topic Re: extra line printed in pdf output in ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Questions

extra line printed in pdf output

JimFritz — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 16:41:40 GMT

An extra or erroneous line is being added to the pdf hardcopy. When viewing the pdf on screen, it is fine, no extra lines. When the pdf is sent to either a printer or a plotter, an extra line shows up. The extra line is the same color as the polyline data that is part of the pdf.

Very annoying .....

Any help on this would be appreciated.

Jim F.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

JimCousins — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 18:02:07 GMT

How are you creating the PDF, printing out of ArcMap or exporting? Try switching if you can.
If you have Adobe Acrobat, try printing the pdf to a new pdf, and see if that cleans up the file, or if the line is then visible in the new file.
I take it that this is a specific mxd, not every one you produce?
You might check and repair the geometry of the shapefiles, and see if this goes away.
Regards,
Jim

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

MichaelUpshall — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:38:07 GMT

Has anyone ever found a solution to this problem? I am having the exact same issue now. A new line is seemingly connected to a line layer and extends diagonally across the page. This line is also only visible when the map is printed. I have tried both printing to a PDF and exporting as a PDF and am having the same results. I have data driven pages set up over a number of MXD files containing different geology data. This line always occurs in the same map in all of the MXD's.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

ChristopherBlinn1 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 16:43:58 GMT

Mike,

Does it appear when you export the map as a JPEG or PNG?

In the past, I have always exported to an image format, then created a PDF of the map image. Exporting straight to PDF always changed something, whether that be my layout, color scheme, or text characters.

Let us know if the export to different file type removes the erroneous line.

Thanks,
Chris B.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

MichaelUpshall — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:18:22 GMT

Thanks Chris,

The line is removed in a .PNG file. This creates a new problem in that the PDF created from the .PNG doesn't have the same quality as the other maps I export directly to PDF.

Any suggestions on this matter?
I think ESRI really needs to address this issue. We use PDF's as our final report files to clients. It would be nice to know that our maps don't have these issues popping up.

Mike

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

ChristopherBlinn1 — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 18:10:49 GMT

Mike,

The only other suggestion I have would be to increase the DPI for the PNG from the default 96, to perhaps 300 or 600. It is unfortunate that this is still an issue, being it has been around since the beginning of version 10 (possibly even before then, but that is too far for me to remember).

Chris

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

KimMcAndrews — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 17:41:26 GMT

I know this is a bit late in answering this forum but I have been experiencing the same issue. The way I fixed it was to go to the Advanced Options tab in my printer properties (we have an HP T1100) and there is an option under Printer Features for Max. Application Resolution. Instead of the default I chose 300. This, for some reason, got rid of my strange lines.

I also learned that if you choose to "Show Preview before Printing" the previews actually show the mysterious lines. I kept changing settings until I found the change above, where the extra lines disappeared in the preview.

I don't know if this helps others but it solved my problem with this particular map!

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

MichaelUpshall — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 17:22:14 GMT

I know this is a bit late in answering this forum but I have been experiencing the same issue. The way I fixed it was to go to the Advanced Options tab in my printer properties (we have an HP T1100) and there is an option under Printer Features for Max. Application Resolution. Instead of the default I chose 300. This, for some reason, got rid of my strange lines.

I also learned that if you choose to "Show Preview before Printing" the previews actually show the mysterious lines. I kept changing settings until I found the change above, where the extra lines disappeared in the preview.

I don't know if this helps others but it solved my problem with this particular map!

This seems to work! I found similar settings in the advanced settings for our Konica Minolta C652 Series. My only concern is that we send both hard copies and digital copies of reports / maps to clients. If our clients print additional copies, that line will surely show up again.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

KimMcAndrews — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 14:12:52 GMT

This seems to work! I found similar settings in the advanced settings for our Konica Minolta C652 Series. My only concern is that we send both hard copies and digital copies of reports / maps to clients. If our clients print additional copies, that line will surely show up again.

I wondered this as well. We have another plotter, HP 790ps, and that didn't ever do the lines. I can't seem to find a pattern on why the lines printed with one of our plotters and not with the other one. So it would be worth a shot for your client to try to print and see what happens.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

RichardMyers — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 14:30:56 GMT

I have had a similar issue with imagery data when exporting to pdf. However it leaves a blank square.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

LisaDavidson — Wed, 19 Feb 2014 16:23:41 GMT

I know this is a bit late in answering this forum but I have been experiencing the same issue. The way I fixed it was to go to the Advanced Options tab in my printer properties (we have an HP T1100) and there is an option under Printer Features for Max. Application Resolution. Instead of the default I chose 300. This, for some reason, got rid of my strange lines.

I also learned that if you choose to "Show Preview before Printing" the previews actually show the mysterious lines. I kept changing settings until I found the change above, where the extra lines disappeared in the preview.

I don't know if this helps others but it solved my problem with this particular map!

