Loss of color adding a cover to an ebook in pdf format

Pierre Lawrence · 05-27-2022, 04:04 PM

Using the free (for a 7 day trial period) Adobe editor, pro version, I attempted to add a JPEG image to serve as a cover for an otherwise all-text ebook in pdf format. I began by adding a blank page as the first page of the pdf file, then positioned the JPEG in the center of the page. That worked fine (color was retained when the JPEG was converted to pdf format), but when I expanded the image using the resizing box to fill out the cover, the image converted to grey scale. Anyone else ever encounter this problem and figure out a way to fix it?

Pierre Lawrence · 05-28-2022, 07:39 AM

Found a fix to this. Convert the JPEG to PDF format using Adobe's free converter, then merge this file with the text file using the COMBINE feature of Adobe's editor. Color will be preserved.

Quoth · 05-28-2022, 08:36 AM

PDFs are electronic print preview, not ebooks.
You don't need ANY Adobe tools for PDF, it's an ISO format and the non-Adobe tools are often better, i've never seen your image resize bug with 3rd party PDF creation!

Also NEVER edit PDFs. Edit in MS Word or LO Writer and EXPORT to PDF and it will be perfect.

PDFs don't have covers. If you want a "cover" then add it as the first page, but that will mess up POD and any professional printing as the covers are always separate files.

Real ebooks do have cover metadata and can have a cover file. Real Kindle & epub formats.

Use LO Writer, styles, suitable page size (edit in odt, docx is just for interchange) and export as PDF. Far better than InDesign (unless you are formatting magazines & newspapers), or Adobe PDF editor.
Save an extra docx for Calibre to make epubs (and then mobi, azw3, LRF, kfx and kepub from the epub, but not for PDFs though it does it).

This is nothing to do with Writing, but a topic for Workshop section. It's Production, not even formatting.

Pierre Lawrence · 05-28-2022, 03:37 PM

Working on this, I stumbled across a great pdf reader, SumatraPDF. It's lightening fast and has much better viewing options than Acrobat. It also reads epub and mobi files. Best of all it's free.

Quoth · 05-28-2022, 05:57 PM

I used that on a Win 10 tablet. Acrobat is terrible.
Xodo or KOReader on Android for PDF.

05-27-2022, 04:04 PM	#1
Pierre Lawrence Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 2600000 Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Jersey Device: kindle, nook	Loss of color adding a cover to an ebook in pdf format Using the free (for a 7 day trial period) Adobe editor, pro version, I attempted to add a JPEG image to serve as a cover for an otherwise all-text ebook in pdf format. I began by adding a blank page as the first page of the pdf file, then positioned the JPEG in the center of the page. That worked fine (color was retained when the JPEG was converted to pdf format), but when I expanded the image using the resizing box to fill out the cover, the image converted to grey scale. Anyone else ever encounter this problem and figure out a way to fix it?

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05-28-2022, 07:39 AM	#2
Pierre Lawrence Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 2600000 Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Jersey Device: kindle, nook	Found a fix to this. Convert the JPEG to PDF format using Adobe's free converter, then merge this file with the text file using the COMBINE feature of Adobe's editor. Color will be preserved.

05-28-2022, 08:36 AM	#3
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,349 Karma: 92073397 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	PDFs are electronic print preview, not ebooks. You don't need ANY Adobe tools for PDF, it's an ISO format and the non-Adobe tools are often better, i've never seen your image resize bug with 3rd party PDF creation! Also NEVER edit PDFs. Edit in MS Word or LO Writer and EXPORT to PDF and it will be perfect. PDFs don't have covers. If you want a "cover" then add it as the first page, but that will mess up POD and any professional printing as the covers are always separate files. Real ebooks do have cover metadata and can have a cover file. Real Kindle & epub formats. Use LO Writer, styles, suitable page size (edit in odt, docx is just for interchange) and export as PDF. Far better than InDesign (unless you are formatting magazines & newspapers), or Adobe PDF editor. Save an extra docx for Calibre to make epubs (and then mobi, azw3, LRF, kfx and kepub from the epub, but not for PDFs though it does it). This is nothing to do with Writing, but a topic for Workshop section. It's Production, not even formatting.

05-28-2022, 03:37 PM	#4
Pierre Lawrence Connoisseur Posts: 55 Karma: 2600000 Join Date: Sep 2018 Location: New Jersey Device: kindle, nook	Working on this, I stumbled across a great pdf reader, SumatraPDF. It's lightening fast and has much better viewing options than Acrobat. It also reads epub and mobi files. Best of all it's free.

05-28-2022, 05:57 PM	#5
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,349 Karma: 92073397 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	I used that on a Win 10 tablet. Acrobat is terrible. Xodo or KOReader on Android for PDF.