User Manual

2.2 "Object Inspector" tab

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Find out in this chapter,

  • which options are available for object-related and detailed analysis in the PDF Editor and
  • which in-depth options are available for analyzing the PDF structure across the page.

1. Introduction

The article "View and Analyze" tab has already given you an overview about the structure of  a PDF and what kind of objects the PDF can consist of. In case you would like to find out more about the properties of specific objects or the entire PDF hierarchy, take a closer look to the Object Inspector tab.

Analysis of the current Page

Note that the analysis in the "Object Inspector" tab always regards the currently displayed Page. Therefore, all contained options and values can change from Page to Page.

2. "Object Inspector" tab

When you open a file and switch to the Object Inspector [2] tab, the tab is initially empty. To display the detailed information, select an object on the page using the V  Selection Tool.

Figure 1: The Object Inspector tab at the beginning of the analysis

2.1. Show Detail Information

The user can select the depth of the displayed detailed information via the detailed information [1] selection menu (Figure 1). There are four methods available:

  • All Objects at Mouse Click [3] - This function displays the detailed information for all objects located on the clicked position. Information on objects that are not currently visible is also displayed.
  • Visible Objects at Mouse Click [5] - This function displays the detailed information for all objects that are located on the clicked position and are currently rendered (visible).
  • Selected Objects [4] - This function displays the detailed information for all selected objects.
  • All Objects [6] - This function displays the detailed information for all objects - even those that are not currently being rendered.

Figure 2: Possibilites to show detailed information

2.1.1. All Objects at Mouse Click

With the detailed view for All Objects at Mouse Click, information is only displayed for objects that are located at the currently clicked position. This can be used, for example, if:

  • Several possibly overprinting objects lie on top of each other and the overprinting behavior should be analyzed.
  • Several objects with a transparent blend modes such as Multiply or Color-burn influence each other and this behavior should be analyzed.

Figure 3: Detail information about all overprinting objects under the cursor position

2.1.2. Visible Objects at Mouse Click

It is possible that not all objects that are available at mouse click appear in the detailed information. If you have selected Visible Objects on Cursor Position and color separations or objects are hidden in the View and Analyze tab, only the objects that are actually displayed are shown with detailed information.

This type of display is suitable for:

  • Displaying detailed information if, for example, a white separation is located on the remaining objects and the separation shouldn't be analyzed.
  • Analyzing raster images on the current page. Text and vector objects should be hidden beforehand so that only the relevant information for images is provided.

Figure 4: Detail information in Visible Objects at Mouse Click

2.1.3. Selected Objects

This is the default behavior. With Selected Objects it is possible to display the detailed information of only selected objects. The  Shift key under macOS and Windows can be used to select additional objects on the page. The list of the detailed view is then expanded dynamically.

Select this option if one or more selected objects need to be analyzed.

Figure 5: Detail information in Selected Objects

2.1.4. All Objects

Under certain circumstances, it can be helpful to analyze all objects of a page.

  • Overall, it is possible to estimate how complex the current page is structured and how many objects of which type are involved.
  • In detail, you can quickly get an overview of the "fragmentation" of objects on a transparency-flattened page.

Figure 6: Detail information on All Objects

2.2. Information per Object Type

A PDF file can be made up of three different object types. These are vectors, raster data and text objects. Each of these object types can have different attributes and must therefore be differentiated in the analysis.

2.2.1. Text

Text is one of the most basic and important constructs of a PDF file. With texts in PDF, you should know that a text is always represented as a line in the PDF. The construct of a paragraph, as known from classic text editing programs, has no counterpart in the PDF structure. However, texts can also appear in the PDF file as a sequence of glyphs.

The following PDF attributes of text objects can be read in the detailed information:

  • Dimensions [7] - Here the x/y coordinates as well as the width and height of the selected objects are displayed.
  • Content [8] - The character string of the text is displayed here.
  • Font [11] -  The font family and font style are shown here.
  • Embedded [9] - The font family and font style are displayed here - This indicates whether the font used is available in the PDF itself or is referenced via the fonts available in the system.
  • Font Size [12] - Here the font size is displayed in pt.
  • Fill type [10] - Here the fill of the font is displayed; in most cases this will be Color, but it may also be a shading pattern.

Figure 7: Detail information of a Text Object

Quick overview of used Fonts

In the document properties - accessible with Ctrl + D on Windows and cmd + D on macOS -  find details about the Font Type, Embedding and the use of Fonts in your document.

