Top Printing Tips (for Final Reviews)

Dear students,
 
We have put together printing tips that we hope you find helpful as we move into final reviews. Even if you have printed successfully in the past, you may see a point that addresses a printing issue you have experienced.  The most errors occur during high volumes of printing, and high levels of stress, so please follow these tips to streamline your printing process.
 
Top Most Common Issues with Printing and Plotting;
 
1.      Have you taken the plotting Quiz and passed with a score of 16? All users must take this Quiz and pass before gaining access to plotting. If you have not yet printed this semester run a test before finals to make sure you have no issues with access.
2.      Are you plugged into the network? You must have an active connection hardwired into the network design.upenn.edu to communicate with the printers. Wireless printing is unreliable and not recommended
3.      Are you trying to print directly from the web or from the downloads folder? If so, save the file locally first and then resend. Printing from the local drive will give the quickest printing results. Second best option would be to print from the desktop.
4.      Are you trying to print directly from an external USB or hard drive? This can lead to extremely long print processing times as well as the possible error out of the print job. Please save the file locally (or desktop), reopen, resend.
5.      Did you send a jpeg? If so, convert that jpeg to a pdf, save and reopen the file to resend. Jpegs are particularly problematic and do not print in our environment.
6.      Are you sending a multipage pdf? Multipage documents can take a very long time to process and may skip one or more of your pages. Send each page individually by printing, pages 1 of 4, 2 of 4, 3 of 4 and so on. This will cut back on the processing time and you will be sure to not have any pages go missing. It will also help you pinpoint which page might have format issues that would need to be addressed before reprinting.
7.      File Issues & File Errors; Is your file too large? Have you flattened your file properly/completely? Just because it is a pdf does not mean that it is flattened. Create a flattened “for print” file following the steps supplied for Adobe programs (located here, www.design.upenn.edu/printing )  Make sure in the final step you do not “preserve layers for editing” which will be an option you need to uncheck before saving. The printer cannot always process information that is not flattened properly and will cause the printer to error out in a number of ways. To prevent delays in printing, flatten file and do not exceed the maximum file size. We recommend 150dpi at print size. If you are concerned with the output quality of the pdf, make sure you turn compression off when saving. *You can also try to send a flattened tiff file out of Adobe Photoshop if you your file is particularly heavy and pdfs are not working for you. For best color results use the profile for sRGB (sRGB is the default colorspace for plotters and monitors in the Labs). Each printer has its own characteristics in printing, always run a proof to check colors before running the final.
8.      If you have sent your job and do not see it in the Queue above the plotters, you will need to check the external Queue first. You as the end user have access to this queue by going to\\vulcan.design.upenn.edu and double clicking on the plotter/ printer in question. View jobs by “submitted” to see where your job is in the Queue. Occasionally someone sends a job that is way too large and it backs everyone else’s job up. If this is happening, notify IT Staff and we will cancel that job. 
9.      Did you send the job to the wrong printer? To prevent this from happening make sure you pay attention to where you are sending the job. You can always check your account statement to see if a job was printed. https://www.design.upenn.edu/printing scroll down to “Printing Charges” and login to Equitrac using your design credentials. You will see the last 30 days’ worth of transactions on your account.
10.  Are jobs not going though from your personal machine? Try removing and re-adding the device in your drivers menu. Driver updates for printers will be applied periodically and you may require you to reinstall the driver. Go to your printers and devices and remove the printer in question and re-add from \\vulcan.design.upenn.edu
11.  Is your machine up to date? Keep your computers up to date to prevent interruption to your connection to design resources. Run windows updates and Bios/driver updates weekly/monthly to rule this issue out.
12.  Did you cancel your job from the printer or have an IT Staff member cancel it for you? Once your job hits the printers internal queue your account has already been charged. You will need to write in to ithelp to request a refund for the cancelled job as soon as possible. Print billing is typically ran in the last week of the month. To avoid accumulating printing charges for cancelled jobs, write into ithelp@design.upenn.edu to request that refund promptly.
 
Please ask for Help if you need it! We are here to help you, if any of these instructions do not make sense or you have questions about them, please stop by the ITS HelpDesk and speak to me M-F 8:30-4:30 or email ithelp@design.upenn.edu and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
 
All the Best,
 
Kaitlin
 
Kaitlin Mosley
IT Help Desk Manager
Weitzman School
University of Pennsylvania
210 S. 34th Street
Room 319 Meyerson Hall
Philadelphia, PA  19104-6311
215 573-9900