Don't want multiple .pdfs! Help!

[V]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

I wrote and even published a "dummy" copy of a book with lulu.com Now, I'm trying to edit the book. I've created a .pdf probably over 25 times with no problems.

All of a sudden today, when I create a .pdf, it turns into 2 separate files. My book has two sections and the sections each have their own .pdf

This is unacceptable to lulu.com They can only take 1 single .pdf

So, I tried to combine the two .pdfs with Acrobat. That worked fine but it created multiple embeddings of the same fonts. Lulu's printers will go beserk with multiple embeddings of the same font.
I have no idea why it suddenly started creating multiple .pdfs. Please, can someone help me! I'm just about to do a final upload for the offical press run of my book.

The way I create a .pdf is to open my document and to hit PRINT. Then I go to the lower left hand and choose create .pdf. I'm pretty sure I'm not using Acrobat 7 to make my .pdf. Using Acrobat has caused other problems so that's why I'm not using Acrobat for my .pdf creation. Preview was working fine up until now. I can't tell if this is a Word issue or an Apple issue. I have also posted on the Apple forums but I'm rather doubtful they will answer. I think it is an Microsoft Word 2008 issue.

 

[V]

After I posted my question, I clicked on the links on the lefthand side and got this information.

<http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/Office/2228/0>

I'll give the suggestions a try.

If I use the suggested software to recombine the .pdfs, will I get multiple embedding of fonts? This won't work for me.

 

[Tim Murray]

The way I create a .pdf is to open my document and to hit PRINT. Then I go to

the lower left hand and choose create .pdf. I'm pretty sure I'm not using
Acrobat 7 to make my .pdf. Using Acrobat has caused other problems so that's
why I'm not using Acrobat for my .pdf creation.

The Apple PDF engine is based on Quartz and is not equivalent to the Acrobat
PDF -- and Lulu is not a fan of these. You are better off addressing the
Adobe issues.

Also, see
http://www.athleticaid.com/yaquinapress/postscript/MultipyEmbeddedFonts.html

for font embedding tips.

 

[CyberTaz]

Just one point for consideration:

The most likely cause of the multiple PDFs is the section break - especially
if there is any change to page layout from one section to the next
(orientation, margin settings, etc.) The section break is interpreted by
most PDF generators as an end-of-document marker.

If you can revise the doc to exclude the layout changes you may be able to
generate a single PDF even with the section break remaining.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

If you can revise the doc to exclude the layout changes you may be able to
generate a single PDF even with the section break remaining.

of note: Preview in Leopard can now combine PDFs. Open them all and drag
the page previews in the tab of one PDF to the location you want on the
Page previews of the other.
A simple drag and drop operation. Now... I'm not sure about how it deals
with embedding fonts multiple times though,

Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

Good to know - Thanks, Corentin. I had no idea the capability had been
added. It seems to work very well.

I just took a 3 page .docx with a continuous SB (1st pg Portrait, last 2
Landscape) which generated as 2 PDFs of 28K each. The combined PDF was 52K
compared to the original .docx @ 148K. That suggests that the fonts are no
being embedded twice, but that's hardly a scientific experiment

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Tim Murray]

That suggests that the fonts are no
being embedded twice, but that's hardly a scientific experiment

Do a File > Properties, and look at the Fonts tab.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Good to know - Thanks, Corentin. I had no idea the capability had been
added. It seems to work very well.

And it is fairly simple to use. A very nice touch for the Leopard
version.

Corentin

 

[CyberTaz]

If I'd had Acrobat available at the time I would have done exactly that

Now that I'm able to check:

The same 2 PDFs combined using Acrobat result in a 40K file (as opposed to
the 52K Preview file) using the Default (Medium) quality setting,

Both combined PDFs showed only one instance of embedded font

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Tim Murray]

And it is fairly simple to use. A very nice touch for the Leopard version.

Yes, but it's still Quartz!

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Yes, but it's still Quartz!

Sure, it has limitations, but it comes bundled with Leopard. You don't
need to spend an additional $$$ to get it

Corentin

 

[Tim Murray]

Sure, it has limitations, but it comes bundled with Leopard. You don't
need to spend an additional $$$ to get it

Right, but it's important that readers don't get the impression that Apple
PDF = Adobe PDF.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Right, but it's important that readers don't get the impression that Apple
PDF = Adobe PDF.

Apple follows the PDF1.3 specifications in Leopard (that are a bit old
nowadays indeed),

Corentin

 

[Tim Murray]

Apple follows the PDF1.3 specifications in Leopard (that are a bit old
nowadays indeed),

Actually 1.4, I think. But while they "support the spec", the rendering
engine isn't as good as real Distiller. It's RGB, it's lower resolution,
curves and fills are not described the same, so on and so forth.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Actually 1.4,

Well that's interesting.
I thought I remembered 1.4 as well, but I made the test yesterday with a
PDF generated from MacSoup and got a 1.3 PDF.
Since it felt weird and after reading your post, I checked again, then
decided to make another one from OmniWeb and from OmniWeb I get a 1.4...

Really unextpected to me but apparently it doesn't always generate
version 1.4 PDFs. It probably uses the lowest level required by the data
going into the PDF.

I think. But while they "support the spec", the rendering
engine isn't as good as real Distiller. It's RGB, it's lower resolution,
curves and fills are not described the same, so on and so forth.

Yeah. It's true.
The problem with Distiller though is that I get all sorts of problems
with it. I needed to generate a PDF from a long and complex Word
document yesterday and Distiller kept on telling me "Couldn't start
Distiller" with no other explanation.
I've had very very little luck with Distiller 8 ever since it came out.

Corentin

 

[Tim Murray]

Distiller kept on telling me "Couldn't start
Distiller" with no other explanation.

Do two things: Remove everything inside of ~/Library/Caches/Adobe; and run
FontNuke font cache cleaner (jamapi.com/pr/fn/)

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Do two things: Remove everything inside of ~/Library/Caches/Adobe; and run
FontNuke font cache cleaner (jamapi.com/pr/fn/)

Thanks,

I had had similar problems in the past and FontFinagler corrected them,
but this time it didn't do the trick.
I found out a post on the Adobe site that oriented me the same way. The
problem was related to the Adobe Cache folder.

So now it works again... I have recurring problems with most Adobe
applications on the 12+ Mac we have around here. It's getting a bit
tedious :-\


Corentin