Open office export to PDF making my ebook images look horrible.

15 replies
Anyone know how to fix this?

My images look excellent in the open office word editor. Once I export it to PDF, the quality drops like a rock. I set the export image settings to be 'lossless' and to jpeg with 100% quality, but neither setting fixes the issue.
#ebook #export #horrible #images #making #office #open #pdf
  • Profile picture of the author lollobrigida
    You might wanna try if a different PDF printer makes a difference...
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
      Originally Posted by lollobrigida View Post

      You might wanna try if a different PDF printer makes a difference...
      Have any recommendations for one?
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  • Profile picture of the author lollobrigida
    Are you on Mac or PC? What OS?
    I use a paid converter on PC...that is no quick option for now.
    But there are online converters... just google it.
    pdf995 is a free WIN software that I used before...I don't remember
    if it inserts a signature or something... but for the test it shouldn't
    matter. You have to find out if the PDF function is the problem...
    or if the document is the problem...

    What you can also try is inserting your pics in a different format...
    try GIF instead of JPG... JPGs are always lossy. Just change one
    and see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
    I'm on PC using Windows Vista

    I'm testing PDF Converter but I can't seem to get it to look correct
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  • Profile picture of the author lollobrigida
    Did you try what I suggested?

    Convert your JPGs to GIFs and replace the pics in your document...
    see if the quality is better ...
    If it doesn't get any better from that...try another PDF printer like PDF995...
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  • Profile picture of the author lollobrigida
    I can't pm yet... if you want me to look at it...
    send me a pm with your mail address and I'll mail ya back.
    You can send me just one page with pictures and I can see
    if I can do anything about it...
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Adobe actually has their own conversion service.

      https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-W8zVgYDqehd2g
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
      Originally Posted by lollobrigida View Post

      I can't pm yet... if you want me to look at it...
      send me a pm with your mail address and I'll mail ya back.
      You can send me just one page with pictures and I can see
      if I can do anything about it...
      Didn't see your response. I'll keep trying a few things before I impose. Thanks though.

      Mini update: Converting images from .png to .jpg and running it through 3 different converters produced little change in my results, so far.
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  • Profile picture of the author Don Schenk
    Also, what size, and at what resolution are the images?

    In the pdf setup, you set it to "lossless." Just for an experiment try setting it to jpeg @ 90% and see if that helps.

    :-Don
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
    Thanks for the replies, it seems to be an issue with .png and transparent characteristics of an image.
    Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe View Post

    Adobe actually has their own conversion service.

    https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...-W8zVgYDqehd2g
    Without being able to see the quality rendered, I'm not pulling out the credit card.

    I'm testing a few more things and converters. I'll update shortly.
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  • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
    Update: It seems as thought converting images to .GIF and using the 'Export to PDF...' feature in Open Office produces the best result.

    I've only tried it with a couple images, but the quality is MUCH better than any other solution I've found, so far.

    Hope this helps someone.
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  • Profile picture of the author lollobrigida
    That's what I suggested in post #6 (smartas* that I am)
    and GIF works better because it's not a "lossy" format like JPG.
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    • Profile picture of the author Robert M Gouge
      Originally Posted by lollobrigida View Post

      That's what I suggested in post #6 (smartas* that I am)
      and GIF works better because it's not a "lossy" format like JPG.
      Yes, I wasn't ignoring you.

      Today is just the first time I've had to go back and implement some of the suggestions made in this thread.
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      • Profile picture of the author clairebaker
        PDF converter shall not drop any visual element or detail of a document after conversion. Maybe you need to try a better tool to be able to experience perfection.
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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Kyle
    Originally Posted by Robert M Gouge View Post

    Anyone know how to fix this?

    My images look excellent in the open office word editor. Once I export it to PDF, the quality drops like a rock. I set the export image settings to be 'lossless' and to jpeg with 100% quality, but neither setting fixes the issue.
    Hi Robert,

    I use this free PDF printer in Word and I've never had a problem:

    Bullzip.com - Free PDF Printer
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