Text Appears Bolder in Exported PDF Than in InDesign Editor (Version 19.5)

[Gavin330812669p8m]

Hello, I am currently working on a program for a show. A problem I have ran into is that when the InDesign projects is exported, some of the pages will have bolder text than others, despite being the same font style, no stroke applied, etc. I have attached an example on 2 side-by-side pages in my exported PDF. Can anybody give me a pointer as to why this is happening? I am using InDesign 19.5.

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[sevenK]

Sorry, but I don’t see any problem with the PDF 🤷‍:male_sign: … the fonts look just fine. 

[Gavin330812669p8m]

I think it's more noticable what I am experiencing if I show the editor preview as well.

[Derek Cross]

Which flavour of PDF have you selected?
Which application/reader are you viewing the PDF in?

[Gavin330812669p8m]

I exported with Press Quality and Working CMYK color; I am viewing the PDF in Google Chrome.

[Derek Cross]

Try viewing the PDF with the Adobe Reader.

By the way, check with your printer which kind of PDF s/he might prefer – PDF/X-1 or PDF/X-4 might be better.

[Gavin330812669p8m]

Will try exporting with X-1/X-4, but also would you be able to give any hints as to whats happening? I have attached a editor preview of the affected page.

[Gavin330812669p8m]

No change exporting with either.

[Derek Cross]

As mentioned, the choice of application you're viewing the PDF with can sometimes make a difference.

[BobLevine]

Use PDF/X-4 and make a new top layer in the document. Move any text near transparency (this includes dropshadows) above it and then check in Acrobat. If it's good there, that's it. You're exporting an Adobe PDF and many non-Adobe PDF readers, including browsers, are notoriously bad.

[Gavin330812669p8m · Accepted solution]

After hours of messing around, I realized that on some text boxes (the ones that were affected) my stroke was set to a color, but was still at 0pt. I think when I exported it applied an invisible stroke.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

That would do it. A stroke of 0 is not the same as no stroke.

In Postscript/PDF language there's an operator called stroke adjustment where any stroke LESS than a pixel width will render as a single pixel width. This is invoked depending on the output device, so for example, on a monitor, where the pixels are relatively quite large, this will show up more pronounced than it would (if at all) on a high res device. Third party viewers are even worse at this.