RT#6509: Rotated comments "shift" slightly upon saving

[rakunavi]

Hello all,

I have found that when I rotate a typewriter or text box comment, either by specifying the rotation angle in the properties or by using the yellow-green rotation handle, the position shifts slightly before and after the file is saved. In the following verification, the red text is the comment rotated in this method.

If the rotation is a multiple of 90 degrees, the same result can be achieved by adding a typewriter or text box comment after changing the view rotation and then resetting the view rotation to its original 0-degree angle, but in such cases no misalignment will occur. In the verification, the blue text is the comment rotated in this method.

The verification shows that after adjusting the position of text comments created by both the former (red) and the latter (blue) methods to be the same, only the position of the former (red) is shifted before and after the file is saved. Please see the attached video and the verification procedure for more details. The corresponding timecode in the video is also included. ([MM:SS] "MM" shows minutes, and "SS" shows seconds.)

• CapturedVideoWithSampleFile.zip

As usual, I have started the verification after initializing all settings, so you should be able to confirm the problem by following the same procedure. Due to the nature of the problem, I can't provide the file before the problem occurred. Please note that the attached file is a post-problem file.

• [00:05] Open the Preferences dialog and enable "Preserve page offset during navigation between pages" in the Page Display category. This setting has nothing to do with the problem, but is necessary to easily identify when a problem has occurred.
  
  [00:12] In the Measurement category of the Preferences dialog, set the distance between grid lines to 10pt both vertically and horizontally, and the subdivisions for Grid to 32. This also has nothing to do with the problem, but is necessary to easily identify that a problem has occurred. They do not necessarily have to be the same setting value.
  
  [00:27] Create a blank page. The page size and number of pages can be set as desired.
  
  [00:35] Activate the grid view in the View tab.
  
  Thereafter, a blue text comment will be added in the method second indicated at the beginning of this post.
  
  [00:40] In the same View tab, execute "Rotate CW" (rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise).
  
  [00:46] In the Typewriter tool, add the appropriate character "Sample".
  
  [00:53] Change the font to Freestyle Script. Any font will do, but a font with diagonal lines is easier to see the problem than a font with many straight lines. In this sense, handwritten fonts work best.
  
  [01:02] Change the font size to 300 pt. Any size is acceptable, but the larger the size, the easier it is to check for misalignments.
  
  [01:07] Change the font color to blue. Any color can be used, but avoid black because it will be hard to tell the difference when comparing them later in the validation process.
  
  [01:22] In the View tab, execute "Reset View Rotation" to reset the orientation of the page to 0 degrees.
  
  [01:30] Zoom in to 6400% so that the end of the last letter "e" fits on the screen. Zoom in so that the circled area in the figure below fills the screen. You can zoom in on any part of the text, but be aware that there are positions where misalignment is easy to see and positions where misalignment is difficult to see.
  
  
  • figure1.png
  [01:43] Select the comment and use the cursor keys or Ctrl+Shift+cursor keys to adjust the position. Adjust the position so that the vertical and horizontal lines are in precise contact with the appropriate grid, as shown in the two red circles in the figure below.
  
  
  • figure2.png
  Thereafter, a red text comment will be added in the method first indicated at the beginning of this post.
  
  [02:08] Add another comment with the same string as the first one.
  
  [02:16] Set the font name and font size to the same as the first comment added.
  
  [02:22] Change the font color to red. Any color is acceptable, as long as it is different from the color of the first comment, but avoid black, as this will obscure the difference when comparing them later in the validation process.
  
  [02:31] Select the comment and change the blend mode to Multiply from the Format tab.
  
  [02:46] Select the comment and rotate it 90 degrees counterclockwise. In the video, this is done from the properties, but it can also be done with the mouse.
  
  [02:53] Move the comment that was added later so that it is exactly the same as the first comment.
  
  [03:25] Change the zoom ratio to 6400% and use Ctrl+Shift+cursor keys to move the comment added later until they completely overlap as shown in the following figure. If the red and blue overlap, they will be displayed as black, so if they overlap completely, no red or blue areas should be displayed at all.
  
  
  • figure3.png
  [03:30] Save the file. The file at this point is the attached file sample.pdf.
  
  [03:37] Close and reopen the file.
  
  [03:41] Check that the red comment you added later is slightly shifted to the left.
  
  
  • figure4.png

Thank you for taking the time to read this message.

