Problem
I”m writing today to query others about the Standard versus High Quality Print options under the PDF Setup in Adobe FrameMaker and Distiller.
The various PDF job options are being evaluated internally. In particular (and what I’m asking about now), in PDF Setup –> Settings –> PDF Job Options, some use “Standard,” while others use “High Quality Print” (same setting in Distiller). Based on what I have been told, there is no reason (benefit) to using High Quality Print (versus Standard) even in docs that use more screenshots and/or pictures, and my understanding is that High Quality Print results in a larger file size. (I have been using High Quality Print for years.)
My question is whether using Standard (instead of High Quality Print) results in any detrimental effect.
For reference, here is some information from Adobe:
Standard . For desktop printers or digital copiers, published on CD or sent to client as publishing proof . Uses compression/downsampling to reduce file size . Embeds subsets of fonts, converts colors to sRGB, prints medium resolution, windows font subsets not embedded by default . Opened in Acrobat and Reader 6.0 and later High Quality Print . Quality printing on desktop printers and proofing devices . Downsamples color and grayscale images to 300ppi and monochrome to 1200ppi . Embeds subsets of fonts, leaves colors unchanged, does not flatted transparency . Opened in Acrobat and Reader 5.0 and later
For what it’s worth, I am using Adobe FrameMaker 9 and 10 and Distiller 8.
Any feedback on what others have found while using High Quality Print versus Standard would be greatly appreciated.
Solution
There are definitely differences between Standard and High Quality Print options. For starters, Standard does NOT embed all fonts. If you use Distiller to check the settings of the .joboptions files, you’ll see that Standard embeds most fonts, but NOT those that are commonly installed on computers– such as Arial, Times New Roman, etc. It marks those as NEVER embed. This may or may not cause reformatting of the PDF on the viewing end (due to different font versions on the user’s computer) or complete font substitution (due to uninstalled fonts on the user end). If you don’t embed all fonts, you take a risk that your document won’t look the same on every computer– which is the purpose of PDF.
Standard also downsamples graphics to 150 dpi(ppi), where High Quality Print downsamples to 300 dpi. 300 dpi is usually what you want for printing press. 150 dpi is usually OK for desktop printer– though many use 300 dpi there, too. 150 dpi is actually higher resolution than necessary for Web viewing– where 72 or 96 ppi is more common. So it’s increasing the image data by up to 4.34x to make an unnecessarily large file for the Web. Still the 150 dpi higher resolution lets a user zoom into a PDF for a better view of a photo. (And 300 ppi would let the user zoom in even more for a clearer image.)
So, the option you want to choose depends on the purpose of your output and whether you want users to be able to zoom in for a better view. If the output is going to printing press, you want High Quality Print, but if it’s only for screen or desktop printer, Standard may be okay. Or Smallest File Size may be an even better choice for Web display.
Also, there is a very old presentation by the most informed PDF guru I’ve ever encountered; I think the tables that begin on page 68 are still valid, though: http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/pdf2k/01W/isaacs_reliablepdfcreation.pdf
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