Certain PDF files that I import, after the text/curves and font substitution dialogs fail to import due to a "The file is corrupted." error:
I don't have much hope that the issue will be corrected in the source application so I'm hoping there may be some possibility of Corel fixing this. I had hoped it would be fixed in X7 but it wasn't.
I've included an example at this link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/vkbz9j97njtm1ct/AAD13tCkHPoU-1Ui5-Etwz-Ja
The original file can't be imported into CorelDraw but works fine in every other application I've tried it in such as Adobe Acrobat, Firefox and Chrome (using their native PDF readers), Windows 8.1 preview app, Android PDF readers, etc.
While it's likely there is something non-standard in the original file, CorelDraw is the only application to make a fuss about it and clearly there is enough information in there for proper rendering so I just need CorelDraw to ignore whatever error it's encountering.
I've found that loading and re-saving such files in Acrobat Pro does not fix them - they still cannot be imported. However, if I load them in Acrobat Pro and save using the "Optimize" option, the resulting PDF can be imported without error. Examples of these 2 re-saved files are included in the link above.
While the save Optimized is a suitable workaround, I sometimes have to work with many such files at the same time and since there does not appear to be any way to automate or run through the command line the save Optimized procedure in Acrobat I have to do so for each file individually which is slow and tedious. I'd love to see this issue fixed in CorelDraw.
I also wonder if there is any way to make font substitution choices persistent so that they are automatically applied without confirmation through a dialog every time I import a PDF. Similarly for the text/curves dialog. There are very few cases were I'd want to import text as curves so I'd much rather be able to set a default and have PDF files imported without interaction with an option somewhere to restore the dialogs when I need them. Again, for a few imports this is not a big deal but when I have to import many it would save me much time and frustration if I could just drag a stack of files to CorelDraw and have them all import automatically without pestering me further.
Thanks.
Thanks for the update.
I'm willing to cut Corel some slack ;), particularly if they fix other more pressing issues like high dpi support (now that I have a Surface Pro 3).
While Corel can't be expected to support non-spec files, as I noted in my original post, every other app I've tried has no issues with these files so it does appear to be a case of Corel being overly conservative about the standard or perhaps they're just performing additional checks that other apps are not bothering to check, but that don't actually cause any problems in this case. Perhaps this is a good thing that prevents truly corrupt or even malicious pdfs from crashing CorelDraw or causing other problems. It's a pain for me but not a dealbreaker as resaving the file or using ghostscript as an intermediary for batch jobs are reasonable workarounds.
Magriite said:using ghostscript as an intermediary for batch jobs are reasonable workarounds.
How do you do that?
The PDF files I was having issues with were produced using R (which is a statistics programming language). In R there are various output options. I had discovered, I could output to a postscript file rather than a PDF. So you would have to have a similar option in whatever source program you're using to generate your PDF. The postscript file can be imported directly into CorelDraw or converted to a compliant PDF using ghostscript. I haven't done this in a long time but there appears to be a script (ps2pdf.bat) that makes it easy to convert a ps (postscript file) to a pdf. This is part of ghostscript.
That being said, I haven't had this issue personally in a long time. I used to use CorelDraw to do some preprocessing of figures that would usually end up in a powerpoint presentation. Powerpoint is terrible at importing just about anything so the most effective way I had found was to output to pdf, import to CorelDraw, adjust as necessary, then copy and paste as a windows metafile into powerpoint.
Since then, I've learned how to export directly to an editable powerpoint and better format from with R, so I now avoid the whole process. When I got an alert that there were new replies in this thread, I downloaded the original test files from my dropbox link but did not get any errors.
I've since upgraded to X8 from X7. So perhaps X8 or one of the updates since has fixed this issue? If you're using X7 or older and would consider upgrading, you can download a trial of the newest version and see if that fixes your import issues.
Otherwise, see if your originating program can output in a different format like postscript or you'll have to use Acrobat Pro, Corel Fusion or something else to do some processing of the pdf files to make them compatible, as previously described in this thread.
Magriite said:I used to use CorelDraw to do some preprocessing of figures that would usually end up in a powerpoint presentation. Powerpoint is terrible at importing just about anything so the most effective way I had found was to output to pdf, import to CorelDraw, adjust as necessary, then copy and paste as a windows metafile into powerpoint.
Do you ever use CorelDRAW to "graphically rework" that sort of technical content?
When possible, I would would prefer to have the content created "just right" to begin with, but I also have some situations where I don't have control over the initial creation, but want to edit some aspects of a graphic without wrecking the technical accuracy. I wrote a macro to make it easier to do some of the necessary operations.
Here's a demo where I change the aspect ratio of a graphic, change the typeface and font size of axis numbers, change the size of data markers, and fix the asymmetric stretch of axis numbers and data markers - without losing the desired positions of any of those graphical elements:
AORP demo 02
Here's another, more general demo showing how "To Size", "Add Size", and proportional "Scale" operations can be carried out on shapes while retaining specified positions:
AORP demo 01
If that macro might be of use to you, it's yours for the asking.
Thank you for replying.
I tried Fusion, but it took a long long time to export/import the file and it still didn't look too good. It's a wonder why Corel Fusion and open the original pdf file, but CorelDraw can't (like you noted)?
I have Acrobat XI, but not Pro, and it doesn't help.
I'm using Trimble/Sketchup/Layout to produce the pdf files and there's no option for ps export.
Maybe one can export a pdf to ps and then back into CorelDraw?
I had the same problem in CorelDraw X6 and Windows 8.1. I recently bought a new computer with Windows 10 and CorelDraw 2018 hoping that the problem would be solved. I wonder if CorelDraw 2019 is any better?
How does one use ghostscript as an intermediary for batch jobs are reasonable workarounds?
Hi Eskimo,
Yes, that macro looks really useful and I'm sure would come in handy at some point. I've gotten proficient enough at R scripting that I can get something very close to the desired output directly into powerpoint and at most just adjust some spacing and font issues within powerpoint. For publications though, I still prefer to use CorelDraw for final tweaking so a tool like yours would be nice.
Thanks!