Need Help with using Publisher 2003 for heavier commerical printing

[Thomas G]

I have been using Publisher solely for 11 years and for most of that time, I've used manual paste-up on sheets for a Tabloid publication. It is time to move on and begin doing all my work within Publisher and sending my files by email to the printer, which uses only Macintosh & Quark. Because of this, we have immediately drawn fire for using Publisher and strongly encouraged to upgrade to Quark. Our goals are to print starting off in two color spot and then progress to CMYK. I have tried so many different procedures offered for advice in the MS Knowledge base, but still keep coming up short with my color pages; for some reason B&W print. I've tried using just Adobe Distiller and I've tried using the Generic PS driver and keep failing and re-enforcing their beliefs that Publisher can't do the job and I'd love nothing more than to prove them wrong
I am in need of help and quick. Here is what I'm using: Publisher 2003, Acrobat Distiller Version 5.0 and the printer prefers the files be in PostScript Language Level 2. Because they are Mac people, they really have no advice to offer much help other than to dump MS Publisher and I really, really don't want to do that as its ease of use and flexibility seem hard to beat. Are these problems likely related to Publisher, Distiller, choice of printer driver, etc.?

 

[Brian Kvalheim - [MSFT MVP]]

Hi Thomas G ([email protected]),
in the newsgroups
you posted:

|| I have been using Publisher solely for 11 years and for most of that
|| time, I've used manual paste-up on sheets for a Tabloid publication.
|| It is time to move on and begin doing all my work within Publisher
|| and sending my files by email to the printer, which uses only
|| Macintosh & Quark. Because of this, we have immediately drawn fire
|| for using Publisher and strongly encouraged to upgrade to Quark.
|| Our goals are to print starting off in two color spot and then
|| progress to CMYK. I have tried so many different procedures
|| offered for advice in the MS Knowledge base, but still keep coming
|| up short with my color pages; for some reason B&W print. I've tried
|| using just Adobe Distiller and I've tried using the Generic PS
|| driver and keep failing and re-enforcing their beliefs that
|| Publisher can't do the job and I'd love nothing more than to prove
|| them wrong. I am in need of help and quick. Here is what I'm using:
|| Publisher 2003, Acrobat Distiller Version 5.0 and the printer
|| prefers the files be in PostScript Language Level 2. Because they
|| are Mac people, they really have no advice to offer much help other
|| than to dump MS Publisher and I really, really don't want to do that
|| as its ease of use and flexibility seem hard to beat. Are these
|| problems likely related to Publisher, Distiller, choice of printer
|| driver, etc.?

In all honesty Thomas, I would search for a new printer if your current
printer refuses to "work" with you. I am confident that your printer has a
Windows machine at his shop. If they indeed do, they qualify for a free copy
of Publisher 2003, and free unlimited commercial printing support from
Microsoft. What this means to you is that they can take your native
Publisher files and output them without the need for you do distill/ps etc.
If they are interested in the free program for commercial printers, have
them visit the following site:

http://office.microsoft.com/assistance/preview.aspx?AssetID=HA010772371033&CTT=98

As for doing it on your own to prepare you file for them, check out the
following information:

http://www.microsoft.com/Seminar/MMCFeed/MMCDisplay.asp?Lang=en&Product=103384

If you have futher questions after checking out these presentations on using
Publisher 2003 for commercial output, please post back.
--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.mvps.org/publisher
~pay it foward~

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.

 

[Drizit]

Tom,
I would serch for a new printer.
I have been in the prepress bus. for over 14 years and my shop accepts
Publisher. We do have problems from time to time with Lo-Res images and some
RGB files but this is nothing a knowledgable prepress person should not be
able to overcome.

If you are still having problems drop me an email at (e-mail address removed) and
maybe I can give you a hand

Thanks and good luck

Howard

I have been using Publisher solely for 11 years and for most of that time,

I've used manual paste-up on sheets for a Tabloid publication. It is time
to move on and begin doing all my work within Publisher and sending my files
by email to the printer, which uses only Macintosh & Quark. Because of
this, we have immediately drawn fire for using Publisher and strongly
encouraged to upgrade to Quark. Our goals are to print starting off in two
color spot and then progress to CMYK. I have tried so many different
procedures offered for advice in the MS Knowledge base, but still keep
coming up short with my color pages; for some reason B&W print. I've tried
using just Adobe Distiller and I've tried using the Generic PS driver and
keep failing and re-enforcing their beliefs that Publisher can't do the job
and I'd love nothing more than to prove them wrong.

I am in need of help and quick. Here is what I'm using: Publisher 2003,

Acrobat Distiller Version 5.0 and the printer prefers the files be in
PostScript Language Level 2. Because they are Mac people, they really have
no advice to offer much help other than to dump MS Publisher and I really,
really don't want to do that as its ease of use and flexibility seem hard to
beat. Are these problems likely related to Publisher, Distiller, choice of
printer driver, etc.?

 

[Drizit]

Tom,
I gave the wrong email it shold be
(e-mail address removed)

Thanks
Howard

I have been using Publisher solely for 11 years and for most of that time,

I've used manual paste-up on sheets for a Tabloid publication. It is time
to move on and begin doing all my work within Publisher and sending my files
by email to the printer, which uses only Macintosh & Quark. Because of
this, we have immediately drawn fire for using Publisher and strongly
encouraged to upgrade to Quark. Our goals are to print starting off in two
color spot and then progress to CMYK. I have tried so many different
procedures offered for advice in the MS Knowledge base, but still keep
coming up short with my color pages; for some reason B&W print. I've tried
using just Adobe Distiller and I've tried using the Generic PS driver and
keep failing and re-enforcing their beliefs that Publisher can't do the job
and I'd love nothing more than to prove them wrong.

