PDF Text Box Borders do not print

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MammaJ

I'm creating a registration form in Scribus and exporting it as a PDF document.  When I view the PDF in Acrobat, all of the text box borders appear the way I have defined them.  However, when I print the PDF all of the text box borders disappear, which makes the printed form completely awkward. 

The form is for a mix of technical/non-technical people, so I need it to be fillable online as well as printable for those without a computer.  Am I missing something?

Thanks for any help!

GarryP

This sounds like it could be an issue with the PDF reader rather than Scribus.

Have you tried printing from other PDF readers? There are loads of free ones available for most OSes. If they all exhibit the same behaviour then it's probably a document issue. If so, would it be possible for you to post a stripped-down example of a document (both SLA and PDF would be useful) that displays the behaviour so people can do some testing?

Alternatively it could just be a setting in your PDF reader. Scribus is tested against Adobe Reader but I don't know if Acrobat has different settings for printing. It might be worth having a look in the preferences/settings to see if there's a weird "don't print form borders" check box. You never know.

MammaJ

Thanks for the response!  I am using Adobe Reader XI 11.0.3.  I had a look at the preferences/settings and could  not find anything related to printing.  Thanks for the tip though.

I also downloaded another PDF viewer called Foxit.  When I print the form with Foxit, the text field borders print correctly!  However, now my OCD is making me wonder why it works on one viewer and not another.  I'm also concerned because most of my users will probably be using Adobe reader.  Any other tips or advice for getting this to work with Adobe would be helpful.

If anyone is interested in tinkering, I'm posting both the SLA and PDF files.  Please note, they are not finished.  I just want to resolve the printing issue with Adobe.  You'll also notice that I drew in "lines" with the drawing tool underneath the "Name, Phone, Email, Special Requirements, and Family member" text fields.  That was was my workaround last year, and I'm hoping to avoid doing that again this year.

Thanks again for any advice.

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Nermander

Could it be a scaling issue? If the lines are thin, maybe during print their width gets rounded to 0?

GarryP

I've just done some quick tests on the PDF you uploaded.

All on OSX 10.6.8.

Apple Preview
* Borders NOT visible on screen.
* Fields are fillable.
* Borders NOT printed.

Adobe Reader 9.5.5
* Borders are visible on screen.
* Fields are fillable.
* Borders are printed.

Skim 1.4.2
* Borders NOT visible on screen.
* Fields are fillable (when using the "Text" tool).
* Borders NOT printed.

(All printing was done using greyscale black cartridge only - to save my coloured ink - with no scaling.)

So - for Adobe Reader at least - it seems that I get a different result to you. Why that would be is a mystery to me at the moment. I've also looked at the preferences/settings and can't find anything that jumps out as being relevant.

I realise that this doesn't help with your problem but it might help someone else diagnose it.

I hope you get an answer.

MammaJ

Quote from: Nermander on November 05, 2013, 07:05:49 AM
Could it be a scaling issue? If the lines are thin, maybe during print their width gets rounded to 0?

I don't think so... I can make the borders thick and they still don't show up. :-(

MammaJ

Garry P - thanks for testing.  I appreciate the help.  The only reason I can think that Adobe would work differently is because I'm using a different release of Adobe Reader and I'm also using Windows, not Apple.

This whole thing is bizarre.  At least I have a workaround PDF viewer.

If anyone else has any ideas, I'd be happy to hear them!
Thanks again...