Keynote pdf not rendering

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19 points

Keynote pdf not rendering

Thanks for your help with this vexing problem.

We've got a Keynote presentation that uses the "picture frame" effect around images. It looks great (see below) with a nice drop shadow.

Export it to PDF and it still looks great on a Mac.

But print it on any printer or send that file to an iPhone 13 with the latest software, and the frame becomes a black and white border with artifacts.

Is this an unfixable bug? Are we missing something?

Truly appreciate any help or resources. Thanks.

[Link Edited by Moderator]

Mac mini, macOS 12.1

Posted on Apr 10, 2022 3:09 PM

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Answer 1

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sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 10, 2022 3:44 PM in response to sethgodin

I'm not sure where the examples went, they got removed.

perhaps this will help:

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Answer 2

Apr 11, 2022 3:25 AM in response to sethgodin

I have no issues printing slides with the picture frame style with any recent versions of Keynote and Mac OS.

Try printing direct from Keynote File > Print and select the Slide option.

What is the Mac OS and Keynote version and the Mac model being used?

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Answer 3

Apr 11, 2022 6:21 AM in response to sethgodin

Are you using Adobe Acrobat Reader (v22.03.00 - current) on your iPhone 13 to view these PDFs or another PDF reader? Note that when you use picture frames and drop shadows, these cause the PDF to reduce those image areas to 72 dpi and that unplanned contribution may be causing the visual border interruptions when viewed on the iPhone 13.

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Answer 4

sethgodin Author

Level 1

19 points

Apr 11, 2022 7:04 AM in response to VikingOSX

thank you both.

Pursuing this conversation on StackOverflow, we determined that Apple is not doing a very good job of rendering kosher PDF files, and bugs like this are not unknown.

The workaround, other than cursing the darkness of unopen systems and tactics that prevent competition is to output all the pages as PNGs, then re-import them into a blank version of Keynote and export that as a PDF.

It has nothing to with drop shadows (PDF can handle those) and something to do with how Keynote is rendering them.

Leaving this here as a solution for others that might be frustrated.

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Answer 5

Apr 11, 2022 10:01 AM in response to sethgodin

Of course, PDF v1.4 and later handle transparency. The introduction of borders, frames and drop shadows may result in undesirable internal transparency blending side effects in the PDF.

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Keynote pdf not rendering

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