Enfocus Community

I need to save pdf files as Acrobat 4 (PDF 1.3) because the rip for one of our printers is having problems with transparencies.
Preferably I'd like to do it in Switch or with an action list, but I can't figure out how to do it.

PitStop has an action to change the PDF version. However, it can change the version to 1.3 BUT it doesn't flatten the transparency. When using PitStop via Switch there is an option in the PitStop Server properties to flatten transparency. The combination of these two facilities should do the trick.

A few other things also to take into account like layers etc if you want a true 1.3.

Easiest way would be to create a PDF/X1a.
That could be a 1.3 or a 1.4 depending on the version of PDF/X1 you chose, 2001 or 2003.

You can of course flatten transparency in any PDF version, it's not necessary to go to a 1.3.
But if you have issues with transparency, I suspect other things might not be supported.

You could always test the rip with the GWG Output Suite to find out.
https://www.gwg.org/workflow-tools-down ... put-suite/

The main issue we have is when the customer place an image in a document and then place a CMYK filling on top and add transparency to the filling to change the color tone of the image. In these cases I have to save the PDF as an Acrobat 4, PDF 1.3, pdf for the rip to interpret the pdf correctly otherwise the color tone is completely different.

Also I did a color reference pdf in InDesign where I out five color bars of yellow in different tonal values, I then duplicated these, rotated them 90 degrees, changed the color to magenta, changed the tonal values, added transparency (multiply), created a pdf, printed it and sent the print to the customer, who picked one of the colors. I the changed to original from a Pantone color to the color they had chosen and sent the file to print. The result was completely different from the color the customer had chosen even though PitStop showed the same CMYK value in both files.