Copresco’s production department continues to field your questions about the details of making printquality PDFs.
If you’re a
novice, the following instructions will show you the easiest, most painless way
to get started.
If you’re an old pro, this will be a
good review of the changes that have taken place in the everchanging PDF
distilling process.
The most important fact to remember is
that print is only one of many uses for a PDF. A PDF that is properly prepared
to serve as an e-mail attachment or a Web posting is not acceptable for
printing.
You must
have Adobe Acrobat (not just Reader) installed on your computer for the
following methods to work.
And, you need to adjust your
Acrobat Distiller settings. You can’t just select print and choose Adobe
PDF and print to file.
There are thousands of settings
that can be specified when creating a PDF; actually, 1,239,864 possible
combinations, by one count!
Every setting has a
purpose.
Experienced users may be tempted to skip the
following instructions. Don’t! As PDF becomes easier to create, it has
also become easier to inadvertently use incorrect settings, even for those who
understand the use of proper print settings.
The
traditional method—the only way you can work with Acrobat versions 5 or
lower—is a two-step process.
1. File>Print,
select a printer such as “Acrobat Distiller,” check “Print to
File,” then press “Print.” This creates a PostScript file with a
.ps or .prn extension.
2. Open Adobe Acrobat Distiller.
Using File>Open, select the Post-Script file you just created. Distiller
then creates your PDF.
The one-step method uses the same process, but Distiller works “behind the scenes.” This is so convenient that it’s easy to forget to double-check your settings.
So,
let’s talk about the settings.
As we previously
instructed, choose File>Print, then select Adobe PDF as the printer.
DON’T PRESS PRINT YET!
Why
not? Because you have no idea what settings are being applied to your PDF!
Instead, press the Properties button in the Print dialog
box on Windows operating systems. If you see “Adobe PDF Conversion
Settings,” then your computer has a newer driver that allows the
“one-step” printing process.
On Macs, click Printer and pull down the menu that probably says “Copies & Pages.” Select PDF Options.
These
settings are actually the Distiller job options that control every aspect of
the PDF creation process.
We hope you’ll see
“Print Quality,” “High Quality” or “High Quality
Print” displayed as the Adobe PDF Conversion setting.
If you see “Screen Optimized” or
“Standard,” you’ve found the reason your PDF files aren’t
of print quality.
The options noted are not settings
themselves; they are merely file names for collections of saved settings.
How do you know which settings to choose?
You’re welcome to make your own settings to
meet your various job requirements.
But, the good news is
that Adobe has already constructed a Job Options setting that works pretty well
for digital printing.
If you follow these steps and verify that you have the proper settings each time you create a PDF, you’ll have a top-notch, print-quality job.
Don’t
forget the final step that is essential for best quality. Send your PDF to
Copresco!
And stay tuned for more details on PDF workflow
in the May issue of Overnight Lite.
When you
need help with books and manuals, call the company that has the technical
skills to make all of your print files look great.
Call
Copresco.
What’s the difference between “high
quality” and “press quality” or “print optimized” and
“press opti-mized?” You’ll see both settings when you follow the
instructions in column two.
Acrobat uses the term
“press” for settings better suited to conventional offset printing,
whereas “print” refers to digital printing.
Will Acrobat’s “press” settings work at
Copresco? Sure. The disadvantage: Your PDF file size will be larger than
necessary.
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