print booklet setup option grayed out when PPD is set to "device independent"

[mzulauf0]

Hey, y'all. This may be a couple of different problems, so please bear with me.

I'm working on a MacBook Pro with an M1 chip and Ventura. I'm trying to print booklet at 6x12, which I have done plenty of times before, but not with my current OS.

I have the printer set to PostScript file and when I choose Device Indepentent as the PPD, all of the page adjustment options are grayed out. When I set the PPD to any other printer, I can adjust the page size/layout to what I need, but the PostScript files and resulting PDFs have been coming out at 8.5x11 instead of 6x12.

I think I used to have the option to set the PPD as Adobe Acrobat, but I believe I read (in trying to trouble shoot this issue) that Mac has removed support for the Adobe PPD. If this is true, has anyone found a work around for this? Or some other PPD that allows for PostScript files to generate PDFs that actually stay the dimensions you set the page to?

[Willi Adelberger]

I can only recommend not to use print booklet as it is a crap because it uses postscript. Let the printer do the imposing, not the designer. 

[mzulauf0]

Do you have a suggestion on generating colated spreads as a PDF? I'm not doing the printing myself; I'm sending them to a printing service (it's a book project that's too big for me to print myself).

[Willi Adelberger]

Why do you make the imposing yourself if you do not print it? It is not your tsk, it is the task of the printer!

[BobLevine]

If it's that big, print booklet is not going to give anyone acceptable results. Did the printer actually require this or are you a novice that simply assumed it was your responsibility?

Any competent printer is not only going to want to do this themselves with their equipment but will charge you extra to fix an imposed document.

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

@mzulauf0 . there's nothing wrong with Booklet printing. The answer is to NOT select Device Independence. Instead, select a PPD. If you search this forum, you will find links to and instructions on how to add the "Adobe 9.0.PPD" which will do what you want.

That being said, professional printers DO NOT want you to do this. (I'm one of them). You should be providing normal PDFs with appropriate bleed, if any, and we will impose them properly. Even a good copyshop has this ability. But, if you are printing this on your own printer, the Booklet approach will work just fine.

[mzulauf0 · Accepted solution]

So, if anyone is having the same issue I am, use this link: https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/save-as-pdf-options-not.html

It provides you with not only the step-by-step to getting Adobe back as a PPD, but also, critically, provides you the PPD file. 

Just downloaded it/went through the steps, and got my booklet PDFs formated accordingly. 

[mzulauf0]

https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/add-acrobat-ppd.html