Photoshop CC2019: PDF import changes ratio and/or size without any notice

[Hannes Braatz]

A PDF from a client has a size of 3730x402mm (Acrobat Information: screenshot 1).

When opening this PDF with Photoshop (CC2019) it sets the resolution to the last used value: here 240ppi. The Import dialogue now tells me, that this PDF has a size of 338,6x40,2cm with 240ppi. When hitting ok PS renders the PDF to a size of 338,6x40,2cm - which is WRONG as Acrobat tells us here above.

Again i import the same PDF and change manually the resolution in the import dialogue to 150ppi - the size of the document stays the same (338,6x40,2cm) - now only with 150ppi. I could hit ok and it again would render the document to the wrong size!

But when i just retype the (very same!!!) height of 40,2cm in the appropiate field the width of the document changes automatically to the (now correct) 373cm..

But this means when i hit ok WITHOUT paying extreme attention (or retyping the height - and who would do that???) PS changes the ratio and the size of the document without telling me!

I reproduced the problem with a simple test PDF.. try it yourself.

1. download the test PDF -> https://data.360pixel.de/adobe/​  3800x400m@300dpi from Ai saved as PDF.

2. open any "normal" PDF with a resolution of e.G. 240dpi, press ok (you can close the document - it is just to set the "default" resolution of the import dialogue to e.G. 240dpi) and

3. open the above test PDF -> the import dialogue should look like the screenshot hereby.. with a size of 3386,6x400mm - which is WRONG!

4. change the resolution manually to 150 dpi

5. retype the 40cm..

6. ..and see what happens with the width of the document although the little chain for keeping the aspect-ratio is closed!!!

For me.. it´s a bug!

Hannes

[Moved from the Creative Cloud app's feature requests forum and into a Photoshop support forum - moderator]

[Abhishek_M]

I see that. Pushing it For some clarification from core team and probably writing it off as a bug. 

Thanks Hannes.

[christophed21197058]

Hello, I encounter the same problem.

Is there anything to prevent this problem ?

[David Cardillo, PRH]

has anyone seen any resolution to this?

it's 3 years later and I've just begun experiencing this issue.

for clarity, rastering PDFs within Photoshop is something I do regularly — I teach others how to do it.

I have two PDFs (they're rather old, DALiM copydot halftone separations) that are both rastering skewed narrower than the measurments I entered in. 

I select "Bound Box" for the area, and confirm the measurements detected match those from the PDF in Acrobat. However when it opens, the horizontal scale is off, and the measurements differ.

[Stephen_A_Marsh]

There is a 32000px limit, if exceeded the file is then distorted.

[David Cardillo, PRH]

Fantastic, that explains a lot.

Is that a well-known limit, and I never knew that because I've just been lucky (until now) that I've never run into it?

It might be helpful if there was a warning, in the raster dialog, that did the math with the size x resolution and warned you were exceeding the limit.

Also, it might explain why attempting to raster the PDF completely hung Photoshop, making it inoperable. (CC 2021, Intel MacBook Pro running Catalina. M1 on Monterey, also 2021 was able to raster it.)

FWIW, I checked the box for "Constrain Proportions" and the aspect ratio remained constant. (I'm ashamed I didn't realize this simple fix sooner.)