Print to PDF damaging contents

[MarkDT]

My colleague is using PDF-XChange Editor 5.5. While adding or editing text, he will print to PDF once he has completed a change to lock in the items so they can't be accidentally moved out of place. I told him he can use the flatten tool instead. The main issue is, after doing this procedure a number of times, the content in the flatten box seems to become corrupted. Is there a way around this? Has it been corrected in later versions? Please see attached example.

PRN-PDF.pdf

PDF showing corrupted data

(48.39 KiB) Downloaded 107 times

Items of concern circled in jpg

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Hello MarkDT

Unfortunately, this issue has not and likely cannot be addressed as it is not intended to work this way to begin with. Printing from the PDF-XChange Editor is intended for physical printers and in order to ensure the printed result is as close to the original as possible, the PDF-XChange Editor will, by default, convert all text into vector objects. We call this "text as curves". Printing to file via a virtual printer can make it difficult to edit the document by removing the font details, and can increase the file size considerably.

It is never a good idea to print a PDF to PDF as it usually creates more problems than it resolves. Use it only as an absolute last resort and when all other options have failed. Some of these issues are simply annoying, like loosing text information as it is converted to curves, but other issues are damaging to the file, and can lead to corruption and the complete inability to open the document.
It is always a better option to save your PDF rather than reprint it. As you have suggested, using the "Flatten comments" function is a considerably better option, and saving the file (Ctrl+S) afterwards is the best way to go.

Due to the above reasons, we are often unable to assist resolving issues when printing PDF to PDF.

Kind regards,

[TrackerSupp-Daniel]

Looking back on this, I must apologize, I forgot to mention something important.

While we have not directly addressed this issue, it is possible that some of the other changes in the years since Version 5.5 was released could have had an impact on this. So if you are still looking at other options, and are set on using the "print to PDF" method. You can try using the latest build of the Editor and see what happens. All of our products can be downloaded and tested free of charge here: https://www.pdf-xchange.com/product/downloads

Kind regards,