PDF Places in InDesign Smaller Than Expected

Dave Saunders says:

Caleb,

Super Script Man to the rescue! The following script (which might be garbled by this interface) can be downloaded from:

https://pdsassoc.com/downloads/PDFimportCropPref.jsx.zip

//DESCRIPTION: Allows user to change PDF-import cropping preference

/*
©Copyright 2006 PDS Associates

This script must not be distributed without first obtaining written permission of:

Dave Saunders, proprietor
PDS Associates
P.O. Box 127
Allenhurst, NJ 07711-0127

e-mail: [email protected]
*/

// Destroy any existing dialogs
if (app.dialogs.length > 0) app.dialogs.everyItem().destroy();
interactWithAll();
curSetting = app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop;
userChooses = askUser(curSetting);
app.pdfPlacePreferences.pdfCrop = userChooses

// +++++++ Functions Start Here +++++++++++++++++++++++

function interactWithAll() {
if (app.version == 3) {
app.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
} else {
app.scriptPreferences.userInteractionLevel = UserInteractionLevels.interactWithAll;
}
}

function askUser(curValue){
var cropChoices = [“Art”, “Bleed”, “Content”, “Media”, “PDF”, “Trim”];
var cropValues = [1131573313, 1131573314, 1131573315, 1131573325, 1131573328, 1131573332];
cv = -1;
for (var j = cropValues.length – 1; j >= 0; j–) {
if (curValue == cropValues[j]) {
cv = j;
continue
}
}
if (cv == -1) errorExit(“Current value of crop preference not recognized”);
with (app.dialogs.add({name:”Place PDF Crop Preference”})) {
with (dialogColumns.add()) {
with (dialogRows.add()) {
staticTexts.add({staticLabel:”Choose preference:”});
uchoose = dropdowns.add({stringList:cropChoices, selectedIndex:cv})
}
}
app.activate();
if (!show()) {
// User canceled;
destroy();
exit()
} else {
value = cropValues[uchoose.selectedIndex];
destroy();
}
return value
}
}

function errorExit(message) {
if (arguments.length > 0) {
if (app.version != 3) { beep() } // CS2 includes beep() function.
alert(message);
}
exit(); // CS exits with a beep; CS2 exits silently.
}

Jean-Claude Tremblay says:

The fact that we cannot get to the PDFoptiona after the file as been place is a real pain. I have complain about it since a long time.

Dave, you script is interesting, but i already use one “ShowPDF Options” freely available at Adobe Exchange. You get the exact PDF options as when you place the PDF. Save us numerous hours.

Download it here:

https://share.studio.adobe.com/axAssetDetailSubmit.asp?aID=11678

jon says:

Is this setting sticky between sessions?

It appears to revert to Bounding box on exit.

Is it settable via a VB script?

katy cross says:

How do you import an autocad drawing into in-Design?

I have tried exporting it as a PDF and importing it into In-Design and also importing it as a TIFF file, copy and pasting and they all seem to pixelate the image??? HELP!

Eugene says:

Pepper, I get that with print/publishing places, they won’t touch the PDF that you’ve sent in, even if you tell them to. (The odd time that I need changes made in a hurry, it’s always needed in a hurry, isn’t it :) )

I accidentally left a spot colour in a pdf and they wouldn’t even map it to cmyk. I had to resend it, and it took a while to (-FTP-). It would have been quicker for them to make the change. But the point of a PDF is that it’s print-ready so they can’t touch it. The fact remains it would have been quicker had I spotted the spot colour before I sent it.

I know it’s not helpful, but it might give you an understanding of why they won’t change the pdf import options – simply because if the job is botched you could easily blame it on them for the mistake, and printers won’t like to be blamed for something that a customer told them to do – trust me I’ve heard it happens.

I’ve even made phone-calls, sent email confirmation etc., of changes that I would allow them to do, but they will never touch a print-ready pdf to change anything. They print it the way they get it, because if they don’t they could be in trouble if there are any mistakes.

In saying that, I had an A4 sized pdf print job come back printed at A6 size today, so who knows what they’re thinking or doing at print/publishing places :)

Ben L says:

Let’s see if I can get a response to this 8 years after the last post by the author.

So I actually have been importing my PDFs for a certain project with cropping to the bounding box. However, I recently learned that when I have text that would define the bounding box, InDesign (or maybe Illustrator) adds a ton of buffer room to the right of the text (in this case. It also appears to add some to the bottom). If the text is converted to outlines instead, it correctly bounds to the actual text itself, but I have found this affects the end, printed product, so I’d rather not do that.

Any idea how to get it to crop to the actual text (or at least the text box) instead of adding a lot of buffer?

Thanks.