Adobe Reader Postscript Printing and Color Detection


Issue:

When printing from Adobe Reader (versions 9, X, XI) using PostScript printer drivers, Print Audit appears to incorrectly determine which pages are in color and which pages are b/w.

Cause:

Adobe Reader creates its own postscript to send to the printer driver, calculating it's own colors as part of this process. In some cases, this will result in, for example, gray being rendered in color (using color toner) instead of being rendered in gray scale (using only black toner.)

Solution:

Solution 1 - In Adobe 9, on the Print Dialog, press the Advanced Button. There will be a setting called "Let Printer Determine Colors."

Solution 2 - In Adobe X, you not only have the option presented in 1) but two other options as well: "Treat grays as K-only grays*" and "Preserve Black.*" These settings will also reduce the frequency with which Adobe assigns color rendering to gray areas.

Solution 3 - In Adobe XI, you have "Preserve Black*" and "Treat grays as K-only grays*" as in Adobe X. Additionally there is a color handling field. This field can be set to "Acrobat Color Management" "Same as source (No Color Management) or "Printer Color Management." Either of the latter two will prevent Adobe from stipulating color.

Solution 4 - Disable "Allow Postscript Pass Through" on the driver. This isn't supported by all PS drivers, and in some cases may affect the quality of the resulting document.

Solution 5 - Use a PCL or XPS driver instead of a PS driver, if one is available.

(* - These options only have an effect if Adobe is doing color management. If the printer is doing color management (Adobe X and XI) or if no color management is being done (Adobe XI) then these settings have no effect.)

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