PDF export from Pages results in jagged fonts when viewed in Preview

Question

Level 1

9 points

PDF export from Pages results in jagged fonts when viewed in Preview

Hi There,

Since installing 10.5.5 I get the following strange behavior: When exporting a file in PDF from Pages certain fonts (such as Palatino) are not shown antialiased anymore when viewed in any Apple software (Preview/Safari). When viewed in Adobe Reader, the fonts appear smooth.

The strange thing is that, when I view PDF files generated last year before updating to 10.5.5 they still show with antialiased (i.e. smooth) fonts in the current Preview/Safari.

It gets even stranger: When exporting the files as .doc into (the resented and ridiculously slow and memory gulping) Word 2008, and then converting them into PDF via the Print command, this phenomenon does not occur, i.e. the fonts look smooth in Preview/Safari.

I would appreciate if anyone had some constructive input to this problem. I would really like to be able avoiding using Word!

Thanks much in advance!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.5), Standard MacBook Pro 2.16 Ghz 2Gb

Posted on Oct 6, 2008 3:32 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Oct 6, 2008 11:39 PM in response to HarryPearce

Did you check that you set anti-aliasing in Apple Preview. If memory serves, anti-aliasing is on always in Apple Safari whereas in Apple Preview anti-aliasing can be set to off.

Configuring for compatible assumptions is an interesting intellectual exercise with Adobe Acrobat Reader that has around a gazillion settings for anti-aliasing.

/hh

Reply

Answer 2

HarryPearce Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 7, 2008 7:40 AM in response to Henrik Holmegaard

Yes, anti-aliasing is on in Preview. In fact, another funny behavior: PDF files made last year immediately change their text smoothness when I change the setting, while current PDFs just stay jagged.

Reply

Answer 3

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Oct 7, 2008 8:25 AM in response to HarryPearce

I apologizes but this behavior is not striking my own system.
Are you sure that the update behaved correctly?

How was it applied ? From the "automatic "application updater" of after downloading the Mac OS X 10.5.5 Combo Update from:
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/

I applied the combo.
This may explain the difference.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 octobre 2008 17:25:00)

Reply

Answer 4

HarryPearce Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 7, 2008 8:55 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

I did the "software update" procedure. When you reproduced the problem, did you use the Palatino font? I know for a fact that my system performs perfectly if I use Times New Roman.

Reply

Answer 5

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Oct 7, 2008 9:14 AM in response to HarryPearce

Even with Palatino, here it's perfect.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 octobre 2008 18:14:43)

Reply

Answer 6

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Oct 7, 2008 9:52 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

Here is a screenshot of the PDF in Preview zoomed 950%

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 octobre 2008 18:51:48)

Reply

Answer 7

HarryPearce Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 7, 2008 11:34 AM in response to HarryPearce

nice...not sure how I could now recover on my system, though. I am also not entirely sure anymore if it really happened with the advent of 10.5.5.. I just found files from February 2008 affected by the problem, and I do not remember exactly what 10.5. version was running on my computer at that time (I tend to update quickly once new versions are released). Thanks for trying to help!

Reply

Answer 8

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Oct 7, 2008 11:53 AM in response to HarryPearce

Try to download the combo updater from the given link and apply it to your system.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 octobre 2008 20:53:00)

Reply

Answer 9

Oct 9, 2008 3:42 PM in response to HarryPearce

There are some known PDFKit.framework-related font issues in the OS X 10.5.5 update. This thread outlines one such issue.

Is the behavior you're seeing similar in any way to that?

Reply

Answer 10

HarryPearce Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2008 4:12 PM in response to HarryPearce

The other thread mentions the same strange effect I encountered with palatino, but with italicized Times New Roman. I tried PDFing TNR on my system, and I also get these strange o's and c's etc...When playing around further, I discovered, that I do not get the "jagged" font in Palatino 12 pts, but only in 10pts (which is what I usually need to use). Very strange. Thanks!

Reply

Answer 11

HarryPearce Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 9, 2008 4:26 PM in response to HarryPearce

I forgot to mention: My workaround is to export Pages-created files into .doc. Then opening them in word 2008, then print them into a PDF. Such created PDF's do not appear to be affected by the problem. It seems one needs to use a Mac-proprietary piece of software to create the PDF in order to get the artifact.

Reply

Answer 12

ctomer

Level 1

35 points

Nov 4, 2008 4:33 AM in response to HarryPearce

I had the exact same problem that you were describing. I'd create a document in Pages '08, then export it to PDF and I'd find that the text wouldn't be anti-aliased in the PDF.

I was using one of the resumé templates that comes with Pages '08. The template by default sets the font size very low in certain areas of the page, as low a 7. I went through my document and bumped up font sizes that were below 9 and set them to 9. Now when I export to PDF the text looks great.

It was far from obvious to me that the font sizes were linked to the anti-aliasing in my exported PDFs.

Reply

Answer 13

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Nov 4, 2008 4:43 AM in response to ctomer

It was far from obvious to me that the font sizes were linked to the anti-aliasing in my exported PDFs.

Why is there this item in the Appearance pane ?

I guess that it's not only for the appearance of the pane 😉

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 4 novembre 2008 13:43:52)

Reply

Answer 14

ctomer

Level 1

35 points

Nov 4, 2008 5:02 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

Bien vu!

Never occurred to me that it'd be a system wide setting.

Reply

Answer 15

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Nov 4, 2008 5:18 AM in response to ctomer

A lot of features are ruled at system level:

The language used
The decimal separator
The date format
The position of the currency character
The highlight color
The anti-aliasing
and I'm sure that I forget some of them.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 4 novembre 2008 14:18:22)

Reply