Creating a PDF for
 Professional Printing
    at your local copy shop/ printing store
  1. Change your default printer to the PDF printer and set the desired paper size.
  2. Design your project.
  3. Print your project to the PDF printer to create your PDF file.

That's it!  To understand why you do this, read on.


It is a mistake to believe that your Print Shop or PrintMaster file will appear the same when opened on someone else's computer.

If you used a font that they don't have installed on their computer, your font will be substituted with another.  That can totally ruin the look of your project.

And what are the chances that they are using the same printer and printer drivers as you have at home?  Character and line spacing differ amongst different print drivers and how your project looks and prints at home may turn out "incorrect" when printed elsewhere i.e. text boxes on your brochure may end abruptly with words cut off.  This is called text overflow.





PDF eliminates font substitution and text overflow by embedding the font(s) into your document and by using its own "printer drivers".

(Some PDF convertors don't embed fonts at all, but convert the entire document into one large image with no text.  In this case, saving at a high resolution is quite necessary, otherwise the words will appear jagged like in the example below.)



Creating a PDF file of your project is like printing the project - literally printing your project to the PDF printer.  (Don't use the Save As command; use the Print command.)



View your project with your printer set to the PDF printer, so you can see how your PDF will actually print.  Ideally, you should set your printer to the PDF printer before you start designing your project.  If you design your project with your printer set to your desktop printer, EXPECT your PDF to look "shifted" as many users have reported.  Switch to the PDF driver, re-examine your project and make the necessary adjustments.

Test your PDF by opening it in Adobe Reader.  This is exactly how it should look when opened at the print store and this is how it will print.