Scribus Forums

Scribus => PDF Generation => Topic started by: HikinMike on August 25, 2019, 10:54:22 PM

Title: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 25, 2019, 10:54:22 PM
This is probably more of a printer issue, but I thought I'd post here in case somebody had any ideas.

I usually use CS2 InDesign to create our church's bulletins. I need a backup person as I'm going on vacation, so I started using Scribus 1.5.5 so she can familiar with the program. Once I was done, I exported it to a PDF (Acrobat 5). I opened up the PDF and it looked as it should. I e-mail the file to the guy that prints at at the church. He tried to print it and he said it's blank. He had to print as a PDF in Windows to make it work. I've tried to save the PDF as Acrobat 4, 5 and 6 with no results. I'm able to print it on my printer at home, so I know the PDF is good.

They use a Konica Minolta BizHub C258 if that helps.

Is there some magic formula to get this to print as a PDF?

[attachment deleted by admin]
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: RodneyLee on August 26, 2019, 03:08:38 AM
I have seen that happen with Windows computers, never did figure out why
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: mnawij on August 26, 2019, 04:53:28 AM
Hi HikinMike,

I printed the .pdf file without issues on a Canon C800. I am a bit confused, did the church try to print the Scribus file or the attached .pdf file? What OS and Scribus version did you generate the .pdf file with?  Thanks!

Cheers

mnawij
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 26, 2019, 06:28:41 PM
Quote from: mnawij on August 26, 2019, 04:53:28 AM
Hi HikinMike,

I printed the .pdf file without issues on a Canon C800. I am a bit confused, did the church try to print the Scribus file or the attached .pdf file? What OS and Scribus version did you generate the .pdf file with?  Thanks!

Cheers

mnawij

I gave them the attached PDF. I'm using Win7 with Scribus 1.5.5. I also tried 1.4.8 as well. They are sending a tech to look at the printer. I will update when I found out more.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: Nermander on August 26, 2019, 06:35:13 PM
What program are they using to print the PDF?

PDFs from Scribus usually have very good conformance to the PDF standard.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 26, 2019, 07:19:12 PM
Quote from: Nermander on August 26, 2019, 06:35:13 PM
What program are they using to print the PDF?

To my knowledge he is just plugging in a thumb drive with the PDF and printing via the thumb drive. No computer involved.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 26, 2019, 07:20:53 PM
To add, it is odd because I used Scribus 1.4.8 to print some other material at the local college and they didn't have any issues.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on August 26, 2019, 09:24:14 PM
how big and how complex is the file?

i wonder if it's a memory issue...
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 26, 2019, 10:57:18 PM
Quote from: a.l.e on August 26, 2019, 09:24:14 PM
how big and how complex is the file?

i wonder if it's a memory issue...

I posted the file above.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on August 26, 2019, 11:41:33 PM
it's only one page?

that file will not print well, because of the artifacts you have around the text.

you really should

- buy https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/santa-claus-little-boy-reading-together-343083458
- buy the "Mostra Nuova Bold" for the text on the right
- buy Prumo Display Black for the text at the bottom
- buy or redo the pictures with the harp + christmas tree & the small flags

at least, you should cut out the images and redo the text.

personally, i don't see any reason why the file you attached should not print... even if the result will probably be rather bad.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 27, 2019, 12:06:08 AM
Quote from: a.l.e on August 26, 2019, 11:41:33 PM
it's only one page?

that file will not print well, because of the artifacts you have around the text.

you really should

- buy https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/santa-claus-little-boy-reading-together-343083458
- buy the "Mostra Nuova Bold" for the text on the right
- buy Prumo Display Black for the text at the bottom
- buy or redo the pictures with the harp + christmas tree & the small flags

at least, you should cut out the images and redo the text.

personally, i don't see any reason why the file you attached should not print... even if the result will probably be rather bad.

Sorry, I don't understand. There is only one image, a image of a banner. There is no harp, christmas tree or flags images. Why should I buy fonts?
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: RodneyLee on August 27, 2019, 04:26:32 AM
Hahahha, he was looking at another post and replying to yours, something I would have done
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: RodneyLee on August 27, 2019, 04:29:15 AM
when this happened to me we found it to be the other computer that was the issue not Scribus, in that case, send them a .jpg
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: mnawij on August 27, 2019, 04:35:49 AM
See the attached screenshot, there are two permissions that are denied, it might be that the usb drive application might be trying to use either one of these options and not being allowed to. I know my digital press software has issues with this... I would recommend turning off the encryption option under the security tab in Scribus, so that these options will be cleared and give it another try.  Just a suggestion, not sure if it would fix it, but it is better to eliminate possible causes and keep working down until the problem found.

Cheers!

mnawij

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Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 27, 2019, 05:02:51 AM
Quote from: mnawij on August 27, 2019, 04:35:49 AM
See the attached screenshot, there are two permissions that are denied, it might be that the usb drive application might be trying to use either one of these options and not being allowed to. I know my digital press software has issues with this... I would recommend turning off the encryption option under the security tab in Scribus, so that these options will be cleared and give it another try.  Just a suggestion, not sure if it would fix it, but it is better to eliminate possible causes and keep working down until the problem found.

Cheers!

mnawij

Thanks for looking into this. From what I can see, my Scribus PDF Export is not set for encrypt.