This works! THANK YOU SO MUCH! 😄
Lisa

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

dushyantdesai1 — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 20:58:52 GMT

We have same problem and we notice it was happening to all maps which have negative rotation in our data driven page. We make it same angle in positive by adding 360 to all negative value. It works perfectly for us.
I hope this solution work for everyone.
All the best.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

deleted-user-5h7t1IKyDCaC — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 19:04:02 GMT

I am seeing a pattern to this problem now.

I am as well using data driven pages, ALSO with a negative rotation and experiencing these extra lines that match other polylines in my map. I adjusted to a positive rotatation, but this is still ocurring.

I also have numerous shapefiles, and two data frames on my map. Does this apply to anyone else with this issue?

Not sure what the work around is right now... but hopefully ESRI can recreate this to fix it.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

deleted-user-5h7t1IKyDCaC — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 19:13:42 GMT

actually... this did work.

I only changed the rotation in the map document, not the actual tiling shapefile I'm using.

Nice solution!

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

AlexUllrich — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 00:58:36 GMT

I also found I had this problem using ArcGISPro - it only happens with certain datasets and at certain scales when I export to Adobe PDF and try to print it to a non-PostScript printer. Not being able upgrade my printer driver to PostScript4 - a workaround is to print from another PDF reader such as Sumatra PDF reader for example, where the extra lines do not occur on print.

Some links that may be helpful understanding this better:

PDF file showing extra line when printed from A... | Adobe Community

Troubleshoot problems printing to non-PostScript printers | Illustrator).

Good luck!

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

The_Right_Honorable_MatthewSyp — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 22:14:37 GMT

I'll add some more information:

ArcGIS 10.6.1

Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

HP DesignJet T1120 (44-inch with a 42-inch roll installed)

Adobe Reader 11.0.23

One line and one polygon shapefile, each displaying extra lines

Geometry check showed four null geometries in the line layer and no problems in the polygon layer

Copied line data to a FGDB, still produced extra lines

All ArcGIS PDF exports at 300dpi

Data frame in ArcGIS left a 1/4-inch margin to the page edge

Unless otherwise stated, PDF dialog used "Actual Size"

Unless otherwise stated, ArcGIS paper size = printer selected paper size

30x42 map at 1:126,720 scale produced extra lines

Tried the above printer settings (Advanced > Max Application Resolution) changed from Default to 600dpi

==> same problem

Changed setting to 300dpi

==> no problem

Changed back to Default. Set custom scale in PDF print dialog. Anything below 98.1% did not have extra lines.

Shrinking to smaller paper size (using PDF "Fit" option) did not have extra lines.

Creating a PDF with a larger scale (1:100,000 and 1:80,000) in ArcGIS still had extra lines (but different lines).

Changed ArcGIS export dpi (300, 200, 100) all had extra lines (looked like same lines)

19x42 map at 1:126,720 scale produced extra lines

Export at a 1:100,000 scale - still extra lines but they are different

Set custom scale in PDF print dialog. Anything below 92.9% did not have extra lines.

24x30, 1:126,720 did not have extra lines

16x18, 1:126:720 did not have extra lines

30x41, 1:126,720 had extra lines

29x41, 1:126,720 printed on 42x30 paper, Actual size, had extra lines

29x41, 1:126,720 printed on 41x29 paper, Actual size, had extra lines

24x36, 1:110,984 did not have extra lines

24x36, 1:126,720 did not have extra lines

26x39, 1:126,720 did not have extra lines

28x40, 1:126,720 had extra lines

28x40, 1:126,720 printed on 30x40 paper, Actual size, had extra lines

It looks like data frame size, paper size, and scale might play a role, but I cannot spend any more time to narrow it down.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

DebiRomines — Wed, 08 Apr 2020 22:56:55 GMT

I have had this problem for years, and on various brands of plotters. Your suggestion to try a different .pdf reader program worked perfect for me.

Thank you!

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

JuliaBalakirova1 — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 19:05:52 GMT

This is a rather old post, but the problem is still there. I am using ArcPro 2.7.2. Exported PDF looks fine until a map is printed on one of the office printers. we are using HPs.

We do have Adobe in the office and a Nitro PDF. Testing which one works better - Nitro PDF did not have any extra lines created. Adobe PDF would create extra lines in the unpredictable pattern.

I tried downsizing using Adobe PDF, I converted it into Illustrator product and then back to PDF - same issues. Printing our of a non-Adobe product seems to work better.

I am leaning towards the issue being on the side of the Adobe and neither the printer not the GIS.

Re: extra line printed in pdf output

LisaCasey — Tue, 26 Apr 2022 20:13:00 GMT

I too am still having this issue and we just upgraded to ArcPro 2.9.2.

Reducing the resolution to 300 dpi and printing as an image solved the problem.

Also, the preview corrected indicates if the spurious line will be an issue.