Finding different size pages in a PDF

Started by delooch, April 16, 2019, 01:30:17 PM

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delooch

So every week we print a council report, somewhere between 800-1200 pages.  It all used to be letter-sized, but now they are throwing in a random 11x17 page in there throughout the document to be printed at-size.

I used to be able to tick the "choose paper source by PDF page size" in the print dialogue, but that doesnt seem to work anymore on our Ricoh, I have to go in and manually flag the pages in CWS, which is a pain in the ass, and i also have to visually scan the document thumbnails looking for the larger sheets. (running a Ricoh c7110s with CWS 5)

is there a way in Acrobat to create a script to find these pages for me?

any idea how to get it to choose paper sizes on the CWS automatically?

The Ricoh/CWS will change the sheet size, but it crops the document at 8.5x11 and centers it on the sheet, instead of printing the full 11x17.  There is a setting in CWS to specify the sheet size, but once you do that it all seems to be cropped at that size.

Does this rambling make any sense?

wonderings

If you select "fit to page" in CWS will it not fit those larger pages and leave the rest alone as they are already 8.5 x 11... or whatever size you are printing on?

Tracy

If you print to the Ricoh instead of Drag/Drop
there is a setting that says choose paper source by page size in Acro
Never done it before but I see it

rereading your thread I guess this is what is not working! sorry pal!

delooch

the problem seems to be that you can only specify one page size in CWS, unless you choose the Mixed Media option, which is what ive been doing.  Going that route you have to tell CWS what pages are 11x17, which works, but I have to visually scan the PDF for the large size pages and jot the page numbers down manually.  On a 1000 page document, its a challenge.

Choosing the "fit" option in the Acrobat print dialog will size it to the specified page size im printing on, the problem is it voids the "choose paper size by pdf page size" option.

I kind of got it to work half-assed one day - it was duplexing the larger sheets incorrectly - but ill be dammned if i can remember the setting i chose.  This makes me want to believe it is possible automatically, but i just cant seem to figure it out.

my plan b was hoping to create some kind of script that would find the 11x17 sheets and generate a report as to which pages in the document they were, this way i dont have to scroll the thumbnails manually to find them.


wonderings

I made a PDF, 1st page is 8.5 x 11 and the 2nd page is 11x17. I took this PDF and dropped it in CWS. In CWS I selected an 8.5 x 11 paper. I then clicked "fit to page". Processed the job and previewed. It left the 8.5 x 11 size alone because it fits already and shrunk the 11x17 to fit the 8.5 x 11 without cropping. That is how I would do it, no printing from Acrobat, just drop the PDF directly in CWS and do your work from there.

I never actually print from Acrobat or any program, always make PDF's and drop in CWS to do the rest.

Joe

You can create a simple Acrobat Preflight profile and run it to tell you which pages are not 8.5 x 11.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

wonderings

Another way is you can import into Indesign. There is a script that imports a PDF and one of the options is "fit to page" so it will scale anything larger then your page size to fit. Script name is "multipage importer2.5.cs5" Works with latest CC release. I would go with the CWS option though, no need to fuss around with it.

Joe

Delooch, are you wanting the 11 x 17 pages to scale and print at 8.5 x 11 or print at the full size (11 x 17)?
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

delooch

Quote from: Joe on April 16, 2019, 02:38:03 PM
Delooch, are you wanting the 11 x 17 pages to scale and print at 8.5 x 11 or print at the full size (11 x 17)?

i need to 11x17s to print on 11x17 - everything else on 8.5x11.  CWS seems to be screwing it somehow.

Your preflight profile is what im looking for.

Wonderings : Ill try the pdf to cws route and see if i can manipulate it there.

delooch

#9
Quote from: Joe on April 16, 2019, 02:09:09 PM
You can create a simple Acrobat Preflight profile and run it to tell you which pages are not 8.5 x 11.

yeah thats it exactly... Now to figure out how to get it to do it on its own...

At least with this i can just plug in the pages from the report into the mixed media options, no guesswork.

delooch

OK got it figured out with automatic paper selection..

1) need to print from Acrobat.
2) check Actual Size, Choose paper source by PDF page size
3) in CWS, you need to ditch the paper catalog and set your paper drawers manually, with "normal paper weight 3", and the proper sheet size to the feed drawer, enable duplexing.

Works just like i need it to, the problem is in CWS looking for a an assigned sheet from the paper catalog.  drop the paper catalog and there is no issue.

Thanks for the input!

delooch

Quote from: Joe on April 16, 2019, 02:09:09 PM
You can create a simple Acrobat Preflight profile and run it to tell you which pages are not 8.5 x 11.

I realized i dont spend enough time in the preflight profiles.  Used to doing everything manually because it just seemed like there were too many variables.  Spent a few hours on it this weekend, came up with a custom profile which reduces/enlarges pages as needed automatically. Turned an hour or so of work into a few clicks. Thanks again Joe!