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Imported illustrator file prevents printing

May 25, 2012 8:28 AM

Tags: #cs5.5 #printing

Hi there

 

I have created a cmyk layout in InDesign CS5.5 which prints out fine on my laser printer - until I add a spot colour logo which has been supplied to me as an illustrator file. The document goes to my printer, which processes it in the usual way, but then nothing actually prints out. If I remove the file, the document prints as normal. I don't think the illustrator file is at fault as other people seem to have used it ok. Am I doing something stupid, or what?

 

Any ideas gratefully received!

 

Andi

1676 Views   17 Replies   Latest reply: Peter Spier, May 28, 2012 9:03 AM
 
Replies
  • Steve Werner
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    1. Steve Werner,
    May 25, 2012 8:30 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    Open the Illustrator file in Illustrator. Resave it as an Adobe Illustrator (AI) file. Replace it.

     
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  • andiadams
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    2. andiadams,
    May 25, 2012 8:48 AM   in reply to Steve Werner
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    Hi Steve

     

    Thanks for very prompt reply. Unfortunately, no luck - the file was already an AI file, but I did 'save as' in case, still won't print. Didn't work if I saved as eps either. It won't print if I place the illustrator file into a new, otherwise empty document.

     

    Still looking for helpful advice!

     

    Thanks,

    Andi

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    3. Bob Levine,
    May 25, 2012 8:51 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    When you say Illustrator file do you mean AI or EPS?

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    4. Bob Levine,
    May 25, 2012 8:52 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    Take the contents of the Illy file and copy/paste it to a new Illy file. Save as PDF and place that.

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • andiadams
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    5. andiadams,
    May 25, 2012 9:01 AM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    Thanks Bob, but that didn't work either! I just tried printing the illustrator file from a QuarkXpress page and it worked fine. I'm fairly new to InDesign - are there any settings I should be looking at that would allow the document to print?

    Very grateful for the help so far,

    Andi

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    6. Bob Levine,
    May 25, 2012 9:05 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    Can you post that Illy file for us to look at?

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • andiadams
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    7. andiadams,
    May 25, 2012 9:19 AM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    Yes I could, if I knew how! Sorry to be so dumb...

    Andi

     
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  • Larry G. Schneider
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    8. Larry G. Schneider,
    May 25, 2012 10:08 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    Use one of the many Free File Sharing (google) and post a link here.

     
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  • andiadams
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    9. andiadams,
    May 25, 2012 10:47 AM   in reply to Larry G. Schneider
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    http://www.sendspace.com/file/7bsk52

     

    Is this what you mean?

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    10. Peter Spier,
    May 25, 2012 10:57 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    Yes, and it prints fine here, both to PDF and to a physical printer.

     

    Try reinstalling the printer.

     
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  • andiadams
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    11. andiadams,
    May 28, 2012 5:30 AM   in reply to Peter Spier
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    Many thanks for your suggestion. I've contacted the printer manufacturer and it seems I'm using the current driver and that it's working; they say the problem is clearly a software issue, by which I think they mean Adobe. Could it be that I've failed to set up InDesign (and Acrobat) correctly and am missing something really basic and obvious in the settings or preferences?

    Andi

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    12. Peter Spier,
    May 28, 2012 6:16 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    What's your OS, and what's the printer? Is this a Postscript printer, and if so, is it genuine postscript, or an emulation?

     
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  • andiadams
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    13. andiadams,
    May 28, 2012 6:47 AM   in reply to Peter Spier
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    Hi

     

    I'm using mac OSX 10.6.8 and my printer is a Konica Minolta magicolor 7450 which I think uses an emulation of postscript.

     

    I can print out the ai file on a CS2 InDesign document; just not on a 5.5 document, even if there's nothing else on the page. It's as if there was a button on the print dialog window saying do'do not print if there's an ai file present... But having said that, acrobat pages won't print either (although my old acrobat 7 still can).

     

    There's got to be an answer somewhere...

     

    Andi

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    14. Bob Levine,
    May 28, 2012 6:57 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    What if you export a PDF? Does that work?

     

    FWIW, I NEVER print from InDesign...to be honest, it's not really its strongest suit and most printing is done today from PDFs, not native files.

     

    Bob

     
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  • andiadams
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    15. andiadams,
    May 28, 2012 7:15 AM   in reply to Bob Levine
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    Hi Bob

    To my surprise, a PDF created from the ID doc just printed out - previously, Acrobat had not been printing out at all. However, the ID doc itself still won't print if the ai file is present. I know I've got a solution of sorts (although I've not made any changes I'm aware of), but it surely must be possible to print that original ID document out?

    Andi

     
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  • Bob Levine
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    16. Bob Levine,
    May 28, 2012 8:59 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    As I said earlier…I just don’t bother printing out of ID since what little print work I do is always printed from a PDF.

     

     

     

    There’s no sense seeing if the ID file prints since it’s the PDF that’s really important.

     

     

     

    Bob

     
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  • Peter Spier
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    17. Peter Spier,
    May 28, 2012 9:03 AM   in reply to andiadams
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    ID has a long history of not getting along with some printers, and those generally use postscript emulation. By far the largest number of reports of this sort of problem comes from users of HP printers, but Ricoh and Konica Minolta pop up too, from time to time. Printing from PDF is pretty much the best workaround.

     
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