Description of the issue:
When using Brave’s built-in “Save As PDF” via the Print menu in Windows, the resulting PDF file may be either
- searchable text proper pdf file (you can select/copy text and search text within that PDF file, using any standard PDF viewer) → this usually happens when Saving simple web pages as PDF.
OR - graphics only PDF file, where text is not searchable, no text can be selected (as it is printed/saved as graphics elements, not as a text layer) → this usually happens with longer / more complex web pages, esp. the types that one would like to archive for further study, highlighting as fully searchable and highlightable/copy-capable PDF files.
It is impossible for the user to know, whether the “Save as PDF” feature of Brave produce a PDF file of the type (1) or type (2). One has to manually check it after the creation of the file.
That is, I do not know what is the PDF threshold after which all text is converted into graphics inside the created PDF document.
Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.
- Go to any longer / more complex web page using Brave 1.24.64 or later (tested on Windows). For example:
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Press CTRL+P or select “Print…” from the Brave menu
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In the Print dialog windows, for “Destination” select the internal brave PDF saving solution “Save as PDF”
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Leave other settings at default (have tried changing other settings, they have no bearing on the end results)
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Press button “Save”
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Open the created PDF file in any standard compliant PDF reader (e.g. Acrobat Reader DC)
7 .Select the cursor tool in PDF reader and try to highlight/select text (you can’t). Try to search for (CTRL+F) for any text you see visible inside that PDF (for example, the word “and”) and you will get zero hits, as if there is no text whatsoever inside the created PDF file (i.e. it is all converted into non-searchable graphics, not text)
Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
Expected result:
Obviously the resulting PDF file should be such that the:
- text is fully selectable & copyable within a PDF reader app
- text can be searched within the PDF reader app
This is NOT a bug of the PDF reader app (have tried seven major standards compliant PDF reader apps, including the built-in PDF reader feature of the Brave browser. Result is always the same : can’t select, can’t highlight, can’t search text).
Reproduces how often:
Always (as long as the Saved as PDF document is complex enough)
Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu):
- Windows 10 Pro 20H2 build 19042.928 x64
- Brave 1.24.64 Chromium: 90.0.4430.72 (Official Build) beta (64-bit)
Additional Information:
This same feature works 100% in Microsoft Edge v 90.0.818.38 x64. The resulting text is always searchable and can be selected (i.e. there is a generated text layer in the PDF file):
The latest Chrome browser tested 90.0.4430.72 beta channel x64 has the same bug as Brave.
