USING ACROBAT IN A NEWSPAPER OR NEWSLETTER WORKFLOW
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by Gordon Woolf*

The key to using Acrobat 4.0 (or with version 4 compatability) in a small newspaper production workflow is to ensure that screens are created from PageMaker and that "Use Printer Halftone Screens" is switched OFF when printing from Acrobat.

STEP ONE

In PageMaker, create a printer style (File>Printer Styles>Define...) which matches your normal postscript laserprinter output, maybe with variations to suit separations and composite production.

STEP TWO

Create copies of these styles, using the same PPD as above but with the printer selected as "Acrobat Distiller on d:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 4.0\PDF Out" or a specific route to the "out" folder which you want to use. This style will retain the LPI setting specified for Step One.

STEP THREE

Open Acrobat Distiller. Select Job Options as PrintOptimised, then select Settings and, under Color ensure that the final option "Preserve Halftone Information" is SELECTED. This will mean that when you select OK you will be prompted to save the options under a new name (we used "PrintOptimised(ht)"). Ensure that this new job option is selected in Distiller as the Job Option.

STEP FOUR

Print your postscript file from PageMaker using a style created in Step Two. If Acrobat has been installed correctly, this will initially show a printer icon in the taskbar tray as the postscript file is created, which is then replaced with an Acrobat icon as Distiller takes over to turn this into a PDF. 

STEP FIVE

Create a Desktop shortcut to the folder specified in Step Two, so that PDF files can be easily collected together for transfer to disk or for attachment to emails, or, as recommended below, transferred to a private web page.

OUTPUT

When printing the received PDF from Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, ensure that in the initial print dialog the setting near the bottom of the dialog for "Use Printer Halftone Screens" is switched OFF.


COMMENTS

The problem with other ways of creating and printing files is that the default output from Acrobat will be the default for the printer, which, for 1200dpi printers may well be 106 LPI, a setting far too high for newspaper use. 

The settings may be checked visually by printing directly from PageMaker and comparing the output from Acrobat by using a loupe or watchmaker's glass. 

However, a simple way is also to select a very low LPI setting in printing from PageMaker (such as 35 LPI) at which point the accuracy of the equivalent output from Acrobat becomes obvious to the naked eye. 
Settings for newspaper use where output from a laserprinter is turned into plates via a negative made on a process camera will usually be either 71 or 85 depending on the care taken in the process, and the quality of chemicals and film and of the press itself.

There are many other ways to improve the system, such as the use of compression settings, the sizing of pictures as they scanned, and of the positioning of output folders and the use of "watched folders" so that Distiller will work on creating PDFs from .ps files at set intervals. However these will tend to be dependent on personal preferences as users become more familar with the system (and read the 600+ page manual on the CD).


* Gordon Woolf has written a number of books which include Publication Production using PageMaker, and How to Start and Produce a Magazine or Newsletter. Contact details: info@worsleypress.com or http://www.worsleypress.com

Copyright: Gordon Woolf 2001.
May be reprinted with full credit to author and a description as above.