? I don't want to download your PDF because the website looks dicey. Do you see a print setting to Simulate Overprinting?

[#8]

That PDF open in Illustrator shows transparent areas in you gradients sign, in the Flattener Preview.

some questions remain:

1. Why don't you save it directly as PDF>PDFX/4. it keeps transparency. (On the other hand it gets flattened when saved as PDFX-1a).

2. When you have tried as Save As PDF and lost the transparency (?), do you mean the lines show no gradients, have a flat color on paper?

[#9]

https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:c9ab2a53-f0d8-49ef-9c8f-b7fa71c15cb3

1. I am trying different options right now. I got it to work when using Compability with acrobat 4. 

2. Yes, no gradients, just flat colors.

[#10]

A PDF v. 1.3 Acrobat 4 compatible has no transparency, contents get flattened.

When saving, color components get blended, appearance is kept but without transparency.

[#11]

Mrprintalot,

What happens if you print the saved PDF while using a PostScript (emulating) printer driver or while having whichever possible management by the printer disabled/unticked?