This happens from time to time, it’s a "DDE" type error between the two apps. First, go into Acrobat and make sure that the editing program points to your current version of photoshop. I had PS6, it worked fine, then when I installed PS7, what you describe would happen. So go into Acrobat in the preferences and set image editing to your version of PS.
Close both programs, clean out temp directory, reboot, then retry.
I found that once I pointed to the correct editing application in Acrobat (i.e., my current version of PS) the problem went away.
Thanks for the suggestion. I have checked the setting repeatedly, removing the current selection and then browsing to the photoshop.exe file. When I use the touch-up object took, right-click to edit image or page, Photoshop 7 is loaded, and the PDF appears in Photoshop. I just can’t save any changes I make with Photoshop to the original PDF in Acrobat.
Fluky – could be an AA 6 thing, I use 4.05, although I’ve seen it happen with mine.
Which product did you install LAST – photoshop or AA?
And have you rebooted your machine?
I installed Acrobat 6 last. And yes, I have rebooted. I’d hate to have to go back to AA 4.05 just to solve this problem. I didn’t try this procedure when I was using 4.05, so it’s not even clear that going back would help. Also, I have the same problem on two different computers, both running under WinXP, so it’s not unquite to one particular system.
No, I wouldn’t go back. I was hoping that you had installed Photoshop last – AA likes to be the last program loaded for associations and the like – quirky little beast.
But you HAVE rebooted right? So the registry is re-read?
I’m out of ideas, but this is what I would do next. I would reinstall photohsop. Unlike many programs, reinstalling Photoshop is relatively painless because it does not overwrite your preferences.
That’s the only thing I could suggest, short of trying a post in the AA forum – Andi Inston over there is a pretty smart cookie and may be able to help, but he doesn’t use PS (I don’t think), so I’m not sure. Worth a shot anyway.
Peace,
Tony
Thanks for your help. I started out in the Acrobat forum, and Andi Inston sent me to this forum. Perhaps I’ll try your suggestion to reinstall the programs.
Sorry I couldn’t be of more help, but I AM interested in how it turns out, so if you solve the dilemma, a post back on your solution would be helpful so that we can help others.
Peace and good luck,
Tony
I haven’t solved the problem yet, but I’ve discovered one thing, even though I’m not sure what it means. I originally scanned the document to PDF using the default setting: "Compatible with Acrobat 5.0 and later".
When I scan the same document, but choose "Compatible with Adobe 4.0 and later", the problem disappears. Unfortunately, the file now is three times as big. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Hmm… interesting.
I originally scanned the document to PDF using the default setting: "Compatible with Acrobat 5.0 and later".
What does that mean? What exactly did you do? Are you acquiring an image from a scanner into Acrobat?
Yes, as I noted in my original inquiry, I use Acrobat 6 to acquire a document by scanning it to a PDF file. Because the document is bound (a book that’s out of print), the scanned image leaves a line along the side of the scanned page. I want to use PhotoShop to remove the line and other imperfections. When the Acrobat scanning interface opens, it gives me the option to save the PDF to be consistent with Acrobat 6, Acrobat 5 or later, or Acrobat 4 or later. The Photoshop editing problem arises when I scan with the first two options, but disappears when the PDF is scanned to be compatible with Acrobat 4. Unfortunately, the PDF file created is much larger this way. Because it’s a long document that’s to be placed on the Web, I want to keep the size as small as possible.
Icek,
I do A LOT of the same kind of work. This won’t answer your specific issue but will get around it very nicely. Scan into photoshop instead, then Save As PDF. Two things happen – you can review every image before saving (if you like), and you are assured interoperability between the two (You’ll also end up with smaller file sizes without sacrificing quality).
Peace,
Tony
Yes, of course, I should have thought of this possibility. Will try it first thing tomorrow. Thanks for your patient guidance. I appreciate it very much.
Icek
Icek,
You’re welcome. The thing is, and I’ve never posted this before but, when you have an image in Acrobat, and bring it into PS via the "dde Edit", it uses "Adobe Acrobat TouchUp" engine. Once you edit the image, and then save and close it, the Acrobat file becomes dramatically larger. I’m not sure why that happens, but that’s what drove me to scanning into photoshop in the first place – if I don’t have to use the edit function in AA, then the file size is decent; but if I do go from AA to photoshop, the file size gets WAY larger.
I’ve been following along on this, and haven’t had much to offer in the way of help.
