how to print to ps file in quark

[5447tina]

(asking this in a new thread because i am not sure that my "reply" question will be seen)

quark 6.5
i set the pdf prefs in quark to ps but printer dialog still gives me the choice to save as pdf and the resulting file is the auto pdf.

how do i get a ps file out of quark?
thanks

[CkretAjint]

Perferences > PDF > Create PostScript file for later distilling.

[5447tina]

do i save to pdf? print? - nothing i am doing seems to produce a ps file?

thanks

[Virgo Nightingale]

I haven't watched this whole video, and I don't know if you have the same setup, but perhaps this will help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxarYnnR1YQ

[PrintDriver]

You need to print to a file. How you do that actually depends on your OS.
You will need to select a ppd printer. I usually use Acrobat 8 as my printer.
Click on Printer at the bottom of Quark's print box.
Select Acrobat as your printer
You select file either under the tip arrow currently showing Copies and Pages (change it to Output and select file if using Panther) or at the bottom of the print dialog box there is a PDF button option (if using Tiger). You set your PDF settings in the same Printer Window tip arrow as Copies and Pages under PDF options (in Tiger)

[5447tina]

got it! thank you.

ps - quark is so buggy - do you ever use indesign and do you like it?
i prefer quark's interface but i am getting tired of all the workarounds.

[CkretAjint]

ps - quark is so buggy - do you ever use indesign and do you like it?

Yes and yes. Glad you got it :D

[PrintDriver]

Oy, can o' worms.
Quark or InD each have their foibles. Each is only a tool. You can do things in either that take a workaround of some kind. I use both day in and day out. It makes no difference as far as design. Printing...weelllll....... best ask your print vendor before you switch. :D

[5447tina]

i have made the ps file (365M) and dragged to distiller. it distills to page 18 (out of 48) then quits and says error in postscript file and no pdf is created.

Can you help me with this?

[Virgo Nightingale]

Is there a font that isn't used in the document until page 18 that might be corrupt?

[Kool]

Try not printing page 18, if the rest of the pages print then you know it's something on that page. If thats the case then you just have to figure out what on that page is screwing up. Probably an EPS file. Then you just have to narrow it down. Remove half the items and try again and just keep narrowing it down. I once had a line in an EPS file that stalled a whole publication.

[5447tina]

no that is not it, unfortunately-there are only 3 fonts and they are all used wiothin the first few pages, so page 19 is no different.
also when i print page 1-18 that is ok - this is a file with big tifs (art catalog) from page 12-42. is there a size limit on the ps file quark wil make?
i would hate to have to make a ps file and pdf for every 4 pages. any ideas?

[5447tina]

this file has large tifs pg 12-42 - i can make a ps file p1-18, and 19-22,
is there a size limitation i can set somewhere - i'd hate to have to make a ps and pdf for every 4 pages.

(fonts are the same throughout no new font on page 19)

[PrintDriver]

Check your images. Try to distill the one page without images.
Do you per chance have LZW compression on?

[5447tina]

i don't really have a page that won't print, just won't print very many pages at once into one ps file. i can print each page or 4 at a time...can i do something to be able to print them all, or at least 16 at a time?

[urstwile]

How big is your hard drive? On a Mac anyway, if hard drive space is tight, the Postscript file of the entire thing could just be too big to fit on your hard drive.

[5447tina]

i keep clearing my main drive (i have a few partitions and an external so i can move things out) - it is about 14 G and has about 1.4g free. i am thinking that is enoiugh for working - i don't know how big the ps file of the whole book will be because i can't make it .
any other ideas?

[urstwile]

That's your problem, I think. I don't think 1.4 G is going to be enough for the postscript file (they get quite large, particularly with all the graphics you mentioned). Not to mention that virtual memory might also be eating up some of your hard drive space while you're processing the file.

[Virgo Nightingale]

1.4 GB is NOT a whole lot of room to work with. Like urst mentions, .ps files can get really big. I've had 50-pg .ps workbooks be as big as 2-3 GB. Clear up several gigs on your drive and try it again.

[urstwile]

This might also explain the PDF problems you mentioned in another thread, tina.

[5447tina]

can anyone suggest what i can safely move from the drive - the big files are system folders (NOT) and applications - can i move applkications elsewhere and will they still function ok?
thanks

[urstwile]

Hmm, that's a tough one. I believe any of the Adobe programs need to remain on the hard drive.

You mentioned partitions in an earlier post. Any way to reduce the size of those partitions to free up room for the startup drive?

You could also try targeting the postscript file to save to the external drive, if that's got more room.

[5447tina]

worked like a charm - saved the ps and pdf to a partition with 10g available - simple and smooth, quick even.
and i think you may be right - probably can use the export function that way too.
thanks a million

[urstwile]

Yay! :)

[PrintDriver]

Glad you got it sorted Tina.
Scratch partitions are the way to go. I have quite a large scratch partition because of the large stuff I work with and never seem to have any trouble or slow down problems others talk about with much smaller files.

Urst, you can't change size of a partition without erasing the drive in question while doing it. On a Mac anyway. But that's one sure way to clear out space! ;)

[urstwile]

Actually, I remember reading about some Mac software that would do it without erasing, can't recall what the name of the software was, however. Tech Tools maybe?

[PrintDriver]

Oy. Make sure they're empty and backed up...

[Kool]

I'm just curious, what is the purpose/advantage to partitioning your drive? I've never done it and always figured it was best to have the maximum amount of HD space available to whatever program whenever you need it.

[PrintDriver]

I use partitions to keep OSX and attendant programs on one, Classic and attendant programs on another (yes we still need to keep them on there), and I use a large partition as an empty scratch 'disk'. Even macs can fragment as much as PCs do and no matter what Cocktail or OnyX tell you they can't really optimize a mounted disk. So with a free partition wide open for scratch there is no seeking of available blocks of necessary real estate by the Adobe programs. They have 80gigs of acreage to play in.

[Kool]

That makes sense, especially the different OSs :)

Where do you set the scratch disk settings?

[PrintDriver]

In Quark?...as far as I know you can only assign what it does with High-Res previews now. Can't even set the memory allocation any more. InD is sorta the same way.

Illy and Photoshop are in the Prefs of each. You have to change your scratch allocation then restart the program for it to take effect. Or you may be able to do them with Bridge. I really should learn more about how that ties things together.