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Can't maintain 300 PPI when creating PDF

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
September 13, 2019
6 replies
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When I combine multiple 300 PPI files into a PDF in Photoshop CC the resulting PDF file is always 150 PPI. I've been working on this for hours and tried multiple combinations of settings. I've tried with and without the standard downsampling which is only for stuff above 300 PPI so that shouldn't even matter. Can anyone offer insight here? I don't want my files cut in half when I make a PDF document. I'm also having this issue when I combine files as a PDF in Acrobat.

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jaredfromspace4917135Author

Participating Frequently

Attempted with these settings. The screenshot with two documents open shows one of the original pages and then the corresponding page when I imported the PDF into Photoshop. Notice that the one from the PDF (Binder1-2) is viewing at 33% while the other is at 16.7% because it's 150 PPI instead of 300. I should specify here that the PDF was created in Acrobat without choosing any option to reduce file size.

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Your 2nd screenshot (import PDF) shows resolution at 150 not 300.

Nancy O'Shea— Product User & Community Expert

jaredfromspace4917135Author

Participating Frequently

This was opening the PDF in photoshop to look at the file details

Conrad_C

Community Expert

OK, one important thing about that. You're not seeing the “resolution” the PDF there. PDF is a vector-based format that doesn't have a resolution, and it may contain images with a mix of resolutions, so there is not one single PPI value that a PDF has.

If you're talking about the Resolution field in the Import PDF dialog box when opening a PDF in Photoshop, that does not inspect file details, nor does it tell you the resolution of the PDF, since there isn't one. All that does is ask you what resolution you want to use to rasterize the PDF into a pixel-based Photoshop document, and the resolution it shows you is not the “resolution” of the PDF, it’s actually the last resolution that was entered. You can see this by entering any crazy number in there like 263 and click OK; the next PDF you open into Import PDF will show that same 263 value no matter where it came from. This is also true of all options on the right side of the Import PDF dialog box.

In other words, the Import PDF options tell you nothing about the PDF; it’s only asking you how you want to rasterize it.

If you want to see the resolution of an image in a PDF:

Open it in Acrobat.
Use the Edit PDF tool to select an image.
Click Edit Using to send the image to Photoshop.
After it opens in Photoshop, use the Info panel or Image > Image Size to see the resolution of that one image.

I think Photoshop will report the effective resolution, which is the ppi value after accounting for how much the image was scaled on the page.

F

federico platon

Legend

No idea how you can combine multiple (different?) into a PDF in Photoshop, unless you place them in layers of the same document. Oh wait, you are talking about the automate command PDF Presentation? Well there is the limitation, it is preset to use a lower resolution for easy sharing or web use. I suggest you to combine separate PDFs directly in Acrobat Pro.

Regarding resolution when you Save as Photoshop PDF a warning appears and then a panel where you can set the resolution.

For Print or for 300ppi images, it is recommended you choose Print quality preset, then you can use a PDF/X standard and a PDF version for compatibility, below yiiu will see the final or PDF resolutioin for raster content, it will say 300ppi. You can change it of course to any value.

Once you have a resolution, that value will be used on the PDF.

jaredfromspace4917135Author

Participating Frequently

Thank you, this seems to be exactly what I'm doing. I generally use Acrobat to create PDFs but the result is the same. Two 300 PPI files combine into a 150 PPI PDF with settings that look like what you have above and seems to match my screenshots.

jaredfromspace4917135Author

Participating Frequently

Here are some screenshots. I even tried to reset my Photoshop preferences to get to Adobe Preset [High Quality Print] without the (Modified). I can't tell how I've modified it or how to reset that, but the rest of the preferences are pretty standard to my knowledge.

jaredfromspace4917135Author

Participating Frequently

Sorry this posted backwards. The image upload on this site isn't the best. The first photo (should be the last) shows that one of the files is 300 PPI and two of those pages together winds up being 150 PPI when combined into a PDF

Nancy OShea

Community Expert

Go to File > SaveAs > PDF. See screenshot.

Which PDF Preset are you using?

Which compression settings?