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- Lines missing when printing PDFs
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We are having an issue with most of our PDFs that are printed via Adobe Acrobat Pro and Reader DC.
Some lines and other vector objects in the PDFs are not printing out.
This is not a problem when we print via Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge so it must be the Adobe software.
The PDFs are generated from the latest version of AutoCAD and Revit software.
We have updated to the latest version of both Reader and Acrobat Pro.
Has anyone else had this issue and is there a solution?
Looking forward to your reply.
Print and prepress Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
12 Replies 12/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10569747#M147779 Aug 06, 2019 Aug 06, 2019
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Unless you post a copy of such an offending PDF file, there is no way that we can assist you. It might be the file for all we know. Don't make any assumptions at this point!
What is very true with various CAD programs is that they often allow you to create exceptionally thin lines that simply are too thin to print. Maybe that's the problem here and maybe not. But without a file, we cannot do anything but speculate. Also advise as to what printer model you are printing to and on what platform you are printing (I will assume Windows 10 if you are referring to Edge).
- Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021) 1 1 Upvote Community guidelinesBe kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
Community Beginner ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10569748#M147780 Aug 06, 2019 Aug 06, 2019
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Thanks for getting in touch so quickly.
I will get a copy of one of the PDF files which is causing the issue and upload.
The printer we use is an OKI MC873 and yes we are on Windows 10.
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Community Beginner ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10569749#M147781 Aug 07, 2019 Aug 07, 2019
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As the PDFs have sensitive information is there a way i can message them to you instead of being available to the public?
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Community Expert ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10569750#M147782 Aug 08, 2019 Aug 08, 2019
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Hover Dov's name and use the "Message" link to send a private message to Dov. The PDF still needs to be provided by a link, but the message and the link will be private and can be seen only by Dov.
ABAMBO | Hard- and Software Engineer | Photographer 2 2 Upvotes Community guidelines
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/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10883184#M238206 Jan 27, 2020 Jan 27, 2020
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I have a file that has similar problems. It was created by a Planogram software. The file looks normal on screen but type element drop out when the job is imposed in Fuji XMF. Note: the semi-opaque white box is supposed to print but also drops out showing the full image underneath (not as intended). My only solution was to save the PDFs out as JPEG files,
open the JPEGs in Acrobat Pro and save them back as PDFs. I also had to reset the page boxes manually so that the imposition software would place them correctly. Also, while viewing the PDF and turning off all CMYK colors, the type that won't print still shows even though the colors are turned off. How would I send the file for your analysis? colors turned on colors turned off
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/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/11760938#M294031 Jan 17, 2021 Jan 17, 2021
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I like to print the LA Times Crossword Puzzle to a PDF before solving it. This worked for years. Until it didn't.
When I try it now, half the lines are missing in the puzzle. Here is a link to the puzzle:
Can you please tell me how to fix this problem? Thank you!
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Community Expert ,/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/11761979#M294063 Jan 18, 2021 Jan 18, 2021
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The lines on the crossword puzzle are thin rectangles, as opposed to strokes. If I turn off the Acrobat preference to Enhance thin lines , the lines view correctly on screen, when the preference is on, some lines disappear (top screen shot), which is the opposite result from what is expected to happen when the lines are strokes (not shapes). At any rate, this view preference won't fix your print issue. Try selection the Print as image option when printing your PDF (might be found under advanced settings), or you could export the PDF from Acrobat as an image, and then print (File> Export to> Image> .png 300 dpi). For the benefit of other users with very thin strokes, there are two Acrobat tools you can use to thicken the lines; Tools> Print Production> Fix Hairlines, or, Tools> Print Production> Preflight> Fixups> Set minimum line width.
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/t5/acrobat-discussions/lines-missing-when-printing-pdfs/m-p/10569751#M147783 Aug 08, 2019 Aug 08, 2019
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I received the problematic file privately from mike podlabeniouk and examined it.
The problem is with the PDF file itself. There is a reason for the disappearing lines. They are defined by AutoCAD as zero width lines. That is interpreted by both PostScript and PDF as a single pixel in width for the renderer. Acrobat and Reader do their best to render the output. What happens when printing is printer driver and printer-dependent. For PostScript printing, Acrobat actually passes through the 0 w width descriptions in PDF to 0 setlinewidth in PostScript (I validated it manually!) and passes that through to the printer. My Xerox Phaser 7500 printer, showed the lines but exceptionally faintly. What happens for non-PostScript printers? I honestly don’t know, but there is a good chance that other PDL drivers would either simply ignore zero width lines or possibly “bulk them up” to something more visible.
Why would other PDF applications be able to print those lines in your original file? What I believe is happening is that they are artificially “bulking up” the lines to something they believe is more visible. In addition, they don’t passthrough PostScript. Everything goes through a driver and there may be some enhancements there for zero width lines.
For the record, Adobe has always strongly discouraged use of 0 setlinewidth in PostScript and the equivalent 0 w in PDF exactly due to the problems you are seeing in this file. And for the last 29 years I have been at Adobe, this problem has continually come up with AutoCAD files although we have continually advised them not to use these constructs.
My fix was to manually increase the width of all those offending lines to 0.5pt instead of 0pt.
I’d report the problem (again, again, and yet again) to AutoCAD.