I am in need of help and quick. Here is what I'm using: Publisher 2003,

Acrobat Distiller Version 5.0 and the printer prefers the files be in
PostScript Language Level 2. Because they are Mac people, they really have
no advice to offer much help other than to dump MS Publisher and I really,
really don't want to do that as its ease of use and flexibility seem hard to
beat. Are these problems likely related to Publisher, Distiller, choice of
printer driver, etc.?

 

[Mac]

What specific problems are you encountering?

Frequently (too frequently) mac-only, quark-only shops have a very thin
understanding of the entire field. Everything has to be output THRU Quark
(i.e. import the pdf then print it from quark).

I've been in the prepress business a long time, like "Drizit" (and I;m sure
he understands exactly what I mean<G>)

If the printer wants things to be in PostScript, level 2 then there are some
hoops to jump through.

This is because some of the features of Publisher 03 require a PS3
printer--such as separations to cmyk and spot. Distiller 5 is a PS 3
printer. As is the MS Publisher Color Printer.

It may be necessary to print to a PS3 printer at your end, distill it, then
save as PS2 from acrobat.

Lots of potential issues.

That's why I asked what specific problems you were encountering?

 

[Odysseus]

In all honesty Thomas, I would search for a new printer if your current
printer refuses to "work" with you. I am confident that your printer has a
Windows machine at his shop. If they indeed do, they qualify for a free copy
of Publisher 2003, and free unlimited commercial printing support from
Microsoft. What this means to you is that they can take your native
Publisher files and output them without the need for you do distill/ps etc.

Indeed: I work in a primarily-Mac shop but we have a couple of Windows
systems as well (mainly for outputting CorelDraw documents). Although we
don't get a lot of Publisher files -- and I admit it's far from my
favourite piece of software! -- it would seem silly not to take
advantage of the free service-provider programme. Our clients who use
Publisher tend not to be very well informed or experienced in graphic
design, but OTOH some high-priced designers using recent top-end
professional software bring us a dog's breakfast every time we see them
as well.

At any rate a company that wants your business should be prepared to put
some effort into helping you get your files to fit their specifications
or 'meet you halfway' by accepting documents that may not be quite ready
to RIP. While I've 'wasted' a fair bit of time figuring out a workflow
that would let us output certain clients' jobs, I look at it as an
investment that will eventually pay off in repeat business and from
being able to run the next similar job more efficiently based on that
experience.

BTW, I'm a long-time user of QuarkXPress (up to v4) and there's a great
deal about it that I like. But these days I'd seriously question the
competence of anyone who'd recommend that you switch to QX without
mentioning Adobe InDesign, at least as an alternative. The last couple
of QX versions have offered next to no modern features while the
program's performance, efficiency, and reliability have declined at a
precipitous rate -- everything but the price, it would seem. In
contrast, AFAICT each new version of ID has shown marked improvement.

 

[Thomas G]

My problem has been specifically in color. They can rip my black and white pages done in Pub 2003, but for some reason they get postscript errors and "offending command" errors on my color pages, sometimes dealing with color spaces. Its just the color that won't rip and it doesn't matter if its in CMYK or spot color. Another question is when scanning or importing graphics into a page, does every graphic have to be flattened? I may be wrong, but there is no way to flatten graphics within Publisher is there? Another problem is True Type fonts. They don't particularly care for embedded TT fonts, but Publisher won't embed postscript fonts

Pardon my ignorance in this matter, but I haven't ever had to do complete pageination within Publisher and I really need some pointers on how to get something to work. I've actually had better luck with my previous version of Publisher (2000), but the color always looks washed-out. Any help will be appreciated as some of the advice already offered has been noted and I'll try that as soon as possible. Also, is there any thing like Illustrator or similar that would be a good indicator that my pages are prepped properly before final file transfer?

 

[Brian Kvalheim - [MSFT MVP]]

Hi Thomas G ([email protected]),
in the newsgroups
you posted:

|| My problem has been specifically in color. They can rip my black
|| and white pages done in Pub 2003, but for some reason they get
|| postscript errors and "offending command" errors on my color pages,
|| sometimes dealing with color spaces. Its just the color that won't
|| rip and it doesn't matter if its in CMYK or spot color. Another
|| question is when scanning or importing graphics into a page, does
|| every graphic have to be flattened? I may be wrong, but there is no
|| way to flatten graphics within Publisher is there? Another problem
|| is True Type fonts. They don't particularly care for embedded TT
|| fonts, but Publisher won't embed postscript fonts.
||
|| Pardon my ignorance in this matter, but I haven't ever had to do
|| complete pageination within Publisher and I really need some
|| pointers on how to get something to work. I've actually had better
|| luck with my previous version of Publisher (2000), but the color
|| always looks washed-out. Any help will be appreciated as some of
|| the advice already offered has been noted and I'll try that as soon
|| as possible. Also, is there any thing like Illustrator or similar
|| that would be a good indicator that my pages are prepped properly
|| before final file transfer?

Read our posts.

--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.publishermvps.com
~pay it forward~

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and
confers no rights.