Printing PDFs to PDF Very Slow

[Guest]

We generally print to PDF, and often include PDFs inserted as graphics (by reference) in our FrameMaker documents. However, we've been having a serious problem with printing FrameMaker documents that include PDFs. As soon as the Adobe PDF printer hits one of the imported PDFs, printing slows to a crawl. A 58-page document consisting mostly of PDFs will take 35 minutes to PDF. When this is one module of 17, you can imagine how long printing an entire book takes. This is killing our production time.

Raster graphics (jpeg, PNG), zip right through.

The problem is the same whether using Adobe's PDF printer or Frame's "Save to PDF." And it also occurs when printing to PostScript. So we're pretty sure that it has to do with moving the PDFs into PostScript.

To add in a touch of weirdness, if the document is printed again during the same session (even with changes), the time dramatically decreases. The 35-minute document, for example, prints the second time in just under 3 minutes. Close FrameMaker, open it, load the document again, and we're back at 35 minutes.

We recently upgraded to FrameMaker 10 (on Windows XP). Memories are fuzzy, but many folks here are pretty sure that the problem started when we upgraded to FrameMaker 9 from FrameMaker 7.2.

I'd sure appreciate any ideas of what's happening, and (even better) possible solutions.

Thanks!

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Kevin,

Hopefully someone else can jump in with details, but there is a maker.ini option dealing with the PostScript or PDF level that is used internally when handling PDFs. Seems to be worth a test, but I am currently off-PC.

- Michael

[Guest]

Michael,

Thanks for your quick repsonse -- the line wasn't in my maker.ini. But I poked around a bit online and found it: EPSLevelForPlacedPDF=n, with the option of either 1 (for level 1 PostScript) or 2 (for level 2 PostScript).

For a lark, I went ahead and stuck it in, but setting it to level 1 or 2 didn't make a difference.

Thanks, though.

[Michael_Müller-Hillebrand]

Am 07.09.2011 um 22:01 schrieb Kevin Gumienny:

Thanks for your quick repsonse -- the line wasn't in my maker.ini. But I poked around a bit online and found it: EPSLevelForPlacedPDF=n, with the option of either 1 (for level 1 PostScript) or 2 (for level 2 PostScript).

For a lark, I went ahead and stuck it in, but setting it to level 1 or 2 didn't make a difference.

If you have time for that, I guess you can also try level 3. This option was added years ago (FrameMaker 6?), it might well be that it is no longer honored by the product, but who knows for sure...

- Michael

[Guest]

Sheila,

Thanks for the suggestions. I hadn't thought about a conflict there -- I'm running a full install of Adobe Acrobat 9,and have made sure that there are no other version of Acrobat on my system. Our IT people roll out upgrades for Acrobat and FrameMaker when they decide it's necessary. Since we have to go through IT for uninstall/reinstall, it's kind of complex.

Luckily, Michael's suggestion of setting EPSLevelForPlacedPDF to 3 did seem to make a huge difference in processing time. Using PS 3 seems to cut the processing time significantly, from about 35 minutes to 12 1/2 minutes. It doesn't seem to work as fast as it used to, but memory's a tricky thing.

Thanks, Michael, and everyone, for your help. This will make our lives a bit easier.

Kevin

[Mike Wickham]

I think you can also set EPSLevelForPlacedPDF=n to 3. I'm pretty sure

that Dov Isaacs of Adobe once mentioned that, but I've never seen the

documentation listed as displaying anything higher than 2. I've had

level 3 set for years, and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything.

[Bob_Niland]

Are the imports all graphics, or are some of them (perhaps the slow ones) formatted text?

If text, is there any chance that the PDF being imported has "tag everything for color management" set?

If so, that can make printing really slow, because black text is printed as composite black.

[Guest]

The PDFs are actually PDFs of PowerPoints, three to a page, printed black and white. So there's a mixture of text and graphics.

I double-checked, and the PDF printer settings for color management policies are "convert all colors to CMYK," rather than "tag everything for color management."

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

[AxialInfo]

What version of Acrobat did you previously have installed when you were using FM 7.2, and what do you have installed now? In other words, did you have a full Pro or other paid version of Acrobat at some point?

When you installed FM 10, did you select the option to install the "PDF creation add-on" (or whatever similar name it's called)?

The PDF creation add-on that can be optionally installed with FM is called a "headless" Distiller, its a dumbed-down version of the real Distiller application that comes with a full, purchased, version of Acrobat.

If at any time you had a paid Acrobat, and then later (intentionally or unintentionally) installed the free one with FM, then you could have corrupted your Distiller setup, specifically relating to the way the "Adobe PDF" printer is set up (some versions of Acrobat and possibly of Windows name it slightly different names).

If this is the case, the best solution would be to uninstall FM, uninstall Acrobat, reboot, check to be sure that there aren't any printers called "Adobe PDF" (or similar) in your printers list. If there are, be sure you have the Preferences settings recorded, font locations recorded, and any Job Options files backed up. Then right click on the printer and delete. Then do another reboot.

Then reinstall everything. If you have a paid Acrobat I strongly suggest installing it first. Get your job options and preference and font locations etc. all set up. Reboot.

Then install FM, being sure NOT to select the "PDF creation add-on".

You could potentially not uninstall / reinstall FM and just do the printer/Acrobat steps, but in my experience that usually doesn't lead to PDF nirvana.