Driver & Distiller Settings Phor Phun & Prophet!

[Dov Isaacs <isaacs@xxxxxxxxx>]

You asked for it ...

The question has been posed as to what settings should be used for both
the PostScript driver's "Acrobat Distiller" printer instance and for 
job option settings for the Distiller under Windows.

Entries marked with (*) apply to ALL PostScript driver instances, not just
the Acrobat Distiller driver instance. Entries marked (**) apply to ALL
PostScript driver instances except those going to network print queues.

The following applies to Windows 2000 and XP (all flavours) in conjunction
with Acrobat 5. These settings apply for all applications, including 
FrameMaker 7 when released:


Acrobat Distiller printer driver instance:

Properties => Advanced (tab)

	Change "Print directly to the printer" to
	"Spool print documents so program finishes printing faster"
		with "Start printing after last page is spooled" (**)

	Why? Speeds up spooling process dramatically!

Properties => Advanced (tab) => Printing Defaults ... (button) => Layout (tab) => Advanced (button)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Graphic => Print Quality => 600dpi

		Why? Gets around known Windows 2000/XP GDI bug associated
		with large point size & high resolution text being converted
		to outlines. Also gets around FrameMaker bug associated with
		higher resolution settings in combination with large page sizes
		(similar bug in other applications as well). Using this setting
		does not restrict the resolution at which the PDF file can
		print and has no known bad effects.

		Graphic => TrueType Font => Download as Softfont (*)

		Why? Turns off damnable font substitution mechanism.

		Document Options => PostScript Options =>
			TrueType Font Download Option => Native TrueType (*)

		Why? Assures that proper font type is selected, even if not
		embedded in job stream at this point. "Automatic" should work,
		but this is explicit.

Properties => Advanced (tab) => Printing Defaults ... (button) => Adobe PDF Settings (tab)

	Choose appropriate joboptions

	Check ALL the boxes including "Do not send fonts to Distiller."

	Why? Best options for making sure that the correct fonts are 
	embedded properly in the PDF file, that you are properly prompted
	for location of the PDF file being produced, that you are warned
	if overwriting an existing PDF file, and to display the resultant
	PDF file delete the log file if and only if the distillation is
	successful.

Properties => General (tab) => Printing Preferences ... (button) => Layout (tab) => Advanced (button)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Graphic => Print Quality => 600dpi

		Why? Gets around known Windows 2000/XP GDI bug associated
		with large point size & high resolution text being converted
		to outlines. Also gets around FrameMaker bug associated with
		higher resolution settings in combination with large page sizes
		(similar bug in other applications as well). Using this setting
		does not restrict the resolution at which the PDF file can
		print and has no known bad effects.

		Graphic => TrueType Font => Download as Softfont (*)

		Why? Turns off damnable font substitution mechanism.

		Document Options => PostScript Options =>
			TrueType Font Download Option => Native TrueType (*)

		Why? Assures that proper font type is selected, even if not
		embedded in job stream at this point. "Automatic" should work,
		but this is explicit.

Properties => General (tab) => Printing Preferences ... (button) => Adobe PDF Settings (tab)

	Choose appropriate joboptions

	Check ALL the boxes including "Do not send fonts to Distiller."

	Why? Best options for making sure that the correct fonts are 
	embedded properly in the PDF file, that you are properly prompted
	for location of the PDF file being produced, that you are warned
	if overwriting an existing PDF file, and to display the resultant
	PDF file delete the log file if and only if the distillation is
	successful.

Properties => Device Settings (tab)

	Open trees and make sure that the following are set
	(other options leave at original default settings):

		Output Protocol => Binary

		Why? Much more efficient than ASCII, PostScript file size
		reduced by up to 30 to 40% (your mileage may vary!).

		Sent CTRL-D Before Each Job => No
		Sent CTRL-D After Each Job => No

		Why? CTRL-D is inconsistent with binary PostScript interpreters
		even though Distiller has hackery to try getting around such
		spurious characters.

		Convert Gray Text to PostScript Gray => Yes (*)
		Convert Gray Graphics to PostScript Gray => Yes (*)

		Why? Normally, black and grayscale text and vector artwork
		is output as RGB values. These options convert any R=G=B text
		and vector artwork to PostScript grayscale. This is much more
		efficient and can avoid improper "rich black" syndrome on
		certain PostScript color output devices.

		Add Euro Currency Symbol to PostScript Fonts => No (*)

		Why? If you need access to the Euro symbol, you should use a
		font that indeed has that symbol. This hackery is just that.
		It could cause output problems even if you don't have any
		Euro use in your document. Avoid like the plague!

		Job Timeout => 0 (*)
		Wait Timeout => 0 (*)

		Why? This eliminates the possibility of jobs being prematurely
		terminated if some other task on your computer hiccups too
		badly for too long.


Distiller Job Options

Fonts:

	Select "Embed All Fonts".

	Why? Forces all fonts to be embedded.

	Select "Subset embedded fonts when percent of characters used is
	less than" and enter "100%"

	Why? Forces all fonts to be subsetted. Note that in most cases with
	TrueType and OpenType fonts, you get subsets anyway, regardless of
	this option. Contrary to popular misconception, subsetting or not
	subsetting a font has no bearing on whether you can or cannot use
	"text touchup" on the text later in the workflow in Acrobat itself.
	This feature requires the font to be installed on the system anyway,
	so whether it is embedded subsetted or not is totally irrelevant!

	Select "When Embedding Fails: Cancel Job"

	Why? You don't like nasty surprises later on.

	Make sure there are no fonts in the "always embed" and "never embed"
	lists.


Questions? I'll be glad to answer them in person at the FrameUsers seminar
in Durham, NC this September 24 - 27 and at the 2002 PDF Conference East in
Bethesda, MD this June 3 - 5.

Running Windows'95, Windows'98, Windows Me, or Windows NT 4? You have
my sincere condolences and best wishes for a speedy transition to
Windows 2000 (any flavour) or XP ("professional" only).

	- Dov ("time to duck and cover ...")
 


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