A number of InDesign CS3 users have reported a problem when printing multiple copies of their documents. Basically, each duplicate copy of a page appears to take just as long as the first — even if you’re not collating your pages. This is distinctly different than in earlier versions, where the first page to print might take a while, but subsequent pages are speedy.
I have it on good authority that Adobe is aware of the problem and is working on a fix. However, in the meantime, here are some thoughts on the subject:
It only appears to happen when running CS3 on an Intel-based Mac. And the slowdown doesn’t appear to happen on every printer. Some printers appear to work properly (the way it used to in CS2).
Several people have reported that you can solve the problem like this:
- Quit InDesign.
- Select the InDesign application in the Finder and choose File > Get Info (note that you can quickly jump to your application by Command-clicking on the icon in the Dock).
- Turn on the Open Using Rosetta checkbox in the Info dialog box.
- Relaunch InDesign, open the documents, and print duplicate copies.
Jeremy Schultz, an editor and contributor to Designorati and QuarkVsInDesign.com pointed out that when you switch between Rosetta and Universal Binary, InDesign appears to lose its Open Recent list, which is a pain. But eveyrthing else seems to work okay.
He also believes that this printing issue only kicks in when there is transparency (such as effects, transparent graphics, drop shadows, and so on) on a page in the printed document. He writes, “Non-transparent pages will queue normally, even when transparent pages are in the same document.”
This article was last modified on December 18, 2021
This article was first published on June 12, 2007
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