Delete multiple empty masks

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paul.trivilino
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jan 14, 2025 5:00 pm

Delete multiple empty masks

Post by paul.trivilino »

My company is starting to receive PDFs from Canva. These PDFs almost always have empty clipping masks on top of all placed graphics. The mask is filled with 100% black, but the transparency is set to 0. Is there an action or global change I can run on these files that will get rid of all the masks in one action? I tried several "Remove" options and none of them worked. So I am manually selecting each mask and deleting them.

Thanks for the help,
Paul Trivilino
Print Production Designer
Firespring, Inc.
loicaigon
Advanced member
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:22 am

Re: Delete multiple empty masks

Post by loicaigon »

Can you share such a file?
Adam
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Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2025 4:49 pm

Re: Delete multiple empty masks

Post by Adam »

I have been noticing this lately as well. A new "feature" from Canva. I tried to write an action list, but there doesn't seem to be a way to select by alpha fill %. My plan was to try to select anything with 100% black fill and 0% alpha fill and delete them.

My workaround now is using the select similar object panel, but that needs to be done on a page-by-page basis.
loicaigon
Advanced member
Posts: 524
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:22 am

Re: Delete multiple empty masks

Post by loicaigon »

Hi all,

Indeed, one of the quirks of Canva. There is indeed no way (yet) to select objects based on a specific alpha %. But what we notice is that those objects tend to use the Gray Colorspace. So you could use something like:
  • Select Transparent Objects
  • Select fill color > Gray 100%
  • AND
  • Remove Selection
That should do in this particular case but there might be false positives. So to be used with care.

Also, we are working on delivering a Canva specific preflight, would you be interested in testing it?
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