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Scribus => Beginner Talk => Topic started by: farmerf on November 29, 2019, 01:31:03 AM

Title: PDF X options Greyed Out ? Looking to export as PDF/X-4
Post by: farmerf on November 29, 2019, 01:31:03 AM
Hi folks, can anyone help with why the PDF/X options are greyed out when I try to export my documents? My printers have asked for PDF/X-4 and I'm really struggling to figure out why I can't export in that format. I've activated colour management. Not sure what I'm missing? No doubt something totally noob-esque; any help appreciated!(//)

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Title: Re: PDF X options Greyed Out ? Looking to export as PDF/X-4
Post by: utnik on November 29, 2019, 05:26:23 AM
hi farmerf

it looks exactly as an export with deactivated color management!

are you sure the color management is activated for this file? if you created the file with deactivated colormanagement it's not enough to activate it in the scribus preferences. for existing files you need to activate it in 'file' → 'document setup'.

utnik
Title: Re: PDF X options Greyed Out ? Looking to export as PDF/X-4
Post by: farmerf on November 29, 2019, 09:42:19 AM
Thanks Utnik! The Preferences vs Document Preference always gets me. Hopefully it'll be second nature once I've had the opportunity to use Scribus more extensively.

Next challenge: flattening a PDF! But I think I have to look elsewhere for that.
Title: Re: PDF X options Greyed Out ? Looking to export as PDF/X-4
Post by: a.l.e on November 29, 2019, 10:06:35 AM
you're welcome to report your experience with the flattening of the transparencies!
most of all if you go for a solution that uses free software (and it does not involve buying and using acrobat pro... which is known to work...)

the big issue is to make sure that the "quality" of the pdf (embedded fonts, color profiles, image compression, ...) does not get lost during the conversion.

a good start might be:

gs -o out.pdf               \
   -sDEVICE=pdfwrite        \
   -dCompatibilityLevel=1.3 \
    out.pdf

and this also might help to get started with further options (no answer provided..):
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38517348/ghostscript-transparency-in-image-lost-when-converting-to-pdf