wee problem printing from PDF... or is that TO PDF?

Subject: wee problem printing from PDF... or is that TO PDF?
From: "McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>
To: "techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2011 10:58:08 -0500

I have a 40-page document, created in LibreOffice 3.4.3 on Windows 7.
The page size is 5.5 wide by 8.5-inches tall, which fits perfectly on 8.5x11 sheets when printed as a booklet.
I know this, because I've done it for years.

Lately, not so much.
I got a message from our production people, who said the latest release of my Quick Start Guide was printing the wrong size. I tried. They were right.

Somewhere among LibreOffice and Acrobat Distiller, and Acrobat Professional 9, the document now prints as a booklet, but with each page reduced to half size. That is, when I print from Acrobat with the Booklet option selected (Page Handling > Page Scaling > Booklet Printing, Acrobat places the pages in the right booklet-binding order, two-up on landscape 8.5x11 sheets, with everything fine except the 5.5x8.5 contents are shrunk (in their 5.5x8.5 space) to half height and half width, making each page rather lost in the middle of its already-small portion of the paper.

I've tweaked every setting I can find, but it just gets worse.
When I tried (in Acrobat) File > Print > (brings up Print dialog) Properties > (brings up departmental color printer properties), and I select "Duplex: Off" , the printed output is as described above. Pages are printed in proper order, two-up, back and front of paper, so that the stack can be folded in the middle and makes a fine booklet... with individual pages too small...
If "Duplex: Booklet" is selected, it shrinks everything in half again rotates 90 degrees, and serves 'em 4-up, so I get 4 teeny-tiny little images per page surface, distributed front and back such that not even your deity could cut and fold the paper to make working booklet.

If I check the "Non-Reduction Booklet" checkbox, everything is preserved as in the previous paragraph, except it's expanded onto an 11x17 sheet.

GAAAAAHH!

Meanwhile, out in the Print dialog, the Page Handling section has:

Copies: 1 Collate (grayed out)
Page Scaling: Booklet Printing
Booklet subset: Both sides
Sheets from 1 to 10
Auto-Rotated Pages (checked) Binding: Left


Next to that, the Preview: Composite shows the page in landscape 8.5x11.
Page 40 is on the left where it's supposed to be, and page 1 is on the right... but they are too small. I have yet to discover a combination of settings that makes this all work the way it did for a couple or three years, with docs based on the same doc (I don't normally bother with templates, I just re-work a document that works.)

Any hints, as to LibreOffice page settings, LibreOffice print settings (I print to a .PRN file), Acrobat Distiller settings, Acrobat 9 Pro settings?

-kevin




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