Using the Print dialog box


    You can choose from a set of standard printing options in Adobe Illustrator for any type of artwork you print. These printing options appear in the Print dialog box, and are organized into sets of options designed to help guide you through the printing process. Once you've specified the option you want, you can then print the artwork using the dialog box.

    Note: You may receive an error message when printing artwork that includes linked EPS files, if those files were saved in binary format (for example, in Photoshop's default EPS format). In this case, resave the EPS files in ASCII format, embed the linked files into the Illustrator artwork, or print to a binary printer port instead of a ASCII printer port.

To use the Print dialog box:

  1. Choose File > Print.
  2. If you don't want to use the default Print dialog box settings, and other groups of settings have been created and saved, you can choose one from the Print Preset pop-up menu. For information on creating and working with these presets, see Using print presets.
  3. Choose one of the following from the Printer pop-up menu to print the artwork to a printer or a file:
    • The name of a printer you want to print the document with.
    • Adobe PostScript® File to create a PostScript file. This prints the artwork to a file instead of to a printer.
    • Acrobat Distiller to create an Adobe PDF file. This prints the artwork to a file instead of to a printer. This option is only available if you have Acrobat 5 installed.
    • Adobe PDF to create an Adobe PDF file. This prints the artwork to a file instead of to a printer. This option is only available if you have Acrobat 6 installed. It is recommended over Acrobat 5 for easier, more reliable Adobe PDF creation with Illustrator.

    Important: You can use either Acrobat 5 and earlier or Acrobat 6 with Illustrator, not both. Also, Illustrator does not support PDFWriter format; if you attempt to print to PDFWriter you may experience delays or errors in printing.

  4. If you don't want to use the default PPD (PostScript Printer Description) that's based on the printer you selected, choose a different one from the PPD pop-up menu. (See Selecting PostScript Printer Description files.)
  5. Choose any of the following options from the left side of the Print dialog box. Then specify settings for the options that appear:
  6. General

    See Setting general options.

    Setup

    See Setting setup options.

    Marks & Bleed

    See Setting marks and bleed options.

    Output

    See Setting output (separation) options.

    Graphics

    See Setting graphics options.

    Color Management

    See Setting color management printing options.

    Advanced

    See Setting advanced printing (transparency and flattening) options.

    Summary

    See Viewing a summary of the print settings.

  7. Do one of the following:
    • Click Done to apply the changes without printing the document.
    • Click Print to apply the changes and print the document.
    • Click Save to apply the changes and save the document as a PostScript or PDF file.
    • Click Save Preset to save the print settings for future use. (See Using print presets.)

    Note: You can also click Setup (Windows) or Page Setup (Mac OS) to display the standard Windows or Mac OS Print dialog box. However, using Illustrator's Print dialog box ensures access to the full print capabilities of Illustrator.