2.2.2. Vector

Vectors can be constructed with different numbers of path points and have a variety of different fill types. The following detailed information can be taken from a vector object:

  • Dimensions [13] - The x/y coordinates as well as the width and height of the selected objects are displayed here.
  • Layer [14] - The OCG to which the relevant objects belong is displayed here.
  • Fill Type [18] - This shows whether the object is filled with a Fill Color or a Gradient (Figure 9 left).
  • Stroke Color [21]  - The color of the Stroke of the selected object is displayed here. This is of course only available for objects with a Stroke.
    • Color Space - The Color Space or whether it is a Spot Color is displayed here.
    • Alpha - Specifies the alpha channel from 0-1.
    • Opacity - The opacity of the color is specified here as a percentage.
    • Total Opacity - The opacity of the entire object is specified here as a percentage.
    • Number Color Channels - This shows on how many separations the color is located.
    • ICC Based - This indicates whether the color is ICC-based.
  • Line Width [22] - The line width i.e. stroke width is displayed here in pt. This is of course only available for objects with a stroke.
  • Fill Color [15] - This shows whether the object is filled with a Fill Color or a Gradient (Figure 9; left).
    • Color Space - The Color Space or whether it is a Spot Color is displayed here.
    • Alpha - Indicates the alpha channel from 0-1.
    • Opacity - The opacity of the color is specified here as a percentage.
    • Total Opacity - The opacity of the entire object - the alpha and opacity value together - is specified here as a percentage.
    • Number Color Channels - This shows how many separations the color is on.
    • ICC Based - This specifies whether the color is ICC-based (a source profile is attached to the object).
    • Color Name - In the case of a Spot Color, the name of the Spot Color is specified here.
  • Opacity [16] - The opacity of the object is displayed here between 0% (translucent) and 100% (opaque).
  • Mask [19] - This specifies whether the image has an image mask - i.e. a second bitmap that controls transparency.
  • Overprint Status [17] - This shows whether the object in question overprints or is set to Knockout.
  • Rendering Intent [20] - The rendering intent for the object in question is displayed here. The following rendering intents can be assigned:
    • Relative Colorimetric - In the event of a color conversion, the object is mapped relatively colorimetrically to the new gamut.
    • Absolute Colorimetric - In the event of a color conversion, the object is mapped absolutely colorimetrically to the new gamut.
    • Perceptual - In the event of a color conversion, the object is photographically mapped into the new gamut.
    • Saturation - In the event of a color conversion, the object is mapped to the new gamut while retaining saturation.

Figure 8: Detail view of a Fill and Stroke Color

What is the Rendering Intent

Find out more about the behavior of each intent when projecting color into a smaller color medium in the Article Color management background knowledge.

PDF and Layers

PDF does not recognize conventional principles of hierarchical layers. The layer construct in PDF is based on so-called OCGs (Optional Content Groups). You can find out more about this in the glossary under Optional Content Groups (OCGs).

Figure 9: Left: Stroke and Fill Color; Middle: Filling with a DeviceN color; Right: Filling with a Type 2 Shading Pattern

Important note on Fill and Stroke

In most graphics programs such as Adobe InDesign or Adobe Illustrator, vector objects can have a Fill and a Stroke. However, this construct is always resolved when exporting to a PDF file. This means that objects that you have created as one object in the graphics program are treated as two separate objects in the PDF - an object with a Stroke and an object with a Fill.

2.2.3. Image

Image data in a PDF can be available in different Color Spaces, different compression methods and different sizes and resolutions. You can analyze all these factors accurately in the PDF Editor:

  • Dimensions [23] - The x/y coordinates as well as the width and height of the selected objects are displayed here.
  • Image properties [24] - Specific attributes of raster objects are displayed here.
    • Width - The number of horizontal pixels is specified here.
    • Height - The number of vertical pixels is shown here.
    • X resolution - The horizontal PPI (pixel per inch) is displayed here.
    • Y resolution - The vertical PPI (pixel per inch) is displayed here.
    • Bits per channel - Indicates the color depth per color channel.
    • Number of color channels - Indicates the number of color channels. For example, four for CMYK and three for RGB.
    • Color Space - The color space is displayed here.
    • Compression - Specifies the method used to compress the selected image.
    • Masked - Indicates whether an opacity mask masks parts of the image.
  • Fill type [25] - For images, this can be "Image" if they have a rectangular shape; in the case of a free-form image with a path, this is the "Masked" fill type.

Figure 10: Detail view of an image

2.3. Hints for Application

While working with the detailed view in the Object Inspector tab, you can expand or collapse the hierarchy efficiently. You can also gain a deeper insight into the PDF structure by displaying the PDF hierarchy.

Figure 11: Footer of the Object Inspector tab

2.3.1. Expand or Collapse the Hierarchy

The individual entries can be expanded and collapsed manually using the arrows to the left of the text. However, if you want to expand or collapse several levels at the same time, you can use the following buttons:

  • Expand detail view [26] - This allows you to expand all current levels of the view at the same time.
  • Collapse detail view [27] - All current levels of the view can be collapsed at the same time.

2.3.2. Show PDF Hierarchy

In a PDF file, not only individual objects but also higher-level groups or the page can be transformed. To display this cascading hierarchy, you can display the entire PDF hierarchy in PDF Editor using the Show PDF Hierarchy button [28] (Figure 11).

Figure 12: Left: Detail view with activated PDF Hierarchy; Right: Detail view without the PDF Hierarchy displayed

Article update: PDF Editor 1.10 – 10/2024

Previous Article 2.1 "View and Analyze" tab