How to prepare a PDF for printing

1. Check the page size and scaling

Make sure the PDF’s page size matches the paper. In the print dialog, choose actual size rather than fit to page unless you want scaling, because scaling changes text size and can shift margins. Mismatched sizes are a common reason for cut-off edges.

2. Keep content away from the edge

Most printers cannot print right to the edge of the sheet, so anything within a few millimetres of it may be clipped. If a document has content near the edge, check a test page, or print with scaling that adds a margin.

3. Make sure the text is dark enough

Text that looks fine on screen can be grey, thin or both. Zoom to 400% and check that letters are solid and dark. If they are not, darken the file. The PDF print optimizer measures ink, paper, contrast and lighting and recommends settings, and Darken PDF for printing applies a print-ready preset directly.

4. Deal with the background

A grey or cream background on a scan is printed faithfully and uses toner or ink. Whiten PDF background takes it to white without touching dark ink, and Remove scan shadows evens out lighting first if one side is darker.

5. Decide on colour

• Printing in colour: keep the colours, and check that anything pale, such as a light highlighter, is still visible.
• Printing on a mono printer: convert to grayscale first, so you see what the printer will do. Colours of similar lightness, such as a mid-blue and a mid-red, can turn into nearly the same grey.
• Plain text and line art: black and white gives crisp edges, but it throws away every mid-tone, so it is wrong for photos, shading and signatures.

6. Check image resolution

Photographs look their best at roughly 300 pixels per inch at their printed size. Much lower and they look soft; much higher adds file size without a visible gain. Scans of text are fine at around 200 to 300 DPI. If a scan looks soft, sharpening helps slightly, but it cannot add detail.

7. Print one page first

Print a single page before the whole document. Look at the smallest text, at any stamp or signature, and at the margins. It costs one sheet and saves a ream. If the page prints faint on a document that should be fine, check the printer’s quality and toner-save settings; see how to make a PDF print clearly.