Participating Frequently

Answered

All Adobe programs printing dots/jagged edges instead of clean vectors and text

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
May 20, 2021
6 replies
4962 views

Hi! I'm wondering if anyone can help with what I imagine is a "settings" type issue.

I am trying to print really basic stuff. Like, basic fonts and vector images in black and white.

When I try to print from Illustrator and InDesign, the images and text appear as tiny printed black dots (or, with thicker type, just super jagged edges). Like, it prints like a crappy rendering of the fonts and images.

Zooming in on the computer screen, it's all crisp, even when something the size of a 12-pt period, zoomed in to the size of my head. So, I do know what a vector is and that it's not a poor resultion image that can't be blown up.

The same fonts print beautifully from Microsoft Word, etc.

I'm attaching an image of a photo of a couple sentences that I printed in black and white (sorry I have whack lighting; it's just black toner on white paper). The sentences on the computer screen look normal.

I'm using a super basic printer--a Brother black and white laser printer (MFC-L2750DW).

Does anyone have ideas, or is there any additional information I need to research about my settings or printer? Extra extra gratitude to anyone who can answer like you're dealing with a total newbie.

Thank you all so much in advance!

Correct answer crispy-now

I had the same problem with the same Brother printer. Hopefully this helps someone since this thread is a bit stale now.

Try deleting the printer from your "Printers & Scanners" settings and then reinstall, but instead of the Brother driver use the Generic driver. This worked for me. All crisp now.

J

jastudio

Participant

To clarify, my Canon happened to have a Postscript driver available. You'll need to research for your particular brand and model. Good luck!

C

crispy-nowCorrect answer

Participant

I had the same problem with the same Brother printer. Hopefully this helps someone since this thread is a bit stale now.

Try deleting the printer from your "Printers & Scanners" settings and then reinstall, but instead of the Brother driver use the Generic driver. This worked for me. All crisp now.

Willi Adelberger

Community Expert

I would strongly recommend to export to PDF and print from Adobe Acrobat. Don't print from InDesign. Don’t create any PDF via printing. Don’t use the OS’ PDF creating tools.

Do you use any transparency?

Is an image with transparent parts above the text? It should be beyond.

M

megawatt53Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks Willi--I have tried PDFs, and it still does the same from Acrobat. I do export it to PDF (not the print to PDF).

There's no transparency. To remove all unnecessary variables of other things affecting the printing, I took a new blank document and typed two sentences (as per the rich black specs in the comments above). Nothing else.

Do you have any other ideas? I feel like I have to be missing something ridiculously obvious!

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

It's likely down to a Printing Setting.

Can you choose something like Photo Quality from your Print Settings?

E

Eugene Tyson

Community Expert

What happens if you export to PDF and print from Acrobat?

M

megawatt53Author

Participating Frequently

Same issue when it's a PDF. Everything Adobe prints this way; nothing else does. I got specific in a reply above, but I'm thinking there must be a broader settings-type issue.

rob day

Community Expert

What’t the exact color mode and values of the text’s fill? Does it happen if you fill the text with RGB black (0|0|0 showing in the Color panel when the text is selected). Are there any transparent objects on the spread

M

megawatt53Author

Participating Frequently

Just double/checked; it was already set up at RGB 0/0/0.

What else can I look into? Thanks!

rob day

Community Expert

Does it happen if the fill is 0|0|0|100 CMYK black and you have your appearance of black set to Output All Blacks as Rich Black?

rob day

Community Expert

Try setting your Appearance of Black Printing Preference to Output All Blacks as Rich Black. The default CMYK [Black] swatch doesn’t necessarily display or print as absolute black—it depends on your document’s color management settings.

Here’s CMYK [Black] vs. RGB 0|0|0 black with and without Output All Blacks as Rich Black:

Output All Blacks Accurately:

M

megawatt53Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks so much, Rob! I just checked, and I already have it set to rich black. Any other ideas for quick fixes or things I should research about my settings or printer, if I may impose on your expertise just a little more?

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