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Problems with cropped scans

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Ransom
2023-07-25
2023-07-29
  • Ransom

    Ransom - 2023-07-25

    Hello,

    I have been using PdfBooklet for years to produce DIN A6 booklets
    (printed on double-sided DIN A4 pages) and get along with it just fine.

    So far, I have used LibreOffice documents (converted to PDF) that had a
    page size of DIN A6 from the outset. This always worked without any
    problems, I have set up a document especially for me where the
    corresponding numbering is listed for different page numbers (e.g. for a
    16-page booklet: „16,1,14,3;2,15,4,13;12,5,10,7;6,11,8,9“).

    Now, for the first time, I scanned a DIN A5 booklet, which I then cut
    into DIN A6 pages using Adobe Acrobat’s “Crop Tool”. Now PdfBooklet did
    not work properly, because Acrobat does not really crop a page, but only
    makes the cropped part invisible.

    So it looks wrong:

    So is how it should look:

    So I did some research on the Internet and found out that I have to
    rework the trimmed pages with the Preflight tool “Set CropBox to
    TrimBox” so that the trimmed part really disappears. This I did, the
    result with PdfBooklet was then also different, but just as little useful:

    Finally, users said that you also have to remove the invisible
    information from the PDF, which I then did as well. Result: A booklet
    creation still does not work with PdfBooklet:

    I attach the original scan as well as the three cropped documents
    [“normal” cut (Crop Tool) – “normal” cut + Set CropBox to TrimBox –
    “normal” cut + Set CropBox to TrimBox + Remove hidden information) so
    that you can check if there might be a bug.

    Greetings,
    Ransom

     

    Last edit: Ransom 2023-07-26
  • Ransom

    Ransom - 2023-07-26

    OK, folks, I have made a little progress. I have discovered that I have to scan the DIN A5 booklet landscape from the start, because PdfBooklet “knows” the original page direction and therefore stubbornly applies it.

    But now I have discovered a new problem: PdfBooklet refuses (also “stubbornly”) to process the right-hand pages of the original DIN A5 booklet. PdfBooklet processes only the left-hand pages (and doubles them) and omits the right-hand pages.

    I then came up with the idea of scanning the DIN A5 booklet upside down in order to obtain the actual right-hand pages in this way. This works as long as I leave the right pages upside down. If I turn them right side up again, PdfBooklet refuses to accept them and pretends that they are still upside down.

    Strange, the whole thing.

     

    Last edit: Ransom 2023-07-26
  • Averell

    Averell - 2023-07-29

    Hello,
    you are not using the right way. As you noticed, Acrobat does not really crop a page, but only
    makes the cropped part invisible. But PdfBooklet always uses the real data, and hence the full image. The reasons of the strange things you see is that in the different processes you use, the the pages come one over the other, or are not visible because they are outside the page, and you are unable to control the process. You re using PdfBooklet for something it was not designed to handle.

    To make a good job you must first create a Pdf with single pages, using another tool. I use Irfanview.
    - open your original file in it, and open a second instance of Irfanview, which will serve as a clipboard.
    - Select the first A6 page, and do Edit/crop
    - Copy this page and paste in the second instance.
    - In this instance, choose Options/ Multipage images / Append current image to Pdf

    The first time, you create a pdf file, for all other pages, you choose this pdf file.
    Repeat for each page, it will take less than 15 minutes.
    You have then a normal Pdf, with 8 pages and PdfBooklet will handle it without problem.

    See attached an example for the first 4 pages (you can add yourself the 4 missing pages).

     

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