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Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 27, 2019, 05:08:16 AM
Quote from: RodneyLee on August 27, 2019, 04:29:15 AM
when this happened to me we found it to be the other computer that was the issue not Scribus, in that case, send them a .jpg

I may have to do that.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 27, 2019, 05:14:53 AM
Quote from: mnawij on August 27, 2019, 04:35:49 AM
See the attached screenshot, there are two permissions that are denied, it might be that the usb drive application might be trying to use either one of these options and not being allowed to. I know my digital press software has issues with this... I would recommend turning off the encryption option under the security tab in Scribus, so that these options will be cleared and give it another try.  Just a suggestion, not sure if it would fix it, but it is better to eliminate possible causes and keep working down until the problem found.

Cheers!

mnawij

Where are you seeing this?
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: mnawij on August 27, 2019, 05:20:07 AM
File -> Properties -> Security under Adobe Acrobat Pro.

mnawij
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on August 27, 2019, 05:32:15 AM
Quote from: mnawij on August 27, 2019, 05:20:07 AM
File -> Properties -> Security under Adobe Acrobat Pro.

mnawij

Got it, thanks.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on August 27, 2019, 08:27:12 AM
concerning the christmas tips:

sorry, i opened the wrong file... one was a date like filename starting with 08-, the other one with 2019-... both from this forum...

btw,

"""
The Holy Spirit so superintended the human authors that, through their individual personalities and different styles of writing, they composed and recorded God's Word to man (2 Peter 1:20-21) without error in the whole or in the part (Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16).
"""

it's a pity that the holy spirit stopped there and did not superintend the creation of PDF files...



@mnawij, do you see those rights restrictions in every pdf created by scribus (1.5 or 1.4)?

i cannot see the security settins in evince or pdfinfo, but if the settings are not "correct", i think that we can ask for a fix...
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: mnawij on August 28, 2019, 03:44:07 AM
@a.l.e. Yes, I actually tested three different pdf files created from Scribus today and all had those two options checked... I am using Scribus 1.5.4 on the newest Mac OSX.  If anyone would like to send me pdf files to double check and post screenshots I will do that.

Cheers!

mnawij
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on August 28, 2019, 10:05:38 AM
i've checked with jean and

a/ the two options "document assembly" and "page extraction" can only be "set" if the pdf document is encrypted (acrobat reader should probably not show them for non encrypted documents).

b/ pdfs created with adobe indesign show the same behavior.

the problem should be elsewhere...
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on September 02, 2019, 02:13:09 AM
Just an update. I talked to the tech that repairs the copy machines (not the Konica Minolta service tech) and he wasn't much help. He suggested re-installing the software. It was pointless for me to do so as I tried both V1.4.8 AND V1.5.5 and neither worked.

We were able to print the Scribus file as a JPG. So if I continue to use Scribus, I'll have to save it as a JPG instead of a PDF or have somebody "Print as PDF" in Windows.

Thanks for helping!
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on September 02, 2019, 04:43:53 PM
getting the advice to reinstall a (for her) unknown software is an advice that is basically zero worth.

(did you turn it off and on again, anyone?)

(spoiler: no, there is almost no problem that can be solved by reinstalling scribus)

what i can suggest you:

at this point, all you can do is to check how the person is printing your file.

the "correct" way would be:

- copy the pdf to the hard disk
- open the file with Adobe Reader
- File > Print
- Make sure that the file is printed at 100%
- press Ok

(i don't have adobe reader around so i cannot check the steps... but they should be that way)
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on September 02, 2019, 05:15:29 PM
Quote from: a.l.e on September 02, 2019, 04:43:53 PM
what i can suggest you:

at this point, all you can do is to check how the person is printing your file.

the "correct" way would be:

- copy the pdf to the hard disk
- open the file with Adobe Reader
- File > Print
- Make sure that the file is printed at 100%
- press Ok

(i don't have adobe reader around so i cannot check the steps... but they should be that way)

They use a thumb drive ONLY to print. The issue is not the person making copies. It seems to be the way Scribus exports a PDF or for some reason the printer doesn't like a PDF generated by Scribus. The printer works fine with other PDF created by InDesign and InkScape.
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: a.l.e on September 02, 2019, 05:29:23 PM
so, they are inserting a usb drive / key into the printer and directly printing from there?

if it's the case, can you try to send them a portrait document (not landscape) with some fake content.
i know that the mac os preview software has or used to have issues with landscape pdfs from different sources (scribus inclusive). portrait files tend to be easier to print. don't ask me why.

make sure that the page format matches (your document is "us letter", so they need that paper to be selected for the job).
Title: Re: PDF Not Printing
Post by: HikinMike on September 02, 2019, 05:33:58 PM
Quote from: a.l.e on September 02, 2019, 05:29:23 PM
so, they are inserting a usb drive / key into the printer and directly printing from there?

Yes.

Quote from: a.l.e on September 02, 2019, 05:29:23 PM
if it's the case, can you try to send them a portrait document (not landscape) with some fake content.
i know that the mac os preview software has or used to have issues with landscape pdfs from different sources (scribus inclusive). portrait files tend to be easier to print. don't ask me why.

make sure that the page format matches (your document is "us letter", so they need that paper to be selected for the job).

At this point, I'm done trying to make this work. If I continue using Scribus, I will convert it as a JPG instead.