Hoping that the above information will be of some help to you.
Thank you so much for your continued support.

Best regards,
rakunavi

- PDF-XChange Editor Plus Version: 10.0.1 build 371
- OS Version: Windows 11 Home 22H2 Build 22621.1848
- PC Model: Lenovo IdeaPad C340-15IWL, HP All-in-One 22-c0xx

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

Thank you for the detailed process, I was able to reproduce it here as well, I also found that, very strangely, if you select the "shifted" comment for text editing again after the reopen, it seems to shift back to its originally saved location...
The Dev team is now aware of this, I will followup here as soon as I hear back from them.

[Update] We have made a formal bug ticket regarding this issue:

RT#6509: Rotated comments "shift" slightly upon saving.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Thank you, Daniel, for creating the ticket!
I am relieved to share my situation with you. The following is a supplemental explanation.

There are two major ways to copy objects in PDF-XChange Editor.

• Method A: Copy and paste via clipboard
  
  Method B: Duplicate Annotations from the selection menu of the Home tab.

Each method has a different way of showing this shift problem. I think it will be easier to understand if I draw a picture rather than write a text, so I will show you a picture first. Note that this figure is only a picture for illustrative purposes and is not a cutout of the actual output.

• figure.png

With method A, the second page of the pasted file is shifted in position, so there is a gap between the first page and the original. When the file is saved, the first page of the original is also shifted.

With method B, the position of the second page of the duplicate destination is not shifted, so the positions of the first and second pages are identical before the file is saved. However, when the file is saved, both the first page of the source file and the second page of the destination file are shifted.

Either way, the position shifts before and after the file is saved. Since I was not confident that I could write a report that would summarize everything in a concise manner, I have provided this supplemental explanation.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

That is most definitely a related issue, and will be resolved alongside the original report.

Kind regards,

[rakunavi]

Hi Daniel, thank you for your reply.

The following is a meandering comment that has nothing to do with this case.

Looking at the posts of many people on this forum, I am tempted to make this report only the first sentence.

I have found that when I rotate a typewriter or text box comment, either by specifying the rotation angle in the properties or by using the yellow-green rotation handle, the position shifts slightly before and after the file is saved.

However, I am of the exact same opinion as the posting quoted on your site. So, please forgive me if my reports tend to be long.

• How To Report A Bug Effectively.
  https://www.pdf-xchange.com/report-bug.html

The PDF-XChange Editor software itself is of course great, but I am equally impressed with the support of this forum. I don't want to take up too much of the forum members' valuable time, so I will continue to post only when I find an issue that I think is worth reporting from a basically third-party perspective, but thank you for your continued support.

Best regards,
rakunavi

[Daniel - PDF-XChange]

Hello, rakunavi

When you are including videos that break down the issue and showcase how to reproduce it so well, I will admit that there are times when a verbose explanation is somewhat unneeded, however, our dev team in our meeting today actually specifically called you out and praised you for providing such immense detail because for some issues, particularly those related to OCR, it helps them to be certain they are working on the correct aspects of the problem with their resolution.

There are no negatives to providing too much detail, beyond the time it consumes for you writing it, and the knowledge that our answers to your posts may be delayed until we can resolve shorter or more pressing issues (since we do want to properly read your full post and ensure we can properly discuss it with the Dev team)

If they were a bit shorter, you may see a faster reply from us, but it very much depends on the issue. This one is certainly a case which would not be any worse off with a shorter description, I watched your video, reproduced it immediately, and then sent this message to the Dev team on skype:

Rakunavi has found a very strange bug here which is only really noticeable at very high zoom. If some comments (in this case typewriter) are rotated before saving, they "shift" slightly upon saving, closing, and reopening. What is even more strange, is that upon selecting the comment again after reopen, the text shifts back to the original location, almost as if there is some sort of "border" logic being applied?
download/file.php?id=22761
I have reproduced the issue here as well.

I feel this nicely summarized the issue, and paired with your video, it was immediately clear to them what was going on, and they immediately recognized what was going on, and asked for a ticket. However, some others, like your recent posts relating to OCR, were complex enough that the entire description was useful, and I simply copy/pasted the entire forum post into our ticketing system, so that the Dev team could have all of the details right there.

If you feel that an issue is minor, or easy to reproduce, perhaps a shorter description would be sufficient, but when a more difficult to reproduce issue comes along, that extra detail is sometimes necessary and very muchly appreciated.

Kind regards,