Printed document does not match the original

[Jay___]

Hello there,

when printing a document in Adobe InDesign (17.2.1 x64) the printed result doesnt match the original project.
It seems like its just printing the head several times on one printed page.
I tried to print a few other files but the problem reoccurs.

I tried to print to other printers (like AdobePDF, PDF24 or some hardware printer) but nothing changes.

I tried exporting the project as .pdf and... it works!

So its almost like the AdobeInDesign printing feature doesnt want to do his job or there is some option I dont know about.

Does anyone know this behavior of Adobe InDesign and can provide some help?

Thank you in advance and Best regards
J.

[Willi Adelberger]

It is the normal way: Export to PDF and print from Acrobat.

We do not know what printer you are using and what technique the printer requires. I never print directly from InDesign and honestly I don't know anyone who does.

[Willi Adelberger]

I looked into your file. It says pasted graphic. I hope this is not the way you are used to work. Do not paste graphics. Import them via File > Place … 

This is an additional cause for bad printing.

I hope you will never create PDFs via print. Use only the export functionality.

[Jay___]

Thanks for the replies Willi.

Originally I wanted to print the project on paper. But it makes no difference which printer I select.
The result is the same.

I just wanted to make it clear, that the problem isnt depentend on what printer i use.

You are right, I copied the file in Adobe InDesign. I didnt know, that InDesign has such an issue with that way to work. Thanks for letting me know.
I also tried your way with File > Place ... and the result is still the same.
The printed document is still not correct.

So you say the way to go is Export File > then open the exported file in Adobe Reader/Acrobat and print it there?

That doesnt sound like best practice to me.

[Willi Adelberger]

Export to PDF is the correct way to go. It costs no time. Tick the option to show in Acrobat. It opens immediately and will print much faster than it would ever do in InDesign. Make a preset for PDF expor, a Joboption which fits best to your printer.

Believe me, that is the best practice.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

Hi @Jay___ , I didn’t have any problem printing your project.indd file, so it could be a problem with your printer’s driver software.

In almost all cases the Export dialog produces a better PDF than printing a postscript file, but if you want to print a PDF, make sure you have the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD installed in your InDesign application folder and set it as the PPD for the PostScript file output.

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

Also, whether cutting and pasting from another application causes problems might depend on your OS—MacOS and OSX sets the clipboard contents as high quality PDF. The OSX clipboard keeps the color space and full resolution, but it’s harder to edit the original, which is the advantage of a placed link.