Problem with printer settings & results in Photoshop vs. Preview or Acrobat

Hi everyone,

I tried all of these solutions and none of them worked. Printing as bitmap resulted in a grainy look. I think it's true that I was not using Epson driver software, since the paper types I saw available were generic. However, I actually found a workaround by playing with some settings:

- Open a print-ready PDF in Acrobat and go to Print

- Make sure "Format for" is set for my Epson printer under "Page Setup"

- Under Printer settings, I used the same settings as above

- Under "Advanced" I chose "Print as Image."

This resulted in a print of the same quality as the one in Photoshop. But for my next project I'll definitely make sure I'm using the driver software for this printer, which I thought I already had downloaded. Thanks for the ideas!

Hi all, thanks so much for the helpful responses! I'm headed back to the studio tonight and will try these. I am also in touch with the paper manufacturer about media settings, since they don't publish anything on their website.

@jillianmary Those bitmap resolution tips should help you and please do pay attention to the media setting as @davescm  suggests - ideally, of course, you'd be using a media that is specifically mentioned by name in print settings.

Do you see actual Epson media names in the print dialog under media, e.g. "Premium Semigloss Photo" etc? If not it may be that you're not using the actual Epson driver software 

Please let us know how it goes

I hope this helps
neil barstow, colourmanagement net - adobe forum volunteer - co-author: 'getting colour right'
google me "neil barstow colourmanagement" for lots of free articles on colour management

I print to an Epson printer, SC-P5000, from InDesign here and do it two ways (both work).

One is to prepare a print ready PDF and print from Acrobat. The second is to print direct from InDesign.

I have, in the past, encountered issues with specific typefaces and usually find that using the bitmap method, as described by Conrad, works to resolve those. For small type designed to be read close 600ppi can look smoother.

One other thing. You mention different media settings. These affect how much ink is placed on the paper and can dramatically impact the print. Ideally, you should follow the paper manufacturers settings for your printer and also use a printer ICC profile for that paper at those settings. I make my own paper profiles, which gives me flexibility, but you can often download a suitable profile from the paper manufacturer. If no profile is available you may be better of using Printer Manages Colour rather than trying to make an unsuitable profile work.

Dave

Not sure if these will really fix your problem, but two ideas:

I print from InDesign to a different Epson inkjet printer, and I’ve seen a similar problem where the type prints heavier than it’s supposed to be. The thing that fixes the type for me is to go into the Advanced panel in the Print dialog box, and enable Print as Bitmap, and I choose 300 dpi. (Epson experts may argue that entering 240 dpi or 360 dpi would be more consistent with the printer hardware resolution, but I haven’t gotten around to testing that.)

Regarding off-center prints: One possible cause is, in Page Setup, the Format For menu has been left to the default Any Printer, which applies generic margins that may result in incorrect or unequal printed margins, resulting in an off-center print. If the actual printer is selected, Page Setup gets the specific printer’s true margins from the Epson printer driver software and applies those. In the two images below, compare how the margins change depending on whether the exact printer is selected.

Acrobat is shown below. But I think macOS saves the Format For setting individually for each application, so I always have to check the selected printer when using different applications (never assume it’s going to be OK right away), and verify the margins in the print preview.