All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post Reply
JohnWasilewski
Posts: 380
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:06 am
Location: UK

All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by JohnWasilewski »

TextMaker Professional 2021 (rev S1040.1126) 64bit

I am working on a ;long report. The draft currently has 66 pages.
On numbered page 19 (physical page 25), there is a text box, in which the formatting is important.

USING THE FULL 66pg REPORT
When I export the whole document to PDF, two bad things are happening:
  • The text box formatting is all lost;
  • A dark purple background has been added to the text box.
See documents uploaded by email:
1. FULL 66pg RPT .docx
2. FULL 66pg RPT, exported all.PDF

Still using the FULL REPORT, when I export only page 19 to PDF (by using the Current page only' option), the same two bad things happen:
  • The text box formatting is all lost;
  • A dark purple background has been added to the text box.
See documents uploaded by email:
1. FULL 66pg RPT .docx
3. FULL 66pg RPT, exported pg.19 only.pdf

USING A COPY DOCX, CONTAINING PAGE 19 ONLY
I have experimented by creating a single page document, as an exact copy of the above numbered page 19.
When I export this one-page document to PDF, everything is still correct:
  • The text box has retained its correct formatting;
  • The text box has retained its correct white background.
See documents uploaded by email:
4. PG 19 ONLY .docx
5. PG 19 ONLY, exported.pdf

Evidently, TextMaker is misbehaving because of something in the main document that is absent from the extracted single page.
This may also be related to the problem I have reported separately, in topic name, 'Figure-captions have spoiled appearance in PDF export'
I am upload specimens docs 1. to 5. above in an email to Support[at]SoftMaker.de
Please see my two emails 12-12-2021 15:14+15:15
----
John
SuperTech
SoftMaker Team
SoftMaker Team
Posts: 3172
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 5:31 pm

Re: All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by SuperTech »

Thanks for reporting this problem. I was able to reproduce it and forwarded the details to our developer team.
SuperTech
SoftMaker Team
SoftMaker Team
Posts: 3172
Joined: Wed Mar 11, 2020 5:31 pm

Re: All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by SuperTech »

We have checked the files and found that the problem is the text box on page 25 contains an embedded text object inside. It is exported as a form field with a scrollbar. The selection color is some light blue and the whole text is selected by default.

On pages 18 and 19 there are some other embedded text objects which are exported as form fields too.

To avoid this situation, please uncheck the "Create interactive form" checkbox when exporting to PDF format. Please refer to the attached screenshot.
51778_4c4c8d2cd8c1a54d5d7f17fe.png
JohnWasilewski
Posts: 380
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:06 am
Location: UK

Re: All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by JohnWasilewski »

Thank you SuperTech. I confess I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'embedded text objects.' I often use text boxes in my diagrams. Do you mean these?

Also, even if I have used 'embedded text objects, should TextMaker's .PDFs not still look the same as its .docx source files? I have not investigated how to use TextMaker to produce forms but why would a form designer want an exported .PDF to change the layout or field shading? Should this not also remain as defined in the TextMaker source file?

This is puzzling! If you could spare a few minutes to explain it some time, I'd be grateful.
---
John
martin-k
SoftMaker Team
SoftMaker Team
Posts: 3102
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2003 4:57 pm
Location: Nürnberg, Germany
Contact:

Re: All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by martin-k »

When you export a document as a PDF, text frames are rendered as text.

When you export the same document as a PDF form, the text frames become input boxes. You don't want that when the document is not actually a form you expect to be filled out.
Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH
JohnWasilewski
Posts: 380
Joined: Sun Jan 13, 2008 1:06 am
Location: UK

Re: All text-box formatting broken in PDF export

Post by JohnWasilewski »

Thanks Martin. Understood now.
—-
John
Post Reply

Return to “TextMaker 2021 for Mac”