Rotating printer's spreads from .PS file

[StuArtsy]

*I have moved this conversation over from the PostScript sub in the hopes of getting clarification.

Hello,

I am attempting to generate printer's spreads from a landscape-oriented lettersize booklet. I saved the file as a .PS and dragged it into Distiller. Unfortunately Distiller does not automatically rotate my landscape spreads to fit the default portrait export, so I get a resulting portrait PDF with one of the pages on the spread partially cropped off the page.

I did try to circumvent this by going back to my original InDesign spreads and rotating them all 90 degrees clockwise, but the result is still the same upon using Distiller.

Is there an option in Distiller settings to export as landscape? Or is there a simpler way in InDesign to generate printer's spreads?

Thanks for your comments!

Stu

[Eugene Tyson]

File>Export and create a PDF

Then use Acrobat Print booklet feature

[Steve Werner]

Why are you using PostScript files and Distiller? That's a decades old workflow, long since left behind. I can't think of a single advantage in that workflow. for several reasons.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

In the mid-1990s, it was a highly sophisticated method to get advanced layouts to printer RIPs without layers of processing. We exported to .PS, edited headers and font references, and got back what would one day be called pixel-perfect print results. This bypassed mountains of printer, font and other drivers and conversions.

But yes, that was (sigh) three decades ago.

[StuArtsy]

Typically I am used to the "Print booklet" feature including a flyout where you can select "Print as Adobe PDF" by default, along with your local printers as options of course. I guess the reason I got lost in help articles (from various decades?) is that I don't appear to have that option available from InDesign on my latest Mac terminal.

Stu

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

The print to PDF feature is a weak version of export that's designed to plug into nearly any app to give it instant PDF abilities. It should never be used if a true export to PDF function is available, such as InDesign has.

[StuArtsy]

Hi Steve,

It's definitely not my intention to use antiquated methods, but this is no doubt a fault of my not asking the right question, initally. While I am able to print to booklet fine using the methods suggested in this thread, I was missing the function to "Print to PDF" from the "Print booklet" menu. I understand that this is a peculiarity of Macs.

Stu

[rob day]

I did try to circumvent this by going back to my original InDesign spreads and rotating them all 90 degrees clockwise,

Hi @StuArtsy , You would do it via Print Booklet>Print Settings>Setup by setting the Paper size Width and Height and setting the Orientation. Something like this:

[StuArtsy]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your demo. I guess I have taken the 'Print Booklet' feature for granted in the past. I'm on a new terminal that doesn't have "Print to PDF' as a default option when exporting a booklet from InDesign.

Typically in the occassions I've worked with books in the past I am used to being able to generate a PDF of printer's spreads thusly. Hence my archaic workaround. I'm on a Mac, is there some sort of plugin I have to enable in order for "Adobe PDF" to show as an option in the "Print Preset" drop down menu? All I am seeing is my local printers.

Thanks for your guidance!

Stu

[Eugene Tyson]

Hi @StuArtsy 

As per my first post and reply - if you use File>Export and choose PDF
You open the PDF in Acrobat

And in the Print menu from here you can print a booklet.

Is there some reason you haven't tried this?

[StuArtsy]

Hi Eugene,

Apologies, it's taken a bit of time for me to understand exactly where the hiccup in my workflow is happening. I hear you regarding the Acrobat method (thank you, this worked great to reorganize the spreads). While I am able to print those booklet spreads to one of my local printers, it appears the 'Print to PDF' function I am accustomed to seeing as an option for 'Printer' selection is not present. I assume this is because I inherited a terminal that had been recently wiped so the plugins were not installed.

Stu

[rob day]

Hi @StuArtsy , Just to clarify, I may have misread your post, but I was assuming you are looking for this output:

And not this, which is what Brad @ Roaring Mouse ’s Setup will output:

[rob day]

You'll need the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD which lets you set any page dimension and orientation. Do a search, if you can't find it I can share a link

[rob day]

Here’s an example of the Distilled .ps using the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPDwith the spreads turned:

The PPD:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/fhnvventjc7vxpzzmft5f/AKwgMb_SlYYf5JUfSfpr2nk?rlkey=e7ruj0dh52vvwku98...

[StuArtsy]

Thanks so much Rob, I appreciate your sharing of the process! I really didn't mean to come off as a troglodyte in my initial post (I'm just trying to print a booklet to PDF on a Mac!) but I think all the feedback and context in this thread has been very beneficial.

[rob day · Accepted solution]

 I assume this is because I inherited a terminal ... I went the "archaic" route of trying to get around that by using Distiller.

Is your new terminal running MacOS? On OSX and MacOS the InDesign Print dialog has never had a Print to PDF option your only choice is to Save a .ps file and Distill. The OS Print dialog does have the option to Save As PDF, but that doesn’t help when printing out of InDesign, because you have to use ID’s print dialog.

If you are imposing dummies on a local composite printer, and not sending out to a press, you are welcome to try this script which Exports 2-up printer spreads:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/2wjwe13fsrw9iszebo15e/h?rlkey=nwt5o3uex31fgra7oj15qvs7z&dl=0

The dialog:

[StuArtsy]

My gratitude, Rob! I'm glad to hear that my original approach wasn't completely off the wall! Thanks again for all your feedback!

[Brad @ Roaring Mouse]

@StuArtsy . The Print to PDF function has been deprecated for some time from Adobe apps on the Mac ('for reasons"). This is not to say what you want is not possible, but as others have mentioned, it's not a good workflow these days, mostly because PS doesn't have the capability for higher-function PDF objects (like transparency). In which case, any PS file will flatten these objects. If you are printing to your own Postscript (i.e. non-native PDF) printer, this is not a big issue as this flattening would have to happen anyway at print time, but commercial printers (I am a printer prepress person) do not want you to do this; we want single pages. If you are dealing with one that is asking this of you, they are the archaic ones!

However, if you are printing this yourself, here's the proper way to do this these days:

Download and install the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD (as mentioned in this thread). You CAN use your own printer's PPD if it's a PS printer and has the ability to create Custom Page sizes, but the caveat there is that this will generate PS that is specific to your printer which may not work if you take this PDF elsewhere, so best to use the Adobe PDF 9.0 PPD one.

If you are doing this regularly, save your sanity by Defining a Print Preset for the paper size and settings you will need. In your case, if you wanted letter landscape spreads with room for crops and bleed, make a page size 23" x 9.5". In each of the settings dialogs, you want to give the best information in your PS file, e.g Graphics > Images > "ALL" instead of "Optimized", etc.

 

 

 

I like to push crop marks outpast the bleed so I set my offset at 1/8" (0p9)

 

 

 

Color Handling: You probably don't want to pre-manage colors, so select "Let Postscript Printer...."

 

IMPORTANT ONE: Transparency Flattener "High Resolution"

Save.

Once saved, you can then Print Booklet:

Select your predefined Print Preset, change any setting there you need, check Preview, and print your PS file. Distill.

 

 

 

[StuArtsy]

Hi Brad,

Thank you for your comments and workflow!

I appreciate your perspective. Ultimately I have a booklet doc that prints in-house on demand and I needed to make updates to the copy. Given that we print this doc in-house I had to generate printer spreads, but as I mentioned before, I was used to seeing "Print to PDF" as an option from the "Print Booklet" menu. I went the "archaic" route of trying to get around that by using Distiller.

I had assumed the omission of the function was a result of a missing plugin, but your explanation that it is missing "for reasons" makes sense.

Stu