Remove transparency

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What it does

Removes transparency from the objects in a PDF file.

You can remove transparency from all objects in the PDF, or from objects for which:
  • Fill is set to overprint, and/or
  • Stroke is set to overprint, and/or
  • Spot colors are used.

About transparency in PDF

Transparency can cause some problems if you view documents in Adobe Acrobat 4.0 or earlier: transparent objects can be rendered incorrectly.

A transparent layer can also cause problems when you transpose the PostScript code of your PDF document to the halftone information of your printer (the 'ripping').

A typical example is saving graphics with transparent elements as PDF compatible with Acrobat 5.0 in Adobe Illustrator 9.0 or Adobe InDesign 2.0. In Adobe Acrobat 4.0, transparent objects in your PDF document are displayed and printed opaque, but transparency is not removed. If you open the same PDF document in Adobe Acrobat 5.x, the transparent objects will look (and print) fine again.

It can be useful to make the distinction between spot colors and CMYK colors when checking the transparency settings in your documents, because different rules govern the overprinting of spot colors.

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