Weird looking PDF

Question

Level 1

4 points

Weird looking PDF

Someone in the company has created a Word document that has images and text boxes and colors that conform to our corporate standard. When saving this document, she saved it as a PDF file. Then when emailed the PDF files to the sales people. They all have iPads. The problem is when they open these PDF file attachments on the iPad, all of the shapes and colors are there, but where instead of seeing the text, all that they see is colored smears where the text should be. Has any one seen this or have a fix for it?

Mac Pro, iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Feb 17, 2011 8:26 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Demo

Level 10

166,747 points

Feb 17, 2011 12:35 PM in response to jhyiesla

Just for kicks, I created a couple - and I stress - only a couple of PDFs from Word docs on my iMac and emailed them to myself. I had no problems.

Word is not the most cross platform friendly, or best design application that I have ever used. IMHO it is not a suitable "page layout/design" program like InDesign, and too many people try to use it as such. That is NOT a knock on whoever is creating the files for the company, just a realistic point based on my experience in commercial printing and limited experience in graphic design

Maybe it has something to do with how the text blocks are created and arranged and/or how the shapes and images are placed behind the text. I do not claim to know the intricacies of MS Word. Maybe there is a font issue where it will not embed properly in the PDF. Troubled font with arranging issues ... could spell trouble maybe?

Message was edited by: Demo

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 17, 2011 6:31 PM in response to Demo

Demo wrote:
Word is not the most cross platform friendly, or best design application that I have ever used. IMHO it is not a suitable "page layout/design" program like InDesign, and too many people try to use it as such.

Demo wrote:
I do not claim to know the intricacies of MS Word.

Seriously... you said that in the same post.

Reply

Answer 3

Demo

Level 10

166,747 points

Feb 17, 2011 6:51 PM in response to randomManFromTheStands

randomManFromTheStands wrote:

Demo wrote:
Word is not the most cross platform friendly, or best design application that I have ever used. IMHO it is not a suitable "page layout/design" program like InDesign, and too many people try to use it as such.

Demo wrote:
I do not claim to know the intricacies of MS Word.

Seriously... you said that in the same post.

Yeah I did. Doesn't make sense to you maybe, but what I really meant to say was -- and I want to stress this - IMO - with my limited knowledge about Word, it is a piece of CRAP and we have more problems with customer provided Word files than you can shake a stick at. So I'm not surprised about anything that happens in Word.

And by the way, I've caught your act on a few posts. An anti-Apple argument waiting to happen.

Reply

Answer 4

jhyiesla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2011 4:09 AM in response to lllaass

lllaass, the font appears to be Myriad Pro. I'm not sure how to get it in another app. She is emailing it out to the sales people. I had her send me a copy of it. My only options from within the email are to open it, open it in a printer app that I have or to open it in ibooks. I did try installing a PDF reader app, but it was never available from within the email to use to open the attachment. And even if I could use itunes to get this to work, that's not acceptable since the sales person would be on the road with the iPad and wouldn't have access to itunes.

Reply

Answer 5

jhyiesla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2011 4:12 AM in response to Demo

Demo, I was actually surprised to see that she had created it in Word. Initially I thought that she had probably used InDesign to create it and perhaps the layers were causing the issue. The document, even though it's mostly text boxes, is very graphical looking. But the thing is that all of the text, no matter how formatted or unformatted it is fails to show properly.

Reply

Answer 6

jhyiesla Author

Level 1

4 points

Feb 18, 2011 4:18 AM in response to Philly_Phan

Philly_Phan, perhaps, but we have determined that if that same PDF file is dropped within our Web site we can access it from the iPad using safari and it displays properly. It just seems to be within the default PDF reader when accessing it as an attachment. We ever tried sending it to iBooks from within in the default PDF reader and it looks crappy there as well.

Reply

Answer 7

lllaass

Level 10

210,513 points

Feb 17, 2011 11:56 AM in response to jhyiesla

Have you tried opening/viewing the PDF in another app like GoodReader or the various PDF reader apps available? What fond was used for the text that does not display properly?

Reply

Answer 8

Philly_Phan

Level 7

20,737 points

Feb 17, 2011 6:34 PM in response to jhyiesla

Hmmm...

Perhaps the fonts are not iPad fonts and they're not embedded in the pdf document?

Reply