Adobe InDesign CS4 - Manual (Page 600)

592 USING INDESIGN CS4
Printing
Note: Some InDesign printing features appear in both the printer driver dialog boxes and the InDesign Print dialog box.
For best results, specify the settings in the InDesign Print dialog box only. If settings overlap, InDesign tries to synchronize
the settings, or to ignore the driver’s settings. Some printer driver features (for example, N-up printing, which prints the
same artwork multiple times on the same page) produce adverse printing results when used with InDesign features such
as separations.
Select a PPD file
A PPD file (PostScript Printer Description file) customizes the behavior of the driver for your specific PostScript
printer. It contains information about the output device, including printer-resident fonts, available media sizes and
orientation, optimized screen frequencies, screen angles, resolution, and color output capabilities. It’s important to set
up the correct PPD before you print. Selecting the PPD that corresponds to your PostScript printer or imagesetter
populates the Print dialog box with the available settings for the output device. You can switch to a different one to suit
your needs. Applications use the information in the PPD file to determine which PostScript information to send to the
printer when printing a document.
For best printing results, Adobe recommends that you obtain the latest version of the PPD file for your output device
from the manufacturer. Many print service providers and commercial printers have PPDs for the imagesetters they
use. Be sure to store PPDs in the location specified by the operating system. For details, consult the documentation for
your operating system.
❖ In Windows and in Mac OS, you select a PPD file in the same way you add a printer. The steps for selecting a PPD
file are different for each platform. See your operating system documentation for details.
Use print presets
If you regularly output to different printers or job types, you can automate print jobs by saving all output settings as
print presets. Using print presets is a fast, reliable way to print jobs that require consistently accurate settings for many
options in the Print dialog box.
You can save and load print presets, making it easy to back them up or to make them available to your service
providers, clients, or others in your workgroup.
You can create and review print presets in the Print Presets dialog box.
Create print presets
❖ Do one of the following:
• Choose File > Print, adjust print settings, and click Save Preset. Type a name or use the default, and then click OK.
With this method, the preset is saved in the preferences file.
• Choose File > Print Presets > Define, and then click New. In the dialog box that appears, type a new name or use
the default, adjust print settings, and then click OK to return to the Print Presets dialog box. Then click OK again.
Apply print presets
1 Choose File > Print.
2 Choose a print preset from the Print Preset menu. If you like, confirm the printer settings in the Print dialog box.
3 Click Print.
Note: In InDesign, you can also print using a print preset by choosing one from the File > Print Presets menu.
Updated 18 June 2009