Preview App vs. Adobe Acrobat Reader - Slightly different presentation of pdf files / documents

Question

Preview App vs. Adobe Acrobat Reader - Slightly different presentation of pdf files / documents

Hello,

if I compare the presentation of pdf files in Apple Preview and in Adobe Acrobat Reader the presentation looks slightly different in most cases.

This is true for macOS and also for iOS (e.g. Apple Books).

There are sometimes presentation issues where Apple Preview displays several letters of a word at only one spot of a pdf document. When I open the same pdf file with Adobe Arobat Reader the document will be presented correctly. Even on an iOS device Adobe Acrobat Reader displays this pdf document correctly but is not displayed correctly in iOS Apple Books for example.

I have this problem with a lot of pdf documents where I have to use Adobe Acrobat Reader instead of Apple Preview in order to get a correct presentation.

Which settings have to be done in macOS and iOS that pdf documents opened with Apple Preview look the same as opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader?

Thank you.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jun 14, 2019 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,596 points

Jun 14, 2019 8:23 AM in response to lowlevelmission

There are no settings to adjust.

Preview is a very basic multi-format viewer with a few added tools. Adobe Reader is a dedicated PDF viewer created by the company who holds the keys to the document format. If you want the latest cutting edge features of PDF and consistent presentation, use Adobe Reader.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

125,117 points

Jun 15, 2019 1:58 AM in response to lowlevelmission

IF you create a PDF in macOS the version will be PDF 1.3.

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Answer 3

babowa

Level 9

78,429 points

Jun 14, 2019 8:20 AM in response to lowlevelmission

These are two different apps made by two different companies, so why would you expect them to be the same? Preview is an Apple app and not trying to be a look alike for Adobe.

If you prefer certain features, you may want to send feedback to Apple.

www.apple.com/feedback

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Answer 4

Jun 15, 2019 1:07 AM in response to Barney-15E

Thank you.

Which version of PDF is currently used by the Quartz engine / by Apple in macOS and iOS?

The PDF specs are now at version 1.7 / 2.0 (e.g. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF)

And PDF 1.7 is an open standard (ISO 32000-1:2008).

Maybe this explains the differences that Apple uses an older version of PDF like 1.3 instead of PDF version 1.7.

Now I will choose Adobe Acrobat for all my pdf documents instead of Preview.

Maybe Apple will upgrade the PDF version within Quartz in the future to overcome this „shortcomings“ within Quartz and therefore macOS and iOS.

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Answer 5

Jun 15, 2019 3:05 AM in response to dialabrain

Thank you.

This explains the differences.

Because all the features introduced with PDF 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 and 1.7 are missing in Quartz PDF and therefore in macOS and iOS.

Hopefully Apple will upgrade Quartz PDF to PDF version 1.7 at least which has become an open standard several years ago (ISO 32000-1:2008).

Until then Apple should at least inform the customers that if customers need an exact presentation / display of a pdf-file on macOS or iOS that the users should choose Adobe Acrobat and not Apple Preview.

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Answer 6

Jun 15, 2019 7:16 AM in response to lowlevelmission

lowlevelmission wrote:

<snip>

Until then Apple should at least inform the customers that if customers need an exact presentation / display of a pdf-file on macOS or iOS that the users should choose Adobe Acrobat and not Apple Preview.

That's like saying Microsoft should tell Office users that if they want additional features/enhancements/exact presentation they should use LibreOffice. I think if a document was created in a certain version of an app, if the reader uses another more recent product that the newer features will not somehow be added to the old document. Likewise, if a document is created using newer features and an older version app is used to open the document it is to be expected that the newer features would not be displayed by the older version app. Users should use the same app/version that was used to create a document to read the document if they want an exact representation.

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Answer 7

dialabrain

Level 10

125,117 points

Jun 15, 2019 3:16 AM in response to lowlevelmission

You're welcome.

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Preview App vs. Adobe Acrobat Reader - Slightly different presentation of pdf files / documents

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