When managing layers in a Scribus project, the current version allows layers to be set to "PrintState: ON" or "PrintState: OFF" using the Print checkbox in the Layers dialog box. If "ON" is chosen, the layer will
always print; if "OFF" is chosen, it will
never print. But there is a third option available to PDF documents: "
Print when visible," which causes the
layer to print only if the user has that layer set to Visible. This is a tremendously useful feature for allowing the user to customize printed output, and absolutely essential to my current project. It is available in Adobe In-Design, and accessible for users with the free version of Acrobat Reader DC.
After reading through the Scribus issues and bugs, I found that several people have asked for this feature over the past several years, and it has been assigned for implementation in 1.5.3, though it doesn't seem to be there yet. However, one person suggested a workaround, and THAT is what I need help with at the moment:
(0027600)
Bh
2012-01-26 17:26
The required change to the PDF file is a simple one. Omit the line "/PrintState /ON" or "/PrintState /OFF". If neither of these is set, then the layer will print when visible.
I need more specificity about how to "omit the line". I tried opening up the exported .pdf file in a text editor (Sublime Text 2), then searched for and found the
/Usage line for each layer, which looked like this:
63 0 obj
<<
/Type /OCG
/Name <FEFF004200610063006B00670072006F0075006E0064>
/Usage <</Print <</PrintState /ON>> /View <</ViewState /ON>>>>
>>
endobj
I have tried deleting:
<</PrintState /ON>>
/Print <</PrintState /On>>
/Print <</PrintState /ON>> /View <</ViewState /ON>>
<</Print <</PrintState /ON>> /View <</ViewState /ON>>>>and
/Usage <</Print <</PrintState /ON>> /View <</ViewState /ON>>>>But in each case, when I save the text file and try to open it in Acrobat Reader, the file gives error messages, and displays as mostly blank. Apparently, altering and saving the file in Sublime Text breaks it.
Can anyone give me any more complete information about how to implement Bh's suggested work-around? Do I need to use a different kind of editor to tinker with a .pdf file without breaking it? (A "hex editor" perhaps, whatever that is?)
"Print when visible" is mission-critical to my project; without it, or a working work-around, I'll have to bite the bullet and subscribe to In-Design, or drop the project until Scribus gets around to implementing it. Thanks in advance to anyone who can clarify Bh's advice.