Importing pdfs as vector graphics

[LesCM19]

Does this method work? It looks like seems to (visually) but I am not sure it is corrupting the pdfs I try to upload to the publisher:

In Excel, I am exporting BIG tables as pdfs (active sheet only, so that each table I need is in it's own pdf);
With Inkscape, open table pdfs, select table & reduce page to fit object & save;
In Scribus, import these reduced page size pdfs into the layer required for text to flow around.

Pdfs thus created pass all the preflight verification.

Should this work? Would I need to flatten the layers?

[a.l.e]

yes, loading pdfs as vector should work.

there is one thing you should take care: text gets converted to outlines!

if you have big tables with lot of text you will get lot of shapes and that might be too much for the RIP...

but it's just a guess...

[LesCM19]

a.l.e. text is converted to outlines? I haven't seen that happening, the pdfs imported as vector files look exactly like the originals. Hopefully if my Scribus doc looks OK, it will be 

[Nermander]

They may look the same, but if the text has been converted to vectors it is not possible to edit (becuse it is no longer considered text) and also the file size may become huge.

[a.l.e]

adding to what nermander wrote above: the pdf can get huge, but it can also still keep a manageable size, but become hard for the printer (the device) to print, since it has to take care of each curve individually.

[LesCM19]

Maybe the size of the exported pdf was way too big for the printers to handle after all. 400M and they shrunk it someway or other to 40M with a bit of loss of definition in the images. I can almost put up with it as they are for the most part eye-candy thumbnails, shame to have lost so much sharpness though.

[dragonfly]

Just an idea.
Could you export your "big tables" as markdown table format files?
Then convert markdown table to svg which preserves text?

Search in google ..  export Excel table as markdown

http://thisdavej.com/copy-table-in-excel-and-paste-as-a-markdown-table/

then try these approaches ..

https://tink.uk/accessible-svg-tables/

https://codepen.io/netsi1964/pen/wkdez    uses Raphael js.

A great editor for markdown is Atom.
Install added package markdown-preview-enhanced.
You can then preview your markdown tables and convert to different file types.
I use the pandoc option.  Pandoc arguments are placed in the yaml header at top of markdown file.