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Troubleshooting/Resolving Acrobat Printing Problems

Acrobat File Does Not Print on Laser Printer

Adobe Acrobat files (.PDF) allow the embedding of fonts, which allows documents to print exactly as the author intended even if the host system does not have those fonts installed.

When printing to a laser printer the fonts are downloaded to the printer before the rest of the page. However, under some circumstances the laser printer may misinterpret the fonts and dump the entire job, resulting in no printout.

Acrobat can solve this by rasterising the page itself rather than relying on the printer:

Acrobat 7 and above

  1. Choose FilePrint or press Ctrl-P;

  2. Click Advanced:

  3. Ensure Print as Image is checked:

  4. Click OK to close the Advanced Print Setup dialog;

  5. Click OK to print.

Kofax / Nuance PDF

  1. Choose FilePrint or press Ctrl-P;

  2. Ensure Print as Image is checked:

  3. Click OK to print.

Acrobat 6 or earlier

  1. Choose FilePrint or press Ctrl-P;

  2. Ensure Print as Image is checked;

  3. Click OK.

Note that using the Print as Image feature takes longer (although it may only be noticeable on Pentium 1/II systems), and may not print with the best possible resolution capable by your printer.

It is not necessary to use this feature with dot matrix or inkjet printers. If you have troubles printing PDF files on these printers, it is most likely a printer driver problem — ensure you are using the correct driver and that it is the most up-to-date.

Printer Cuts Edges Off

Most printers have an “unprintable” zone. In laser printers it is roughly 8mm around the edges, but varies with model. Inkjet printers can generally print closer to the left and right edges (some “photo” printers can print right to the edge), but may not be able to print close the bottom edge due to the feeders running out of paper to grip.

Acrobat can scale documents to fit into the printable zone rather than the physical page size.

Acrobat 7.0/8.0/9.0

  1. Choose FilePrint or press Ctrl-P;

  2. At Page Scaling, choose Fit to Printable Area;

  3. Click OK to print.

Acrobat determines the printable area from the printer driver, but not all printer drivers specify this correctly. If the scaling does not work, upgrade the printer driver.

Other General Remedies

  • Ensure your printer driver is the latest. Note that many printers are shipped with a driver CD but these are generally older, and more recent versions are available on the vendor's website.





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