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Tommy J.
Tommy J.
Known Participant
January 31, 2020
Question

Edit each page of a multi-page PDF document without any data loss/downsampling

  • January 31, 2020
  • 5 replies
  • 6581 views

I have a 68-page PDF file and I need to adjust each page seperately in PS in order to straighten them out, but it is importand to do so without any data loss or downsampling in the process.

 

I've tried to open the PDF in PS and then save each page in uncompressed/undownsampled TIFF file after editng it but after carefully inspecting the TIFF file I noticed that it looks slightly more sharp than the original image in the PDF. I've also tried to export each page from Acrobat in JP2 but they look slightly more blury if you compare them with the PDF. I've even tried opening a specific page in PS and then saving through Automate > PDF Presentation but it's also not the same if you zoom real close and compare the original PDF file with the the new PDF. No matter what I do it's never exactly the same.

 

Is there a method through which I could do that with absolutely no quality loss in the editting process?

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5 replies

Tommy J.
Tommy J.Author
Known Participant
February 5, 2020

Does anybody know if saving an image as TIFF with JPEG compression (12 level) would result in image quality loss?

T
Test Screen Name
Legend
February 5, 2020

JPEG is a lossy format. There is no exception to this, no "perfect" level. You may not be able to detect a problem, but it will have changed.

    jane-e
    Community Expert
    jane-eCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    February 1, 2020

    I have a 68-page PDF file and I need to adjust each page seperately in PS in order to straighten them out...Is there a method through which I could do that with absolutely no quality loss in the editting process?

     

    Hi

    In Acrobat, use the Export PDF toolbar and either export each page to a tiff or click the checkbox to export all images to tiff, then open each tiff in Photoshop and make your adjustments.

    Jane

     

      Tommy J.
      Tommy J.Author
      Known Participant
      February 1, 2020

      Thank you jane-e, I will do that.

      Unfortunately it looks like in that way the size of the new files will be significantly increased, but I guess there's no other way to be sure that there's no image quality loss.

      Stephen Marsh
      Community Expert
      Stephen MarshCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      February 1, 2020

      You should have the option to open the PDF images in the file (at their original resolution), rather than opening and rasterizing the actual page. This is at the head of the window where you pick your pages, select the image option instead.

       

      PDF files could contain images; text and vector data on each page. This is why there is a feature to extract the images. So if this multi page PDF has one image per page then that would result in the same count of images as pages, but you would be using the images native pixels, not a rasterization of a raster at a different pixel size/resolution. Hope this makes sense.

       

        Tommy J.
        Tommy J.Author
        Known Participant
        February 1, 2020

        Thank you for your helpful reply Mr Stephen_A_Marsh! It definitely makes sence.

         

        After I've opened this way each page/image of the PDF and edited it, could you please tell me your opinion on how I should proceed in order to avoid any possible downsampling? I know that the pages of the document were initially scanned in 600 DPI, saved in JP2 files and then merged in a single PDF file through Acrobat. Now I need to edit them one by one in PS and create a new PDF file. My main concern though is to do so without compromising to the least bit the quality of the original images. Would that be technically possible? 

        Mylenium
        Mylenium
        Legend
        January 31, 2020

        There's always going to be re-sampling, no matter the method. Even PDF-editing tools rasterize transformed objects. What you want is simply technically impossible.

         

        Mylenium

          T
          Test Screen Name
          Legend
          January 31, 2020

          Straightening a bitmap is a massive rearrangement of pixels, essentially like downsampling. You pick up the pixels and drop them on a different pixel grid. Also, even opening a PDF in Photoshop forces a rasterisation at a resoution you arbitrarily chose. Maybe you can find a tool to do free rotation in Acrobat, without rasterising.

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