Acrobat: Super Size Me!

by David R. Mankin

You want a big sign! Nothing permanent, but you'd like to
make a quick, VERY large printout. Your printer, however, can't
accommodate
paper larger than legal size. Let me show you how to print a
"normal-sized"
document to larger proportions… using Acrobat!

The
print dialog box in Acrobat is one of the most flexible and thorough
I've ever
seen. If you think about it, it would have to be feature-rich since
professional print shops accept PDF files as press-ready media.

The
secret to
printing a PDF file to a desired size is in the Page Scaling drop-down
menu. To print an 8.5 X 11 inch page to poster
size, you'll change the Page Scaling option to Tile all pages.

Next, select a desired Tile Scale percentage. In my
example, I chose 200%. The print preview shows exactly how the
pages will be imposed onto (in this example, 6 letter-sized pages).

I kept the
default Overlap of 0.005 inches, but you can dial in whatever you'd
like. All
that's left is to print and assemble your pages like a puzzle–either
with
tape, glue stick, etc.

That was easy. You can use the page
scaling options to
print multiple pages per sheet of paper as well.

So it seems you
can either save the environment by printing
a document on fewer sheets, or ruin our planet for future generations by
making
posters out of letter-sized PDF files. So much power in your hands from
one
dialog box! Who knew? If that type of print page scaling
flexibility came as a surprise, you might want to consider signing up
for my next online Acrobat class (I've
got one coming up in a few short weeks) where you'll learn a whole bunch
more.

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