Adobe InDesign - Manual (Page 735)

Setup
Page Setup
Printer
Note:
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For PostScript printing, select a PPD file when you set up your printer.
About printer drivers
A printer driver lets you directly access printer features from applications on your computer. Having the correct driver ensures that you have
access to all of the features a particular printer supports.
Adobe recommends upgrading to the latest driver for your operating system.
Accessing printer driver features
Printer drivers may support features that are not included in InDesign, such as duplex printing. Support for these features varies depending on the
printer driver you have. Check with your printer manufacturer for details.
If you want to specify settings for a specific printer, InDesign provides access to the printer driver through the following buttons in the InDesign
Print dialog box. (When you choose to print to a PostScript file, these options are not available.)
(Windows) This button opens the Windows Print dialog box.
(Mac OS) This button displays the standard Mac OS Page Setup dialog box.
(Mac OS) This button displays the standard Mac OS Print dialog box.
Some InDesign printing features appear in both the printer driver dialog boxes and the InDesign Print dialog box. For best results, specify
the settings in the InDesign Print dialog box only. If settings overlap, InDesign tries to synchronize the settings, or to ignore the driver’s settings.
Some printer driver features (for example, N-up printing, which prints the same artwork multiple times on the same page) produce adverse printing
results when used with InDesign features such as separations.
Select a PPD file
A PPD file (PostScript Printer Description file) customizes the behavior of the driver for your specific PostScript printer. It contains information
about the output device, including printer-resident fonts, available media sizes and orientation, optimized screen frequencies, screen angles,
resolution, and color output capabilities. It’s important to set up the correct PPD before you print. Selecting the PPD that corresponds to your
PostScript printer or imagesetter populates the Print dialog box with the available settings for the output device. You can switch to a different one
to suit your needs. Applications use the information in the PPD file to determine which PostScript information to send to the printer when printing a
document.
For best printing results, Adobe recommends that you obtain the latest version of the PPD file for your output device from the manufacturer. Many
print service providers and commercial printers have PPDs for the imagesetters they use. Be sure to store PPDs in the location specified by the
operating system. For details, consult the documentation for your operating system.
In Windows and in Mac OS, you select a PPD file in the same way you add a printer. The steps for selecting a PPD file are different for each
platform. See your operating system documentation for details.
Use print presets
If you regularly output to different printers or job types, you can automate print jobs by saving all output settings as print presets. Using print
presets is a fast, reliable way to print jobs that require consistently accurate settings for many options in the Print dialog box.
You can save and load print presets, making it easy to back them up or to make them available to your service providers, clients, or others in your
workgroup.
You can create and review print presets in the Print Presets dialog box.
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