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The Most Common Problems with PDFs and How to Solve Them (WKHtmlToPdf)

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WKHtmlToPdf: Are you having issues with a PDF file? Trying to view or print a PDF that doesn’t work can be so frustrating, especially when you have no idea of how to solve the problem. This article will give you tips on how to troubleshoot the most common problems with PDFs. Read on!

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Common Problems With PDFs (WKHtmlToPdf)

Here are some of the most common issues with PDF files:

  • If your PDF has a blocky look and the lines aren’t straight, the resolution of the image is too low;
  • You see a thin white line between the paper edges;
  • If the characters are completely wrong or they overlap each other, it’s because the fonts aren’t embedded in the PDF;
  • There are issues with transparency;
  • The PDF has the wrong number of spot colors;
  • The Adobe Acrobat preview is different from the printed result;
  • The colors on the printed result are wrong due to incorrect ICC profiles;
  • The dimensions don’t match the requested size;
  • The conversion of spot colors to CMYK is wrong;
  • The PDF files are corrupted;
  • Layers are incorrectly used;

Troubleshooting Issues With PDF files

Adobe Acrobat Professional will solve many of the above issues. Enfocus PitStop plugin may also be useful to keep around. Some things you can do if your PDF just refuses to render at all:

Remove all superfluous data from the PDF, such as scripts, animations and forms. This you can do in PitStop among other things.

Save As to a new PDF file.

If you don’t have the source, refry it. In other words, convert the PDF into a PostScript file, and then re-convert to a PDF.

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Clean up the source file if you have access to it, and recreate. When you do this make sure to delete any data that is unused, merge layers, channels, or paths. Then Save As, or Export to PDF.

If your PDF still can’t be rendered and you have the source file, recreate the PDF via a different route. If the file has been made by exporting to PDF, create a PostScript file instead and distill it.

Alternatively if the PDF has been made using Normalizer or Distiller, use Export to PDF instead.

If the file still doesn’t work, open it in Photoshop and save it as an image. Unfortunately, the quality of the output will be much lower, but it works as a last resort measure.

Create PDFs from HTML

You can create PDF files directly using an HTML string or a URL.  Iron PDF and WKHtmlToPdf provide two different methods for creating PDFs and adding PDF creation to your apps.

Here’s a WKHtmlToPdf example to help you learn how to do it.

Solve PDF Issues (WKHtmlToPdf)

Having trouble viewing or printing your PDFs is annoying. Installing Acrobat Reader Professional should take care of a lot of issues commonly encountered.

If this doesn’t work or your PDF doesn’t work at all, try getting rid of anything unnecessary. Try refrying it and creating it using an alternate method.

If all else fails, you can always use Photoshop as a last-ditch effort to view the PDF.

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