Landscape 11x17 page won't distill to PDF properly (2000/SR2)

[jeanweber]

I think a similar problem was reported, and solved, a few months ago, but whether it was on this list or another, I can't recall, and I'm having no luck finding a note in the archives, so...

I've created a landscape-oriented 11"x17" page in Word 2000 (SR2) and tried to create a PDF (same size page and orientation) using Acrobat 5. I tried this first with PDFMaker from Word, and then (when that didn't work) by printing to PS and distilling the PS file. Both methods gave the same result: the PDF is the correct size and shape, but the content is oriented at right angles to the page, so part of the content is cut off.

What am I missing here? Is this a Word problem, or an Acrobat problem, or user error? I'll accept any work-around, as long as it works. I must ship a single PDF. Help!

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
jean@jeanweber.com
The Technical Editors' Eyrie http://www.jeanweber.com/

[GirlFriday]

what printer driver are you using to create the .prn file? how do you have the page orientation set up and have you looked in the distiller options?

[jeanweber]

>what printer driver are you using to create the .prn file?
Acrobat distiller. I believe it is the latest one for Acrobat 5.

>how do you have the page orientation set up
Landscape, in both Word and Acrobat Distiller

>and have you looked in the distiller options?
Yes. I've tried both landscape and portrait orientations, and the results was the same: the contents of the page came out oriented 90 degrees off the page orientation, so part of the page gets cut off.

Regards, Jean

[GirlFriday]

The distiller printer driver is a tricky thing. Do you have another printer driver available that is a PS printer? If so, try using that printer driver and save as a .prn file. Then open up Distiller and try distilling the .prn file that way.

[Peter Grainge]

In Word, go to Acrobat menu.

Click on Change Conversion Settings | Edit Conversion Settings.

On the General tab, swop the Width and Height settings.

Use Save As and give a new name.

Now create your PDF file.

Not convinced it will work but it will only take seconds and do no harm. Any port in a storm.

[jeanweber]

MYSTERY SOLVED!

I found the setting that must have been causing the problem, because when I changed it, the PDF was created successfully.

The setting? From Word's menu bar, click File > Print, then on the Print dialog click the Options button in the lower left corner. This goes to the Print Options dialog. (You can also get there by Tools > Options > Print tab.) Turns out that "Allow A4/Letter paper resizing" was ticked. When I unticked that box, all worked as advertised.

Regards, Jean
Jean Hollis Weber
jean@jeanweber.com
The Technical Editors' Eyrie http://www.jeanweber.com/