AutoCAD:
Use Plot Preview to make sure everything is correct before plotting. If you want to make sure your file will print in black &white only, go to Page Setup or Plot under the File menu (either one will bring up the same option box), chose the Plot Device tab, and for the Plot Style option, select monochrome.stb. |
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Photoshop:
Print w/ Preview is always a good way to check and make sure that everything is going to print on the page. If the image looks cropped or Photoshop gives a warning that some of the image area may be cropped when you go to print, double check your page setup options and the image size. |
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| For the "Encoding" dropdown menu, select "ASCII" when printing to the plotter and either "ASCII" or "JPEG" when printing to the color copier. |
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Illustrator:
Always check your printable area (generally represented by a gray or dotted line). Use the page tool (found under the hand on the tool palette if not visible) to reset the printable area if necessary. |
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| If you're also using any nonstandard fonts (ie something other than the usual Times, Helvetica, Courier, etc.) consider converting the type to outlines in order to prevent possible type substitution problems (unless you'd like your perfectly chosen typeface to come out in Courier). |
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| iNote: Like InDesign, Illustrator often makes links to placed files instead of saving a copy of the file inside the Illustrator document. To check for linked files, use the Links palette. It will also report missing or modified links. |
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InDesign:
When importing images into an InDesign file, the image is not actually saved in the InDesign file itself. Instead, a reference link is made back to the original placed file. This is designed to reduce the file size of the InDesign document. The downside to this method is that if the link is broken or needs to be updated, it can cause problems such as missing images or reduced image quality when you print your document.
How to find broken file links:
When you open an InDesign layout, it automatically checks all the links in a file. If any are broken or have been modified, be sure to select the "Fix Links..." option. |
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| The Links palette shows all linked files in the InDesign file. It will also report missing or modified links. |
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Printing from InDesign:
Many page layout programs such as Quark XPress, Adobe PageMaker, and InDesign all use custom print dialogs to allow greater flexibility when printing. To print from InDesgin do the following:
1) Select "Print..." from the "File" menu.
2) Make sure you have the correct printer selected from the "Printer:" dropdown menu at the top of window. |
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| 3) From the list on the left side of the print window, select "Setup" to check the page size. The window should change to show paper setting. Use the "Paper Size:" dropdown menu to select the correct paper size and use the "Page Position:" dropdown menu to select the correct page position. Use the preview graphic in the lower left corner of the window (the rectangle with the "P" on it) to determine if your page setup is correct (shaded areas will be cut off, white areas will print). |
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| 4) From the list on the left side of the print window, select "Graphics" to check the font and image quality settings. Select "All" from the "Send Data:" dropdown menu to send image data at maximum quality (if you're just doing a quick proof, "Optimized Subsampling" will send faster, but have less image quality). Select "Complete" from the "Fonts:" dropdown menu to make sure all the fonts used in the document will be sent to the printer otherwise type substitution errors may occur (Example: non-standard font used in document prints out as Courier). |
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| 5) Continue to check other options from the list if necessary (crop marks, color calibration, etc.) then click the "Print" button. The file will be sent to the Copy Center and be maintained in a "hold" status. Hint: Remember what you called your file. |
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PowerPoint:
The default blue in Microsoft PowerPoint may look good on the screen but it generally prints as purple on most printers. The cause of this is the RGB (monitor's color space) to CMYK (printer's color space) conversion for printing. If you look at RGB Blue in Photoshop, the RGB value (R=0,G=0,B=255) translates into C=100,M=100,Y=0,K=0 in CMYK. Full Cyan (a light blue) and full Magenta (a shade of red) makes purple. The simple way around this is to use a more print-friendly shade of Blue. C=100, M=50, Y=0, K=0 produces a comparable shade of Blue that will print Blue. PowerPoint for Windows does not allow the choice of CMYK colors in which case use R=0, G=127, B=255 or R=30, G=113, B=184 which will print blue. |
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