Powerpoint export to PDF, transparent items flattened.

Additional Info: No need to export to PDF to see the problem.

• Add a picture 
• Add transparency
• Command X
• Command V 
• And then click on the little box on the lower right corner and click on "insert as Picture"

--> The picture is inserted but transparency is lost.

Please HELP! More more thing, when you create a transparency in any color using any graphic format (SVG, PNG, JPG), when you export to PDF the transparency turns dark. See example below. 

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to keep you guys up to date and let you know that this issue has been reported to the related team. We do not have an ETA for a fix, but we will let you know once it is resolved.

@Danila,

As the SVG issue is not related to this thread, Jim has split the thread, please help us by providing the information Jim requested there so that we can check it out:

Editable SVGs change to PNGs on SAVE

Regards,

Sheen

Hello, to mirror what Nicolle is saying in the previous post, a few key things to note: This is not a MOJAVE issue, I actually upgraded to Mojave from HIGH SIERRA in the hopes of fixing this issue, it did not work. My team is still using High Sierra and having the same issues.

Actually, it IS and it ISN'T. I did some pretty involved testing on my part trying to figure out this issue. I have 2 identical Macs - one with HS and one with Mojave; and a PC. All with PPT and the Adobe Acrobat software installed with Adobe CC.

On Windows, the issue just doesn't happen regardless of method used.

In High Sierra, the issue happens when you use PPT's save function and select PDF, OR the Mac's built-in 'print to pdf' feature. However, In the same print dialog box I can select the 'Print to Adobe PDF' and it does not have the issue.

The issue STARTED with one of the last updates to HS; it did not used to happen in HS. So Apple made some change in the way that apps can hook into their PDF generating mechanism.

In Mojave, the issue happens no matter what output method you use. In fact, you can see the issue in the print dialog box preview image, before the print/export is even initiated.

To me, this suggests that the issue is with Apple's built-in PDF generating feature. in HS, the Adobe export to PDF mechanism installed worked fine. However, in Mojave the built-in PDF mechanism overrides the Adobe mechanism?

It seems weird and unlikely, but I set the Adobe PDF generator to many different size and quality settings; NONE of them rectify the issue.

I'm no software engineer; but it IS clear to me that with regards to PPT and PDFs, the issue IS with Mojave, since Mojave even managed to mess up the Adobe PDF generator that works in HS.

However, there are lots of other applications that do not have the issue and can save/print to PDF just fine so the issue does have something to do with Microsoft's method of creating object transparency and how it is handled when creating a PDF.

Taking that all in, Apple made some change late in HS - probably in how apps hook into its PDF - and made even more changes in Mojave. That being the case, the chance that they will reverse that trend on their own in subsequent updates is slim, in my opinion. Especially since other apps don't necessarily have the same issue.

So to summarize, the issue IS being caused by changes that Apple made in MacOS. First in HS, and then in Mojave. But since there is something about how Microsoft creates transparency that other vendor's apps don't have, there IS the possibility that Microsoft can create a fix.

In any case, as I said its unlikely that Apple will fix the issue on their own, so it might be up to Microsoft to get the ball rolling with Apple. Microsoft is one of the biggest software vendors for the Mac, so if they want to WORK WITH Apple on a fix, they can probably make it happen.

Who do you blame? Its complicated. But who has the responsibility to fix it? In my book, whoever can; SHOULD.

• Ray