Print Pelican Printing Tech Tips:

PDF Rules!

How to Convert a Microsoft Publisher File
to a PDF in 3 Easy Steps

Recommended software:

·         Microsoft Publisher 2002 or above

·         Adobe Acrobat Distiller 4.05/5.x/6.x

·         Print Pelican PDF Kit

STEP ONE: prepare your software for making print-ready PDF files:

Download and install the Print Pelican PDF kit for Windows. The PDF kit is available for free. Send an email to techtips@printpelican.com with PDF for Windows as the subject and we’ll send you a download link with installation instructions. Set up your Publisher file for commercial printing:

·         In Publisher, go to Tools/Commercial Printing Tools/Color Printing and choose “Process colors (CMYK)” (or one of the other choices, depending on the colors in your job — but don’t use “Composite RGB”).

·         Make sure your imported images have sufficient resolution for high-quality printing. Check them in Adobe Photoshop or Corel PhotoPaint if needed. A good general standard to follow is 300 ppi (pixels per inch) at 100% final printed size; slightly less is still acceptable.

STEP TWO: generate a PostScript file from Publisher:

·         In Publisher, select File/Print.

·         Set Adobe PDF or Distiller as the printer (the name of the Acrobat printer depends on the version of Acrobat you are using).

·         Turn on “Print to File”.

·         Under “Separations,” turn on “Print composite”.

·         Click on “Advanced Print Settings”.

·         In the “Publication Options” tab, set “Graphics” to “Print full-resolution linked graphics”.

·         Set “Fonts” to “Use only publication fonts”.

·         Turn on “Printer’s marks”.

·         If your job has graphic elements that print off the edge of the page, enable “allow bleeds.” (And set these items in the file to extend 0.125” beyond the edge of the page).

·         In the main Print window, click on “Properties” (the following may differ slightly depending on what version of Distiller you are running).

·         Set “Default Settings” to PDF/X-1a:2001.

·         Leave the rest of the drop-down fields at their defaults.

·         Deselect “Do not send fonts to ‘Adobe PDF’”.

·         In the Paper/Quality tab, select “Advanced”.

·         Set “Paper Size” to PostScript Custom Page Size.

·         Define the custom page size as 1 inch larger than your Publisher page size (i.e. 9.5” x 12”) for an 8.5” x 11” page).

·         Select “OK” until you get back to the main print window. Select “OK” to print the file. Name the print file if you are prompted.

·         By default, Publisher will send the print file to My Documents.

STEP THREE: create the press-ready PDF file:

·         Launch Acrobat Distiller.

·         Set “Default Settings” to “Creo PDF Pages”.

·         Drag and drop your Publisher print file into the Distiller window. Distiller will generate a PDF file and place it in My Documents.

·         Open the PDF file in Acrobat to make sure all items display properly. Do you see the crop marks? Is the page orientation correct? Are all the graphic elements present?

·         Congratulations! You have successfully created a press-ready PDF file from Microsoft Publisher!

Any questions? Send us an email at techtips@printpelican.com.