Print InDesign document to PostScript file

Short answer: Yes, even in the year 2020.
There are options available through the print dialog (such as printing seperations) not availble through exporting to PDF. In my client's case, separations are not necessary for production but for proofing to the client. for those of us doing print design.production all the time, we know how to use the Output Preview in a combined PDF to see the separations. But to the client service reps, that is just one task that can be easily resolved by printing to a pre-seaparated PDF: One page for each color, and the rep can just simply page down, see each plate, and go on with life.
This has not been made easier on Mac with the Adobe Printer option being removed (compared to 'the old days' and Windows, where it is simply installed as a printer.)
Certainly, the export to PDF is a cleaner solution, a simpler solution, but being able to print ps to Distiller remains helpful and needed.

I still use it, rarely, for a workaround when I have problematic output for a PDF.

Sometimes a graphic refuses to print. Or some odd, unexplainable artifact appears in the PDF. The worst situations for me seem to be print PDFs I create from InDesign documents with interactive elements. Maybe two or three times a year I run across some little problem that gets completely fixed when I first create a .ps file and then turn it into a PDF through Distiller.

Sometimes FrameMaker will flat out refuse to create a PDF using the preferred routes, and my only option is to print to a .ps file and distill manually. When I need to get a proof to a client, I'll do what it takes.

I am asking because InDesign (2017 Release) Classroom in a Book mentions this as a viable option on page 263 in the lesson on Printing and Exporting.

Dov Isaacs​ has weighed in against a number of workflows coming directly out of the Adobe Acrobat Classroom in a Book series. I think it would be very helpful to have someone at Adobe review the "official" materials, because most ACIs (and many other instructors) base their classes off of the exercises in these books. I don't know how the other books are reviewed, but when I worked on a FrameMaker CIB, I chose my own tech editor and Adobe Press provided the "regular" editor. I am unaware of anyone else—besides the three of us—who reviewed the content before it went into print.

It's one thing to blow by the single sentence in the InDesign CIB, jane-e, but when it comes to the Acrobat DC CIB, we either have to opt to create our own materials or be constantly saying, "I know the book teaches this workflow, but Adobe doesn't recommend it".

These books are expensive, and I purchase a copy for each of my Rocky Mountain Training students. It's a very frustrating situation.

jane-e  wrote Can anyone think of any reason to ever print to PostScript® from InDesign and then convert to PDF using Adobe® Acrobat Distiller? Ever?

Yes.

But not in my regular workflow.

1. Working around with bugs in PDF Export:

If something goes wrong with PDF Export I would test the PostScript => Distiller => PDF workflow to see if there is a bug with PDF Export or if it's something else.

2. Very special workflow where I am using small EPS files with PostScript programming instructions.
The technical term is pdfmark instructions for e.g. formfield creation with PDFs. Even JavaScript for the formfields is possible.

PDF Export will not pass the instructions to the exported PDF. Distiller will transform them into valid PDF widgets etc.pp. if the code has no bugs ;-) .

3. Minimizing PDF file size for web viewing.

If you know what you are doing with Distiller settings this could give you a better quality/file size ratio than the options you have with Acrobat Pro DC. Depends of the job of course.

Just a question:

is InDesign (2017 Release) Classroom in a Book also telling where to get the ADPDF9.PPD printer description file, explains what a PPD file is, and how to install it? If not, this chapter about printing to PostScript is indeed misleading and perhaps should be taken out. Or at least marked as deprecated together with some explanations.

Regards,
Uwe

to ever print to PostScript® from InDesign

Occasionally the question of how to deliver an imposed booklet to a copy service where there is no imposition capability comes up (there's no imposition option via Export). In that case there is the Print Booklet option which works fine with the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD. You could easily have a document with no complex transparency or downstream color management needs, which would survive that workflow.

@Steve Werner

Yes, you are right. "Classroom in a Book" is a lamer yellow-paper. Russian like to read full help in PDF

In my opinion, only a very ancient workflow would use PostScript and Acrobat Distiller. It should never be recommended in a book.

I wrote a post for InDesignSecrets.com in 2006 about why you should use File > Export > PDF [now PDF (Print)] which lists all the reasons we use that far superior workflow. It's even more true today.

Creating PDF: Export or Use Distiller? - InDesignSecrets ...

EDIT: Not too many Russian readers of Classroom in a Book, I'd bet.

Serious answer - in Russia still many firms have old imagesetters, and they are in working state.