About printing PDF files

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Creating print-friendly PDF files

Some Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files print more reliably than others. Ironically, the versatility and flexibility of the PDF can make it more difficult, not less, to create a document suitable for general use. The PDF format continues to evolve, and the many different options make it easy to create a PDF file that displays properly on your monitor, but causes problems when you try to print it.

Some PDF files generate corrupt print files that fail to print because the print server rejects them. Others may generate excessively large print files that print very slowly. Still others may print partially, leading to a printer timeout. Sometimes these files cause the printer to continually attempt to reprint the same few pages, which can lead to the printer becoming disabled.

To avoid printing problems, use these guidelines when creating a PDF file:

Set the page size to Letter (8.5" x 11"): If the page size is set to something other than Letter, your PDF may not print as intended.
Create PDF files compatible with Acrobat 5: Using an older version of the PDF format ensures that documents can be opened and printed reliability on a variety of personal computers, not only those in the STCs.
Many Adobe software products are available free via IUware for IU students, faculty, and staff under the IU/Adobe License Agreement. For details, see What software is available through the Adobe agreement, and how can I get it?
Keep the resolution below 600 dpi: Using a resolution higher than 300 dots per inch (dpi) produces large file sizes without improving the appearance of graphics on your monitor (typically less than 96 dpi) or when printed (typically 600 dpi).
Use common fonts when drafting the source document: Fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Helvetica are compatible with most operating systems and printer firmware.
Embed fonts in the PDF: This is especially important when using discipline-specific or application-specific fonts. If you use a custom or uncommon font in your source file, but do not embed it in the PDF file, another computer or printer may not be able to find a suitable alternative to the original font.
Note: Some fonts are restricted from document embedding by copyright protection.
Test the PDF: After creating your PDF file, try printing it before sharing it with its intended recipients.

For more, see In the IU STCs and RTCs, what are the printing standards and practices?

Printing PDF files

When you encounter problems with printing, try the following:

Make sure you're dealing with a local copy; in other words, save the file to your desktop or another folder on your computer. Trying to print a PDF while simultaneously downloading it, under perhaps lagging network conditions, can cause the file to time out and fail to print.
Set the graphics quality to low. From the properties menu for your printer, usually after clicking Advanced, in the Graphics area, you should be able to set the print quality to the lowest possible setting. Most graphics images are much higher resolution than a typical black-and-white printer can reproduce. Only in rare circumstances will changing this setting impact the appearance of your output.
If the document still doesn't print, try rasterizing it, which treats each page of a document as an image. You can accomplish this in one of several ways:
- In Adobe Acrobat's print dialog box, under Advanced, select Print As Image. (The Mac version offers an optional dpi choice; select 150.)
- In the print dialog box, select Adobe PDF as the printer and create another PDF document. This sometimes corrects errors in the original document.
- In the print dialog box (Windows only):
  1. Select Microsoft Office Document Image Writer as the printer.
  2. Click Properties or Preferences.
  3. On the Advanced tab, select MDI.
  4. Click OK to exit, and then click OK again to print the document.
  5. Specify a filename and location for the new file, and again click OK.
  The rasterized document should open in the Microsoft Document Imaging application, and you can print it from there.
- Open and print the PDF document using the GSView application (on PCs, from the Start menu, click Accessories, and then Utilities). GSView is a third-party, open source application that rasterizes PostScript and PDF documents.

With the correct settings, a well-designed PDF file can produce excellent results. While printing documents in their native file format usually produces the best results, converting other document formats (e.g., Powerpoint, Photoshop, Illustrator) to PDF can often solve unanticipated formatting problems, especially when printing to color devices.

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Last modified on September 20, 2011.