StuffIt PDF work-around; Aladdin confirms that a fix is on the way
StuffIt PDF work-around; Aladdin confirms that a fix is on the way
Peter Li reports that the same sort of problem prevented unstuffed EPS files from being printed. Matt Pawl similarly found he could not open unstuffed EPS files in Photoshop.
Jay Farrell and Scott Lashley independently came upon a work-around solution for all of these symptoms: Do not select "Always" as the option from the "Convert text files to Macintosh format" section of the StuffIt Preferences window. With "Always" selected, StuffIt appears to incorrectly treat the files as text files and thereby "corrupt" them when they get unstuffed. With versions of StuffIt prior to 4.5, this problem does not occur.
Word from Aladdin Aladdin's Dirk Munson sent me the following confirmation of the problem and solution: Aladdin Systems has become aware of a problem in StuffIt Deluxe 4.5 in which some files appear to be corrupted but in actuality are not. The problem typically affects .pdf and .eps files. Once expanded, they will not open. The problem is due to the method we use to detect text files; they are being detected incorrectly. There is a setting that can be changed in order to 'fix' the problem. This setting should be changed in StuffIt Expander, Magic Menu, and the Deluxe application. It cannot be fixed in the StuffIt Browser at this time. The problem is in the unstuffing. In StuffIt Expander and Magic Menu, change the Cross-Platform preference "Convert text files to Macintosh format:" to "Never." In StuffIt Deluxe, this is listed in the Preferences under the Edit menu. As mentioned, there is no fix for the StuffIt Browser at this time. Aladdin is working on a permanent fix for release in the next update. Please visit the StuffIt Deluxe Known Problems web page for updated and additional information.
Creator oddity Kurt Todoroff found that his unstuffed PDF files had their creator incorrectly listed as "SIT" rather than the Acrobat Reader creator, "CARO."