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Are you using the PCL driver for the 5si or the PS driver? What is the
"other printer" and what driver are you using for that? How are you
handling non-resident fonts?
The spool file size does not have much to do with the PDF file size (I
didn't say it has nothing to do with it, just not much). What you might
want to compare with the spool file size is the original PS or PRN file
that was used to create the PDF. If you are printing on a PS printer,
these should be about the same size. If you are sending the PDF to a PCL
printer, I'm not sure what the size relationship would be.
You also can't really compare your document with another based on page
count and number of graphics. What is important is the type of graphics.
If yours is rich in high-resolution TIFFS and the other is filled with
vector drawings in EPS format, yours will be a whole bunch larger.
Raster images like TIFFs and JPEGs are compressed in the PDF and then
decompressed when they are spooled to the printer. Vector drawings go as
is and consist of just a few more lines of PostScript code.
Some printers and drivers handle multiple copies by spooling one copy of
the document and instructing the printer to hold it in memory and make
multiple copies. In other situations, the spool file includes repeated
copies of the document. Sometimes this arises because the driver thinks
the printer doesn't have enough memory to hold the whole job. You can
fix this by telling the driver how much memory or disk capacity is
onboard the printer. This can happen even with a single copy of a
document, in the sense that the driver may be downloading the same fonts
over and over, once per page, if it thinks the printer doesn't have
enough memory to store them.
Does any of this help?
Dick
Becca Price wrote:
>
> I have a PDF file that my Windows Explorer tells me is
> 789KB - but when I spool it to our HP 5si printer, the
> file size in the print manager window is 23*MB*. (if
> I send to another printer, it spools to 3.4 MB or so)
>
> this is particularly confusing since a much larger
> document (275 pages to my docs 104 pages) only spools
> to 2.30MB. both documents are about equally rich in
> graphics.
>
> Can anyone explain why this happens? I'm very
> confused, and the size does affect our customer's
> ability to print the document.
>
