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[GoodNotes 5] Why does the text in my PDF turn into dots?

You might find that the text of some of your existing PDF documents is turned into dots. This also happens if you import some PDFs into the app as new documents.

Unfortunately, this is likely an iPadOS bug that occurs to some specific PDFs, because if you open the original PDF in the Files app, you should see the same dots in place of PDF text:

mceclip1.jpg

 

Since GoodNotes relies on iPadOS PDF engine, we'll need to wait for an official fix from Apple. Please help make Apple aware of this issue.

 

Workarounds

- If you have a PDF file with this issue, convert it to an image-based PDF, which you can import to GoodNotes without this issue:

  • Method 1: Use this site to convert the PDF to images and then convert those images to a new PDF.
  • Method 2 [1]:
    1. Open https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/web/viewer.html with Chrome from a computer.
    2. Click the Open icon and browse for the PDF.
      mceclip2.png

    3. Click the Print icon next to the Open icon.
    4. Set "Save as PDF" for Destination and choose Save.

 

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References:

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/MacOSBeta/comments/oc7l5l/pdf_rendered_as_small_dots_instead_of_texts/ 

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