PDF prints negative/Print as image grayed out

[Andrew VA]

Hello. Recently, as in just in the last month since Adobe Reader auto updated, I struggle with print consistency. I will open a PDF file that we have printed thousands of times before with no issues, hit print, and it comes out of the printer with all colors negative to what they should be, whether I print greyscale or not. (see image for example). I have since figured out that the "Print as Image" selection is what causes this. Why? I haven't figured that out. But I have figured out that this is the root cause for sure. When I uncheck this selection, it prints fine. HOWEVER, I am also unable to reliably uncheck it. Checking other forums/discussions lead me to believe that simply unchecking grayscale will allow me to access this, but it only works 50% of the time randomly. I have no idea how to fix this issue, and it is the same whether I "disable new acrobat reader" or not. This just started happening with the new update, we have never had this issue before.

Furthermore, It will not save my selection between prints, even sometimes when I don't close the document. Opening a different document, or the same one again later in the day results in a 50/50 chance of it being selected or not, and another 50/50 chance of me being able to change the selection.
On Acrobat version 2023.006.20360. On macOS version Sonoma 14.0

[Abambo]

It would be nice to see the same document printed on a Windows PC or a prior version of Acrobat.

[Andrew VA]

the picture with the two documents side by side has a copy printed on prior version. the one that looks normal.

[Luke Jennings3]

Go to your Mac System settings> Printers & Scanners> Select your printer and note the driver version.

Go to the link below and see if there is a newer print driver, if so, download and install it and then do a re-start.

https://business.sharpusa.com/Document-Systems/Models/Details/BP-70C36#downloads

[Andrew VA]

good thought. just checked, there is no print driver yet for the newest mac os. highest one is monterey 13 and im on sonoma 14. maybe that's my issue and I just have to wait until they have a new driver?

Except that it printed fine on Sonoma before adobe reader updated so I don't know.

[Andrew VA]

Correction, hightest is for ventura, but that's still an older version of mac os than I have. I do have the newest version of the print driver installed.

[Luke Jennings3 · Accepted solution]

Does the pdf print correctly from a browser? You can turn off auto-update in Acrobat, but not Reader, so re-installing is probably pointless. You may see some improvement from removing the printer in your System settings, then adding it back in, but that's a long shot. Check the firmware version of your printer (see the user manual), there may be an update. You could also contact Sharp and see if they can help, as other users may be having the same issues.

[Andrew VA]

Finally tried that, yes it prints fine from the browser. the browser has a different print dialogue box though. I'm on firefox without the adobe extension added.

[Abambo]

Yes, sure. The browser has an own built-in PDF reader. So basically that is equivalent from a third party reader.

[momofkings]

I am having the same problem. I have not found a solution yet. I also cannot print to the end of the page like I used to. It's making printing my pdf sewing patterns challenging.

[Andrew VA]

I have not found any official solution, but someone else had suggested printing from a browser and that worked great for me. try that maybe?

Open your browser, then drag and drop the file into the empty browser window, it should open the file, then print from there.

[momofkings]

I cannot choose the layers to print in my browser so therefore it prints all the sizes which makes it really hard to cut out. 😞 For now I am probably printing from my work laptop which is a PC.

[Abambo]

If you have layers, the file is not fax data, where I've seen this behaviour. What application created the PDF file?

[momofkings]

I do not know. I am trying to print purchased PDF sewing patterns. Before updating to Sonoma, I had no problems. Now I print, it doesn't print to the edge like it used to and if I choose "Print in grayscale" it prints a couple pages in normal black lines and white background, but then the rest prints with the background in black and the lines in white. If I uncheck that, it works, but then I have to print in color which costs significantly more than black ink.

[Abambo]

Sonoma created multiple printing issues with Acrobat. It looks like Adobe is struggling with all changes that Sonoma introduced.

[Ryan37026817bt63]

It seems like the issue you're experiencing with Adobe Reader's print consistency, particularly with negative colors when "Print as Image" is selected, could be a bug introduced in the recent auto update. Since unchecking this option resolves the problem but is unreliable, it suggests a potential software glitch. Have you tried reinstalling Adobe Reader?

[M38072063h7ar]

Same problem here: PDF files print diapositive. So all white space is printed black, black text will print white. 

I removed Acrobat Reader completely and did a reinstallation. No succes.
When printing I can specify my advanceds color specs in the printer set up:
- Let the printer determine the colors
- Treat grayscale as K grayscale only
- Preserve black
- Preserve CMYK
- Print as image
- Simulate overprinting

No idea what to choose..

Anyone some idea what to do? 

[Luke Jennings3]

Is this happening to all pdfs, or just one? Google your printer name and model number and check for a print driver update, then install it and re-start your computer. Are you using Mac or PC?

[JR Boulay]

[MOVED TO THE ACROBAT READER DISCUSSIONS]