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PDFs received by email: poor printouts
#2904 09/04/09 06:15 PM
Joined: Aug 2009
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I don't know where to put this question, so apologies if it's in the wrong place.

One of our contacts emails us a PDF file every few days. Unlike other PDF files, the left hand margin is right up against the left hand side of the screen/display/window. I've tried and tried adjusting the printer settings but seem to have failed to shift the image to the right.

As a result, when printed, the left hand side is clipped all the way down the page, and we cannot read the first couple of characters in each word on the left-hand side, on the print-out.

The PDF files received are not editable.

The only work-around I've come up with is clumsy: take a screenshot of it, which grabs the whole picture, and print that out instead. The resultant printout is fuzzy. It's not a disaster, but it's a very busy PDF filled with tiny script and charts. It would be nice to be able to read the whole thing intact as it should be.

Any ideas? Thanks.

Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
Bensheim #2905 09/04/09 06:41 PM
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Do they allow you to Save As another file so you can then edit margins? What about running it through OCR or placing it in another document (e.g. InDesign, Illustrator, etc)?


Keeper of the Magic Nickel
Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
Bensheim #2906 09/04/09 06:47 PM
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I think you should talk to your contact. There may be something wrong in the way they make their PDF files.


Alex
3.1 GHz 13" MacBook Pro 2015, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, TimeWarner Cable
2.8 GHz Xeon Mac Pro 2010, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, LAN
Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
donikatz #2909 09/04/09 07:40 PM
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Interesting, thanks......

I found one in my email inbox, opened it and Saved As a JPG. (Picking one save-as option as random). The resultant JPG looked just like the original but when printed out, the l/h margin is not clipped, and is better quality than the screen grab previously referred to.

Thanks!

But.....I shouldn't be have to be doing this to print it out properly. Interestingly, their email says "Think of the Environment! Think before you print!" yet one cannot possibly work off the screen with all that tiny text.

Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
Bensheim #2914 09/04/09 08:46 PM
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I agree with Alex (Macnerd10) there is either something amiss in the way the PDF is being created, or it may be a minor incompatibility with Preview assuming that is what you are opening the file with.

As for the size of the text on the screen, if you are using Adobe Reader 9 to open the PDFs it is a simple matter to zoom to whatever level of magnification you wish.


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
joemikeb #3166 09/07/09 11:12 AM
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I've just found a workaround for this, if anyone's interested.
(I had to do this this morning.)

Download the PDF to desktop as usual.

Fire up Pages, open a blank page layout (not a WP document).

Drag onto the blank page layout, the PDF from the desktop.

Pull out the, er, pull-out corners, to position the PDF centrally on the page and enlarge it at the same time.

Print it. It's perfect. Ta Daa!


Re: PDFs received by email: poor printouts
Bensheim #3268 09/08/09 02:35 AM
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I recall having read here that there is a workaround in the printer dialog box. I think it was "fit to printable area".


Alex
3.1 GHz 13" MacBook Pro 2015, 8 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, TimeWarner Cable
2.8 GHz Xeon Mac Pro 2010, 16 GB RAM, OS 10.11.2, Office 2011, LAN

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