Table borders print and pdf crooked

[lalbert]

Version: v.X
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

Hello,

I am formatting tables with 2 1/4 point white borders and different cell shading. They look fine on screen but print and pdf with misaligned/crooked widths... strange little overlaps from the other cell colours. Hope that makes sense. It's better if you can see it.

Word is ruining my life, hope someone can save me, my deadline was yesterday.

I also have the pdf print margin issue that seems to have no simple solution.

Thanks,
Leah.

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry you're having problems, Leah, but print issues are rarely the fault of
the originating program... It just *seems* that way because that's where you
hit the Print command. From that point on, however, that program has very
little - if anything - to do with what translates to the printer. The data
is simply handed off by the OS to the printer via the driver software, so if
it looked right in preview the program has done its job.

The first thing to check is the printer mfr's web site - see if there is an
updated driver for your model of printer. If there isn't a newer one than
what you currently have you might consider reinstalling whatever is most
current. Drivers corrupt far more frequently than applications programs.

What you describe also sounds like it could even more likely be caused by
the printer itself. If you have an inkjet, faulty ink cartridges or
misaligned print heads will produce similar results. Try printing comparable
graphic content or the same document from another program. Your printer
should have some sort of diagnostic & repair utility - Run that & see what
it reveals. (Lasers can err in a similar fashion, btw.)

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[lalbert]

Thanks for the reply Bob.

It's not the printer. It occurs on the pdf and other printers. I will nut it out through the usual trial and error until something works for no obvious reason.

Same with the printer margin in the pdf. It seems a lot of people have the same problem getting a full bleed pdf but I haven't found a simple solution online so far.

Cheers,
Leah.

 

[CyberTaz]

Then it is possible that there is corruption in the table itself. You might
try copying the table & pasting to a new blank document... See if that
prints with better results. I'm also wondering if the "white borders" might
be having an influence since there is no actual white ink used in the
printing. "White" to a printer is an *absence* of ink - except at the
commercial level using custom ink as a spot color.

As for the PDF borders: Creating PDFs is actually a print operation & the
driver used will impact how the PDF turns out. For example if I create 3
PDFs from the same document this is what happens;

Using File> Save As - PDF with my default printer the PDF will not bleed to
the edge of the paper because most all printers have minimum margin
requirements. Those margins are imposed on the PDF because that printer's
driver is being used.

If I use File> Print> PDF the OS X PDF creator is used & the result will
have the full bleed.

Likewise, if I use Page Setup & select the Adobe driver [rather than my
default printer] the Save As - PDF method will also produce a full bleed.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[lalbert]

Thanks again.

I ended up removing all the internal margins of the cell. Seems they were causing these weird jagged lines. Odd that it didn't show any issue in the preview and it still gives me poor quality vertical borders in the pdf but prints OK. Strange.

Not ideal and it shouldn't have caused a problem but seems to have worked. Crazy world of Word.

Now for the print margins. PDF X doesn't work for me. Oh the endless joy. It's like working for CSI.

 

[CyberTaz]

I think you may have misinterpreted what I wrote... There is a listing for
"PDF-X" but that isn't what I was referring to. The choice to make is the
very first one in that same menu which is listed as "Save as PDF". It uses
the OS X PDF generator rather than your default printer driver. IOW, it
works differently from that listed in the Save As dialog even though the
terminology would never lead you to think so.

Just as an fyi: the PDF-X is a special format for commercial output. I don't
believe it will work if you don't actually have Acrobat installed.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac