General ⇒ PDFs - All color images are printed as grayscale

[mohmesksu]

An odd problem has appeared and I cannot find any information on it - so hopefully someone here has an idea.

I am creating a pdf using pdftex inside pctex (all updates installed). When I go to print via Adobe Acrobat 9, if the first page is all text, then all color images on subsequent pages are printed as grayscale. However, if the first page to be printed has an image, images on all subsequent pages are printed in color.

If the pdf document is first printed to an Adobe PDF file and then that file is printed, all of the images are printed in color. Because of this I suspect that it has something to do with the pdftex generated pdf file.

Has anyone experienced anything like this, or better yet, have a solution?

Thank you in advance!

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Hi,

welcome to the board!

Is the display on the screen ok? I.e. is the grayscale problem only in the print on paper? If yes, it may be a printer driver issue.

Try another PDF reader and compare.

Which kind of images do you use? The Adobe Reader is known for problems with transparency in PNG images, the alpha channel. In that case this feature could be removed from the PNG images.

Perhaps add such a problematic PDF example as attachment here.

Stefan

[mohmesksu]

I attached a two page excerpt from the file. The images look fine on the screen. I have tested with both Adobe Acrobat 9 and Reader 10 since this is what my professors will be using to read the file. The problem appears in both.

If printing both pages, the image on the second page will be printed as grayscale. If printing only the second page, the image will be printed in color. Odd thing is, if printing both pages in duplex mode, then the image is printed in color.

Preflight analysis of the full document lists two errors:

• Key missing though required by other key
• Required key missing

Description of the error states:
This check belongs to the low level syntax checks in the "Errors in PDF syntax" property group. When reported in the Preflight results it typically points to a syntax issue in the current document. The information may only be meaningful to developers and PDF experts

The missing key errors are listed as:
The required key /Type is missing
The key /LastModified must be present when key /PieceInfo is used

[Stefan Kottwitz]

That's really odd, if duplex printing works but not single side printing. This looks more like a printer or printer driver issue, not like a pdfTeX issue.

Btw. your attachment is missing.

Stefan

[mohmesksu]

Sorry about the attachment, it should be loaded now.

I tried printing the document now that I am at work and it printed correctly. So maybe it is a problem with the Brother print driver.

Thank you so much for your quick replies!