Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide
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capabilities. Selecting the PPD that corresponds to your PostScript printer or image setter pro-
vides Acrobat with the available settings for the output device, and determines which PostScript
information is sent to the printer. For example, fonts listed in your PPD file reside in the printer,
so they are not downloaded unless you explicitly include them.
Because so many advanced printing features depend on the PPD for information, it’s important
to set up the correct PPD before you print. For best printing results, Adobe recommends that you
obtain the latest version of the PPD file for your output device from the manufacturer. Be sure to
store PPDs in the location specified by the operating system. This is usually accomplished by the
installer for the printer driver. For details, consult the documentation for your operating system.
Note:
Certain PPD features commonly found in imagesetter PPD files won’t be accessible from the
Advanced Print Setup dialog box. To set these printer-specific features, use the Printer Properties
dialog box (Windows) or the Print Center (Mac OS). See “Setting Adobe PDF printer properties” in
Complete Acrobat 9 Pro Help.
Setting PostScript Options
You can set options for a particular PostScript printer, such as how to handle nonresident printer
fonts and how to download Asian fonts. In addition, if a PDF file contains device-dependent
settings, such as halftones and transfer functions, you can send these settings in the PostScript
output to override the default settings in the printer. To use these options, you must be connected
to a PostScript printer or have a PostScript printer driver installed with a PPD selected.
To set PostScript options in the Advanced section of the Print dialog box:
1. Choose a PostScript printer as your target printer and choose File > Print. In the Print dialog
box, click the Advanced button and choose PostScript options in the dialog:
2. For Font And Resource Policy, specify how fonts and resources are downloaded (consult the
printer documentation for appropriate font download setting):
•
Send at Start: Downloads any fonts and resources that are used on more than one
page at the beginning of the document. (This is the fastest option, but it uses more
printer memory.)
•
Send by Range: Downloads fonts and resources with the first page that uses them,
and removes them when they are no longer needed. (This option uses less memory.)
•
Send for Each Page: Downloads the fonts and resources with each page on which
they are used. (This option uses the least amount of printer memory.)
3. For Print Method, choose the PostScript level of the output device.
4. Select other options in the PostScript panel as desired:
•
Download Asian Fonts: Prints documents with Asian fonts that are not installed on
the printer or embedded in the PDF file (they must be present on the system).
•
Emit CIDFontType2 as Emit CIDFontType2 (for PostScript v. 2015 and up):
Preserves hinting information in the original font. Otherwise, CIDFontType2 fonts
are converted to CIDFontType0 fonts, which are compatible with a wider range of
printers.
•
Emit Undercolor Removal/Black Generation: Retains undercover removal (UCR)
and black generation settings if they exist in the PostScript file. Black generation cal-
culates the amount of black to be used when trying to reproduce a particular color.
UCR reduces the amount of cyan, magenta, and yellow components to compensate
for the amount of black added by the black generation. Because it uses less ink, UCR
is generally used for newsprint and uncoated stock.
•
Emit Halftones: Retains any halftone information in the file. Note that your RIP may
override this information.
•
Emit Transfer Functions: Retains the transfer functions traditionally used to com-
pensate for dot gain or dot loss that may occur when an image is transferred to film.
With this option, Acrobat keeps the transfer functions as part of the file, and applies
them to the file when it is output.
