I know! It’s really strange.

It looks perfect to me on Overprint Preview. When we complete the pages they are loaded into a database called FileMaker which builds the magazine – could the pdfs be changed there.

We publish the magazines online and you can see on this link where the white drop shadow is happening: https://content.yudu.com/Library/A2uz4o/NewmarketandElyLivin/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ffree.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F1907615%2FNewmarket-and-Ely-Living-June-July-2014

It looks terrible but the first pdf I create before I load it into FileMaker looks fine.

Thank you for your responses though I really do appreciate it. Would flattening the pdf change anything?