Printing A0 Posters with MS PowerPoint

Printing of large posters with PowerPoint sometimes causes problems. So please check the output before sending it to the plotter. How? Print your document to a prn-file, change the extension to *.ps and check the preview in GSview first. All errors which may occur during printing will be visible directly in your preview. Make changes on your document or the printing options until you are happy with the preview. Only then send the job to the plotter.

Instructions

Configuring printer p120

You have to configure the printer p210 first, before you can continue using PowerPoint and GSview. To do so, choose either A0 or Custom Page Size:

1. Choose the printer p210 from Start → Settings → Printer and right-click the printer icon: Properties.
2. Choose "General". Click "Printing Preferences" and then "Advanced".
3. Choose item "Paper/Output": Set the paper size to A0 respectively in case of larger width to PostScript Custom Page Size. In this case do "Edit Custom Page Size" as follows:
   • Set the page width as wanted (e. g. 1000 mm) plus 40 mm for the margins, just to be on the safe side. Also to the height you can add some millimetres, e. g. 1439 mm. Set "Unit" to inch and write down the resulting numbers for width and height (in the example above it's 40,94 and 56,68). You will need these numbers later for GSview (just in case you don't work with real A0). Afterwards change "Unit" back to millimetres.
   • Select the tab "Paper/Quality" to set further settings for print quality, speed or orientation.
     
     

Configuring MS PowerPoint

1. Move to the printing dialog in PowerPoint and activate the "Scale to fit paper"-box.
2. Choose the printer p210
3. Be sure the "Print to file"-box is ticked
4. Save the file as *.prn.

Check your poster using GSview

Use your Windows Explorer to rename the file extension from *.prn to *.ps to allow GSview to handle the file successfully. Now you have to adjust the following GSview settings:

1. Start GSview using Programs → GS Tools → GSview.
2. Select "Media" and then, in case you don't use A0 format, the "User defined"-option. Specify the sizes with the number you wrote down before, multiplied by 72. In my example the results are 2948 and 4081. GSview will pre-populate the fields with the last values you entered when you re-open the program.
3. Open the ps-file and select View → Fit Window. The output you see now is exactly what the plotter would print.
4. Are you happy with the preview? Fine, then print the file again, but now on the plotter. Don't forget to uncheck the "Print to file"-box. Something is not right? Then change your file until the preview is ok. And only then send the job to the plotter.
   

If you have any further questions or remarks, please contact printer-servicegsi.de

Important hints in MS PowerPoint:

1. As a first step always set the right slide size. Later changes in width and height may cause problems.
2. PowerPoint displays an area slightly greater than specified. To be on the safe side, group all objects on the slide and check with Format → Object → Size whether the size of the group fits to your page area. If not, you have to scale down the objects.
3. Grouping of objects may cause the effect that in the print output text does not fit properly into the text boxes. Un group the objects.
4. Sometimes graphical objects (frames, coloured rectangles) are not printed completely down to the bottom of your page. We don't know why. If nothing helps, the only solution is to eliminate these objects and change the layout.

If you have any further questions or remarks, please contact it-servicegsi.de