4 Replies Latest reply: Apr 23, 2010 11:42 AM by TCarp RSS

    Print to PDF drops a page at a section break

    TCarp Community Member

      Bit of a novice with ID so it's very possible I'm making a mistake.  CS2.  I have a book with 2-page spreads throughout (except for first and last).  Viewing the pages layout, what I want on the left pages and what I want on the right pages are correct.  When I print to PDF a single page gets dropped part way through the document which effects all pages after..

       

      The only thing I can think of is this is the first time I've used Sections.  In this case I needed to change from letter (i, ii, iii) page numbers to numerical ones.  The last page of the first section is on a left page in a spread and it gets dropped by Acrobat.  The new section starts on the right page of the spread.

       

      Is there something about sections I need to learn or is there something else going on here?

       

      Thanks

       

      Tom

        • 1. Re: Print to PDF drops a page at a section break
          [Jongware] Community Member

          You mention "printing to PDF", so perhaps it's this one setting? It's (very annoying!) off by default.

           

          printsettings.png

           

          Exporting to PDF is, really, the best way to get a PDF from an ID document.

          • 2. Re: Print to PDF drops a page at a section break
            TCarp Community Member

            Thanks, you were right on both counts.  Looking at export vs. print I understand now why export is preferred.  I didn't run a test exporting with a blank page but I'm assuming for now that will work.

             

            The blank pages setting for print was also helpful.  It led to another discovery.  I intended for all pages to have a page number which would have meant print to pdf would have included them (as non-blank).  I had made a mistake in assigning masters to pages and inadvertantly used a master without page numbers.

             

            With page numbers generated for all pages my assumption is print to pdf with the default would have worked.

             

            Either way, its export from now on.

             

            Thanks again

             

            Tom

            • 3. Re: Print to PDF drops a page at a section break
              [Jongware] Community Member

              You're welcome! I fell for this so many times myself -- and I wonder why it's off by default.

               

              I can't help adding this, though: there is nothing wrong with a blank page without even a page number ... It's, by and large, the preferred way: a blank is a blank. Adding just a page number (or -- a tad worse -- also the header) makes it look too much like Word.

              • 4. Re: Print to PDF drops a page at a section break
                TCarp Community Member

                I appreciate any words of wisdom. Thanks again.  Now that I understand the print to pdf issue, I'm going to put the completely blank pages back.

                 

                I'm a casual user of ID so my learning moves forwards in little leaps based on need.  I got a pretty good start with some work on a tabloid-type newspaper.

                 

                This time its a book, specifically an atlas, in a library of atlasas.  The newspaper didn't require changing page number formats and restarting values.

                 

                The other thing atlas books end up with is very high-quality maps along with tabular data and text.  There are a number of presets for export as a PDF that appear to control the quality of the output file.  Am I correct in assuming that the main difference is output "density"?

                 

                We expect to produce a limited number (5-30 depending on the audience) of high-quality spiral bound 11x17 "books" for distribution.  Those we would have a print shop do for us.  We would also turn to a print shop if we wanted large plots.

                 

                The atlas pages would also be available on our web site for download, probably with more than one "density".  We'll have a bit of a challenge with these downloadables because we expect most people to not have 8 1/2 x 14 print capabilities let alone 11x17.

                 

                I'm getting a baptism in GIS along the way.

                 

                Tom