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I have an automator set up to convert pdfs to grayscale. It can convert some pdfs, but it converts some pages, and not others, of other pdfs. It doesn't seem to depend on image format: some non-jpeg-2000 images resist conversion, some jpeg-2000 images get converted into other formats.
Any idea what is going on?
MacBook Air (11-inch Mid 2013), macOS Sierra (10.12.6)
It fails with *almost all* pdfs. It always fails with any created or proccessed using MuPDF. It occasionally succeeds with some created in Adobe InDesign or PageMaker. It occasionally succeeds with older versions of Quartz.
I tried the same setup on 10.6.8. It managed a good clean conversion of some of the same files. Based on my own earlier complaints, the bug may originate in the 10.12.3 update, in January of this year. I don't really know what to do about it. I might be able to convert a usb hard drive into a bootable 10.12.2 drive... Any other ideas?
Yes. Right now, I'm using automator on an older computer. Most of the tools I've tried are different front-ends and filters for Quartz, so they succeed or fail together. k2pdfopt and PdfGenius are the exceptions. k2 can use MuPDF or GhostScript. It'll work on any PDF, but tends to yield larger and lower-quality images than Quartz. PdfGenius can use Quartz or its own Image filters.
Or it could date to the rewrite of PdfKit for 10.12, in which case it would be better to go for 10.11.6.
Unless you saved a copy of the OS when you had 10.12.2, there would be no way to get that now. Have you checked for updates to the 3rd party apps you are using?
Quartz filters can't filter certain pdfs...
