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how can i convert ID/CS3 from legal to letter size & preserve layout

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extradifficult

Technical User
Mar 23, 2009
12
US
I am producing a booklet of about 80 pages. i have this resizing problem (explained below) semiannually. I have not been able to find a solution yet except for manually moving each page. If you happen to have seen my last inquiry and remember, i was never able to make the suggestions work.

I am creating a 8.5 x 11 book of prices. When complete there also needs to be a 8.5 x 14 version. The short version has prices. The long version has prices and corresponding barcodes throughout and more below in the additional 3 inches.

I have started with an 8.5 x 14 document but must provide the printer with a pdf of the booklet in the 8.5 x 11 size. I am unable to create a pdf that omits the unneeded 3 inches at the bottom of each page. Can a pdf be created that cuts off the bottom 3 inches?

Or, when I try to resize the InDesign document, all the elements on each page collide with each other and move somewhat off the page. Is there a way to shorten a page from legal to letter size and maintain the artwork's integrity?

I have all the barcodes on a separate layer which i turn on and off as needed.
 
...being from a CTP prepress background myself, when imposing pages it is possible to import larger pages and have those pages clipped to a smaller height in the imposition software (depends on the print providers imposition capabilities)...

...this requires the prepress operative to use an imposition template that offsets the artwork inside the templates trim area (normally everything is just centred to a given trim size in the imposition software)...

...if doing it this way and the artwork bleeds on all edges, then below the 11" you obviously need to ensure there is space for that bleed to occur when imposed for press, or the prepress worker can (if able) scale all pages by approx 1 or 2 % on the height if anything falls too near that bottom trim edge...

...if the print providers, for whatever reason, insist on being supplied artwork as required at 11" then you can print to a postscript file with a custom page size and set the position to centre horizontally (or upper left will also work)...

...turn all marks off, include bleed if needed, but only change the height of the page size in the print dialog (so it will be 11" + bleed)...

...you can then distill the PDF using correct distiller settings as required for your print provider...




andrew

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One option is to crop the pdf in Acrobat.

Even though it is cropped in Acrobat if you place the pdf in ID you will see the uncropped file, the cropping in Acrobat is described as non-destructive.

To get around this, save the .pdf in Acrobat as .eps. Then open the .eps in Acrobat and save as a pdf.

If you set these steps up as a batch command in Acrobat this should be pretty quick.

 
thanks for your help. an odd thing happened which i cannot explain fully. something i tried previously worked this time but i am not sure what the difference might be (yet). i grouped all the objects before resizing from legal to letter. they did not shift on most pages as they did previously. some did and this might be due to how those pages' master pages were set up. shifting back what did move was a minor thing and now i'm on the road to figuring out how to avoid problems all together. Then i just created the pd from the letter size ID.

sounds too simple. i don't know why it didn't work before.

Thanks again for your help.
 
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