But what I HAVE gleaned from this is that, despite the ability to scan-and-save-as-a-PDF into Acrobat, my workflow is less problematic because I scan via VueScan, and choose from that application’s preferences whether I want to then automatically open my image in Photoshop (or some other app), or to save it for later manipulation in its own folder. I always choose Photoshop, because once it’s in Photoshop, I can do whatever I want with it, without restriction.
It’s the "without restriction" part that best serves my needs.
<nodding>
Yeah Phos, I even tried VueScan to do batch scanning. The advantage, in theory, is I don’t have to break up the workflow due to resource limitations. That is to say, I can get about 100 images into PS before my systems start dragging because of temp file writes, and low resources. If I could use VueScan, in theory, that’d go away because it would go right to disk.
I’ve spent about 10 hours in VueScan and on Hamricks site trying to figure this and that; my paradigm is just to rigid I guess – I simply cannot understand where it’s coming from so to speak. I gave up.
But the point remains, once in photoshop, you have the power of batch processing, naming, just about anything, with the final step being "okay, save it to my final output format".
One final note. Ever since the release of Acrobat 5, I’ve been watching carefully. 4.05 is stable although there’s some high end funcationality that needed addressing. But from what I’ve seen, AA5 and then 6 is buggy as hell.
Riddle me this batman… Am I the only one who thinks that when you insert pages "before page # ‘X’", that the bookmarks associated with those pages should ALSO be inserted at that point? Try this with AA6 – create a 4 page PDF, and bookmarks. Now create another one. Drag the second file onto the first. You are prompted with a dialog that says, basically, "you want them before or after this or that page?". You tell it "before". In fact, make it "before first page". The pages of the file you just dropped on there are inserted exactly where they’re supposed to be – but the bookmarks are at the end!
My point? Too much Wacky Tebacky in the AA division there in San Jose.
Peace,
Tony
This discussion is very interesting for my purposes. I tried scanning a page into PhotoShop, editing the image, and then saving it as a PDF file. The resulting PDF is about 5 times a large as the same page scanned and saved in Acrobat — with the same resolution and other scan settings. Is there a way to reduce the file size of the PDF in PS?
I can’t speak to Acrobat 6 and it’s options as I do not have that version. I’m in 4.05, rusty, but trusty.
Having said that, here is what I’ve noticed. With what I call Raw, untouched scans, you’re right. They are larger than or at least as large as what I can achieve in AA. That is to say, if I scan an image and just save it as PDF, it’s a pretty big file. But I process all images, in batch, and the result is a much lower file size than I can achieve with a direct scan in AA.
Without getting into the details of what we do technically, consider this.
We optimize our pages for viewing on computer screens, not for print, although they have more than enough resolution for print – they just aren’t optimized for it. So we "push pixels" around. That means levels, sharpening, cleaning the borders of the pages (all four borders), book curve correction, descreening, etc. By doing this, we achieve a smaller file than we can have with a "raw" scan, and it’s optimized for screen display.
If you have a book page that is yellowing, because it’s old and out of print, that color, no matter how close to "white" it is, takes up data space. We adjust that, thereby (stretching the histogram and) reducing the data in the image. We keep raw archival copies, but the finished PDF, saved with a compression of 10, results in a MUCH lower file than we can achieve if we scan into AA first.
Now you mentioned, earlier in the thread, that "If I use scan with AA 6 compatability… ‘X’, and if I scan with AA 4 compatability…’Y’". I am not aware of those options in AA 4, so it’s possible that AA has implemented some characteristics of OCR software by dropping out white, and simulating it – or by sharpening text – or some other "thing" that reduces the data in the image for one reason or another (probably for the Capture Plug-in).
So my point? It’s possible that the newer version of AA gets smaller file sizes because of the post scan processing it does on the image – post twain, pre-insertion into AA. I can’t say.
What I can tell you is that we have found a way to dramatically reduce file size with exceptional quality and clarity of the image itself within photoshop, and use AA as an "assembler" of the pages.
Final comment: as we all know, size isn’t everything <grin>. If it’s destined for web, it’s a much bigger concern than if it’s not – ours isn’t destined for web, thus "Quality is King".
Peace,
Tony
Thanks for all the useful information.
I should add though, on a separate note, that just because a book is out of print does not make it "fair game" for duplication. Just so you know…
Not to worry … I hold the copyright. But thanks for the warning.
