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Why does Preview save as PDF version 1.3 instead of version 1.7 sometimes?

I've noticed something very strange in Mountain Lion when saving a downloaded PDF in Preview. If I download a PDF to my downloads folder and open it in Preview and get info it says it's PDF version 1.7 and it's about 400 kb . If I then "save as" to my folder it saves it as PDF version 1.3 in a much smaller file save 82 kb.


Why is this happening when I use "save as" rather than just dragging and dropping it from my downloads folder to another folder where it keeps it as version 1.7 and 400 kb ?


Why would Preview save it as version 1.3 instead of the latest version of PDF - very odd?


Thanks

OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Dec 4, 2013 9:37 AM

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4 replies

Dec 4, 2013 11:53 AM in response to Lance000

Apple tries to be as compatible as possible. Using a newer version of PDF would make Mac PDFs less compatible with people who don't have the latest version of Preview.


When you drag and drop the file, you are just moving it around. The file itself is unchanged. If you open and re-save it, the Preview, although it can read version 1.7 obviously, will write it back out in a more compatible format.

Dec 6, 2013 10:31 AM in response to Lance000

Lance000 wrote:


Etresoft - that doesn't seem right - are you sure that Mac's only option is to save a PDF v. 1.3 when there are PDFs that are already at v. 1.7?

I was sure, but I was wrong. Upon closer inspection, the "%PDF-1.3" you see in the PDF isn't the whole story. The actual version can be specified elsewhere. It seems Mavericks actually generates PDF version 1.4. Of course, that's not much difference, is it?


Generally, I think Apple is aiming for cross-platform support with the widest audience instead of all the advanced features that Adobe wants to throw in. Apple views PDF as legacy print technology. If you need more than what Apple provides, you can always buy Acrobat.


Here is an old marketing flyer from Adobe showing how much more you would get with Acrobat. It is from the Tiger era but you can see there is a whole lot that isn't implemented. But if you bought Acrobat, you would be in the position Apple doesn't want. You would create and send people PDF 1.7 files and they wouldn't be able to read them. What do you do? Tell them to buy Acrobat? It is a common theme here in Apple Support Communities whenever a new OS version arrives. People everywhere suddenly can't print, read PDFs, or do just about anything PDF related. That is because they had previously download Acrobat and it breaks with each OS update.


http://blogs.adobe.com/loridefurio/files/loridefurio/applePDF02.pdf

Why does Preview save as PDF version 1.3 instead of version 1.7 sometimes?

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