Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

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guebert
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Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by guebert »

Hallo!

Is there a feature in PDF-XChange Editor to convert a color PDF to b/w or grey? I often have color jpg's of documents and have to convert them to PDF.

Michael
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the post - This is available in the latest release:
image.png
https://help.pdf-xchange.com/pdfxe ... rs_ed.html

HTH!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
guebert
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by guebert »

Will,

thank you for the hint!

But ... when converting from color to "Grey Gamma 2.2." the file size does not really change. Maybe bevause the target profile is "grey" but with too much grey shades. Is there any feature to get only 256 grey shades, which will be enough for documents and should reduce the file size?

BTW, how about an integration of this feature in "Enhance Scanned Pages"?

Michael
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Guebert,

If you wish to recompress an image (a great way to reduce file size), currently this must be done an a per-image basis. You can do so by using the Edit > Images tool, and right clicking on the image. At this point you can give specifics on the desired output, and see the find image size as well.

As for integrating features, this is unlikely. Both the convert color, and recompress images features have a very large amount of options available, and are much better suited to their own functions. Bringing those into the Enhance scanned pages dialog would very severely clutter it, while not offering much additional usability.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Markt-a1b
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Markt-a1b »

Hello again, Daniel! Related (I hope) to this discussion thread, I would appreciate receiving your advice on how to approach an Exchange project I am currently working on:

I have a four-color promotional brochure, printed on both sides of a 9" x 15 & 3/4" sheet, which folds back into itself to yield a 9" x 4" finished package. To preserve the legibility of some small, hand-printed notations made on the original brochure, I scanned both sides of the sheet on a high-end Canon printer/scanner, and then saved the results to a PDF file of some 78 Mb in size.

I would like to preserve the legibility of the hand-printed notes, but otherwise lower the resolution of the two-sided scan, such that the resulting (still four-color) PDF file is no larger than, say, 20 to 22 Mb.

What is the best way to achieve such a file-size reduction within Exchange?

Thank you! MarkT
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Please try the File > "Save as Optimized" feature of PDF-XChange Editor.

Mark the "Images" option and see what it gives when you change the parameters for Colored images.

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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi Mark,

Willy's Suggestion here is spot on (thank you willy!) Could you try that and see if it works for you?
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Markt-a1b »

Willy and Daniel, thanks much for the recommendation - and apologies for the delay in responding.

EXchange's "Save as Optimized" feature, with a specified maximum of 300-DPI color images, reduces the original 78-Mb PDF file to some 3.2 Mb. Good work, Tracker!

While the images in this file were satisfactory, a maximum of *400* DPI expanded the file size to only a quite manageable 7.5 Mb - with the resulting images being more pleasing to my eye.

Now I am wrestling with OCR conversion issues, with XChange's various image and text options still producing a mottled mess of the file.

Back to the drawing board (and user manual) - and thanks again for your much-appreciated assistance, Willy and Daniel. MarkT
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hi Mark,
Glad we could help with that one! Do you have a forum topic already about those specific OCR issues? If not, fee free to make one and we will see what can be done!
Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Markt-a1b
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Markt-a1b »

Daniel: "Do you have a forum topic already about those specific OCR issues? If not, fee free to make one and we will see what can be done!"

Thanks, Daniel. I will continue to study the XChange documentation, and if the issues persist will do exactly as you suggest.

Best regards, MarkT
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:D
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Markt-a1b »

Continuing with questions that I hope are sufficiently related to this informative forum thread: I have some US Letter-size PDF files created directly from a high-end Canon scanner/printer, and would like to rearrange and rotate some of the rectangular elements contained within these scanned pages, and then enhance or optimize the color, contrast and brightness of the images. One option would be to use XChange Pro (or Acrobat, or equivalent) to export these images into a standard graphics format, and then do the editing within a program designed specifically to do that - e.g., Photoshop, Affinity Photo, etc.

If I should choose to use this approach, which export format - .jpg, .tif, .png, .bmp, et al. - would best preserve the color and resolution of the "originals" - themselves originating from a color copy machine? Alternatively, is there a practical way to do such editing entirely *within* PDF XChange Pro?

Thank you, MarkT
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Mark,

If you wish to maintain the "originals" while editing them in another image application of your choice, it would be better to initiate the editing from within the Editor itself, simply use the "Edit > images" tool, then right click on the desired image and choose "edit image > open with..."
to begin the editing process.

For many image processors, choosing "save" will overwrite the original image in the PDF document, some others like my personal favorite, GIMP, require you to use an "export" or similar function instead of save, to replace the original image without saving an external file.

As all images are stored in the PDF without their original extensions, extracting the image before attempting to edit it, then replacing the image manually afterwards, will likely result in some form of image recompression occurring, regardless of your chosen format.

Kind regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
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Markt-a1b
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by Markt-a1b »

Thank you very much for the spot-on recommendations, Daniel - they are most helpful! I will experiment with your methodology, and also check out GIMP in the meantime. Believe it or not, for basic Levels, Contrast, Brightness and Cropping adjustments, I still use the otherwise badly crippled - and AFAIK no longer register-able - Microsoft Digital Image Starter Editor 2006. (If there were some way to register it to obtain full capability, I would gladly do so.)

On the Mac, notwithstanding the availability of PhotoShop, Illustrator, et al., I still use and vastly prefer Color It! Strictly FWIIW - and thanks again, MarkT
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TrackerSupp-Daniel
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Re: Convert color PDF to b/w or grey-scale?

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Glad I could be of assistance!
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Our Web site domain and email address has changed as of 26/10/2023.
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