How to change Margins in PDF?

I found this forum in response to a query about a problem that I am having.  When I print my PDF file, margins are fine.  Then I duplex print, and the image seems to be shrunk, with wider margins.  As it is a tri-fold brochure, this is a real problem.  Any ideas what might be going on?  For now I will just print a bunch of page 1s, then put em back inthe printer for page 2.  The thing that I find really frustrating is that it worked fine on duplex a few weeks ago.  Must have set something wrong...

1-17-2011  8:34 PM PT

I found a workaround using both Acrobat Pro 10 and my HP 1518ni printer. Clumsy and slow, but it works.  I had to print a pdf from my teacher which had a combination of portrait and landscape pages.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to change the 14 point font.    Here is the sequence:

Acrobat Pro 10:

  All of the pages will have to be rotated 180 degrees so the 95% reduction (in the printer) will "expand" the left side.  Otherwise, the left margin remains

    intact, and the right one shrinks.

  Determine the page numbers of the portait pages, as those will be entered in the following step.

  In the toolbar click on the "Rotate page" icon.  It is the second one from the right, and has a yellow reverse arrow. The "Roate Pages" dialog box opens.

  Click on the radio button "Pages", and enter the page numbers to be printed.

  Click "OK".  Now go to the printer setup, which has to be done only once for this particular printing job.

HP 1518ni:

  In Pro 10, click on the printer icon, which opens the "Print" page.

  Click on "Properties" in the upper right area, which opens the "Document Properties" page.

  Click on "Effects".

  Click on the radio button "% of actual size:"  After clicking on "100", I changed it to "95".

  NOTE:  The "Rotate" area (6th line down) offers two selection boxes: "Even and Odd Pages" and ""Portrait Pages". Their dropdown menus list more

    selections.  I found that changing the "Portrait Pages" did not have an effect on my landscape pdf pages.  (I forgot to change it once.)

  Click on "OK", which returns to the "Printer" page in Acrobat Pro 10.

Acrobat Pro 10 Printer page:

  Click on the appropriate radio button under "Print Range".  In my case, I had to first process the portrait pages, and then the landscape ones.

NOTE: After finishing the print job, don't forget to change the printer setting from "95%" back to 100 by clicking on the button "Actual size".

Hope this helps!  Adobe--are you listening?  PDF's have become the de facto method of communicating, and since pages must be printed for any number of reasons, it makes sense to fix this issue.  The pdf's contents are not at risk of being modified--only the way they are printed.

1-17-2011  7 PM PT

I've tried some of the solutions offered, but Pro 10 seems to have negated them.  Any ideas for Pro 10?

Adobe:  Why haven't one of the company reps jumped into this discussion?

Additionally, my college pdf's are in 14 pt font, and there appears to be no way to reduce them.

Dear Dimitri,

That is super - a simple command.

I just wish the folks at Adobe would do the same for those doing printouts.  When you are dealing with historical documents, many taken from microfilm, generally there is no consideration as to binding margins.  If one wants to wax philosophical on this, while technology changes ever so rapidly, one thing that is always viewable is the printed page or photo.  A classic exanple of technological change is sound recording.  We started out with cylinders.  Next came records, first 78 rpm, then 45 rpm for individual songs and 33 rpm for longer pieces.  Casette tapes and 8-track tapes were next, followed by CD's.  Now we have mpegs.  The conundrum was exemplified in one of the early Superman movies, wherein the history of Krypton was recorded on green crystals.  Technology is constantly changing, which compromises the ability to play back what has been recorded in the past.  At the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, MD, some of the researchers' copies of motion pictures are on antique 1" Beta tapes.  The machines to play these, antiques in and of themselves, are in terrible shape.  The primary copies, however, are still on film, although one wonders how long these, too, will last.  I presume that these are stored under refrigeration.

