Give your printing problems
the Binary Chop!

The Binary Chop isn't a new form of karate. It reverses the power of the computer to calculate using just two digits, the equivalent of on and off.

There are many problems with printing — in fact as consultants, we have more calls about printing problems than any other aspect of desktop publishing — but the most common is one which can easily be solved using the Binary Chop.

The problem is that a file just refuses to print.

Firstly, check that a known good file will still print. If it does, then it is almost certain that the problem is with the non-printing file, and not with your printer or network.

Here are a series of steps to take:

1. Make a copy of the file under a new name and check whether this prints (sometimes the process of re-ordering and compression in file size which occurs in a Save as… command will solve the problem).
2. If possible, try printing the file from the computer to which the printer is attached (which may also enable you to check whether the printer begins to accept information and whether this continues for some time before the printer returns to Idle mode — you can also check this on networks by following the progress of the job from your computer using the network software).
3. Using the copy of the file, try printing without TIFF graphics by using the Omit graphics selection under print Options. If the file prints then selectively delete and restore TIFF files until you isolate the one causing the problem.
4. If the file has multiple pages, send half the pages, then the other half. This is the first application of the Binary Chop; by halving the non-printing pages each time, until you can isolate, hopefully a single non-printing page. If you have more than one non-printing page, look for typefaces or graphics which they have in common.
5. Take one non printing page and cut and paste half the objects to a new file. Try both halves. If one half prints, you know your problem is in the other half. Either way, continue halving the number of objects until you isolate a single object which will not print.
6. If everything else prints, go back to the original page, make another copy, delete just the offending item, and, hopefully, your page will print.
7. Replace the offending object, which may be a graphic or a piece of type.

   You will commonly find that graphics which have been copied and recopied, or some typefaces, particularly some TrueType typefaces can be the cause of the problem.

   Beware of graphics which have been cut-and-pasted from one job to another. Try to go back to the original if you can.

   As your jobs become increasingly complex you may reach the memory limit on your printer. One way to check is by printing through Print Manager and looking at the file size by opening the Print Manager window as it is attempting to print.

   If you have a direct computer-printer connection and find that complex files fail to print and that the printer returns to Idle while there is much activity on your hard disk, try increasing the wait time on your printer. You will have to check your printer manual to see just how this is done.

   If you have automatic emulation switching on your printer, and you always send as Postscript, you may benefit from switching the printer to a Postscript only setting.

   If you have tried the Binary Chop and everything prints as a part but it will still not print as a whole, then you may be reaching either total memory limitations, or you may have reached the limit of memory set aside for non-resident fonts.

   Check the settings under Control Panel for Printers to see what Options are set for your printer. Under Advanced you are likely to find a dialogue box similar to that shown which gives you a route to Edit Substitution Table…

   This will enable you to set resident fonts to use for similar non resident fonts. For example, for most newspaper purposes you may regard Helvetica as equivalent to Arial, so if you are using Arial in your layouts, but the printer has Helvetica as a resident font, you will save time and memory by setting Helvetica as the printer substitution for Arial.

   There are many other similar typefaces. In some cases you will find that a typeface is being downloaded when an identical one is resident; for example, Times New Roman PS will download every time if you have not told the printer to use Times New Roman instead.

   If all else fails, read the manual. But sometimes even that doesn't help. We had an instance of a revised model printer having a manual which stated quite clearly that it needed 18 or 24MB memory to print an A3 page at 600dpi. Yet another model in the range printed the same page quite happily with only 12MB. We e-mailed the manufacturer in the US and back came a message to check the memory allocated to a particular function. If it was less than a certain figure, this could be reset via the control panel buttons. It would reduce the efficiency of 1200dpi printing but most output was at 600, so an expensive memory upgrade was avoided.

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