How to create print file for publisher

[Raymond Rider]

In Affinity Publisher 2, I am able to print a booklet on A4 paper folded and stapled in fold crease. All looks good. What I cannot do is get a file created to send out to publisher. If choose the printer as: Microsoft Print to PDF, which is the only choice I see, the options are "greyed out" to flip on short side, is the first problem I noticed. I have tried everything on the Print Dialog to no avail! The PDF file Affinity creates is impossible to print properly from Adobe Reader. In Adobe I chose the Booklet" option. Nothing seems to work. I get the wrong booklet layout whatever I try. There must be a way to hand over to my publisher/printer as working print file to get the same format I can print locally on my HP Laserjet. 

[wonderings]

You should be exporting to PDF, not printing to PDF for one. Basically you just need to export in single pages, not spreads. Go to File>Export and select PDF. I would disable anything that is compressing any images. Select all pages so it is single pages and not in spreads. Add crop marks, you don't need all the other printers marks, just standard crop marks are fine. Also enable bleed assuming your book has bleeds. That should be it!

 

 

[Raymond Rider]

Wonderings:

Great information to finally get the whole process working. Thanks a million! I left off the "crop marks" as I didn't want them printed on final copy. However, I have noticed one other thing that you might give me advice on. What I have noticed is the printed "margins" are bit smaller on paper that what I see on the Affinity Publisher app. Is there something in the export settings to make the size more accurate to match the printed copy? Or, could this be something in the Adobe Reader settings when I go to actually print the PDF file?

[mopperle]

Raymond, to get more familiar with all the printing stuff, I highly recommend to read this:

and especially this topic, when you want to send a pdf to a printing service/publisher:

 

 

[Raymond Rider]

Thanks for all the great help with Affinity Publisher 2. In general, the received help has gotten me able to print directly to my printer. I can also export to a PDF and print the booklet in Adobe Acobat. What I have found impossible to solve at this point is a problem with margins on the printed copy.

My document looks great on the application pages. The margins are right on using 8.5x11 paper (216mm x 279mm). I am using a "custom" paper size. What I cannot solve is a problem with the printed top and bottom margins are about twice as wide as they appear on the screen. The left/right are better, maybe a little wider that on the apps screen, but tolerable. I have tried changing the scaling options (Shrink or Fit). Nothing I try has managed to shrink the top and bottom margin. They look perfect on the app pages.

The only resort I see at the moment is to redo the whole document, and pick some fake size to make these pages expand to where I want them "in print". This will be a gigantic job to go back to every object in the document to expand out to a new margin.

It occurs to me that maybe the printer driver is involved somehow. It is a HP LaserJet M553 which is a great printer that works great on everything I send it from other apps.

If anyone has a clue, or suggested direction to presue, I would appreciate it.

[Catshill]

I would experiment with the margins and printing directly from Affinity. With a laser you are invariably going to have larger margins than with an inkjet.

[mopperle]

@Raymond Rider I think it is indeed a problem with the printer. If you use a custom paper size in Affinity, e.g. 4x6 and print this on  letter size paper in the printer, the margins will be of course different. You would need to have a paper in the printer with the same „custom“ size as you have set up in Affinity.