We can see the issue in condensed time with the development of computer operating systems and software.  While Microsoft has generally attempted to provide retroactivity, a document written in the newer versions of Office may be a .docx, whereas older software doesn't recognize this.  Fortunately, most friends are willing to downgrade their copies so I can read them.  Support for Windows XP will eventually vanish.  While this OS can continue to be used by those that have it, replacing peripherals such as scanners and printers may make this problematic.

But, actual photos and printed pages are readable with the Mark 1 eyeball, regardless of how they are produced.

Regards,

Richard

Dear Bill and Dimitri,

Thank you for your additional sage counsel.

I think I will try your approach first, Bill.  While perhaps a bit of artistic perfectionism, My desire would be to center the resulting image reduction top and bottom, whereas your approach Dimitri would lock it either toward the top or the bottom, although, admittedly, that's a really icing on the cake issue.  And, it may turn out that, say, locking at the top, might not be a bad idea.  If I recall correctly, fit to page does center the page in both directions.

As for pre-rotating the errant rotated pages, these documents are strung together and I'm not sure how one goes about rotating individual pages within the string.  To be honest, I've only been working them in Photoshop Elements 6, adding the margin there, which breaks them into individual pdf's, which I later re-string.  My guess is that there is likely a command within Acrobat to do this while retaining the integrity of the string.

Which then brings up another classic question.  While stringing together individual pdf's is straight forward, de-stringing them enmass is something I don't know how to do.  Can either of you offer a suggestion as to how this can be done?

I am also hoping that, while my questions pertain to my specific needs, others viewing this instructional discussion will also benefit.

Regards,

Richard

Dear Bill and Dimitri,

I am not sure Bill whether or not you are suggesting I send you a sample of what I have to play with.  Some are more complicated than others.  For instance, in some extreme cases, not only are the originals of different size, but some are rotated 90°.  The end objective is to get them all printed on 8.5" x 11" paper with a .75" binding margin.  Generally, those that are rotated 90° will print out correctly oriented.

As for what Acrobat was designed to do, I understand your point Bill, but clearly people print out pdf's, as witness the plethora of government documents on pdf from the IRS.  I find the lack of a tool for printing out documents with acceptable binding margins equal to racing a horse with blinders on.  When I started my inquiry, I figured the tool was there, but I just didn't know how to access it.

Dimitri, I'm not sure how locking down a corner of a page works.  Care to explain?

I'd be happy to provide a sample via e-mail if either of you wants to try it.

In the meantime, I'll try following up on your instructions, Bill.

Regards,

Richard

Hi all,

My first post on the Adobe forums.

I've read the entries so far and none seem to hit the nail on the head.

My issue is that I have a fair number of documents as strung together .pdf's and I'd like to print out each document with a binding margin on the left, typically a .75" margin.  This should have been a slam dunk command, but, alas, I can't find it.  Some pages vary in size and I would simply print to fit an 8-1/2" x 11" page, shrinking the original to allow for the .75" binding margin.

So far, I've had to open each page in Photoshop Elements 6, add the requisite margin, then save it as an individual page, later restringing the document together.  When you get to documents exceeding 100 pages, this is an insane waste of my time and there ought to be a command to take care of this enmass.

As info, I am using Acrobat 8.

Regards,

Richard

Hello,

Please guide me how to increase 1/2 inch margin on the left side and reduce the same margin on the right side of Adobe Reader document, i need this for binding purposes.

Thanks.

Hmm I know this post is already outdated but I came across this problem just recently. Cropping zooming resizing is a bit crappy. Here's what I've found out / figured out:

If you have Adobe Photoshop, go ahead and open your PDF file from there. Then try and print it there. You can adjust a lot like margins scale size etc without losing your PDF quality. Print-out is as clear as the original

Hi,

I have a related question.  I have a PDF file that has very, very tight left and right margins.  I don't want to print the file, but I would like to be able to have visually pleasing margins while reading it in Adobe Acrobat Pro Extended.

I'd be happy even to be able to change the background color of the non-page area to white.  I can change the background color to white on Full Screen display, but not on regular display. 

Can anyone give me some tips on making the left/right margins appear wider?

Thanks in advance!