InDesign printing at half opacity? 1

[bhbhbh]

hi:

i'm working in InDesign CS 3.0 on a Mac iBook running OSX 10.3.8. everything was working fine for about 2 months until about 2 weeks ago, when InDesign print jobs started all coming out very light, almost as if they were at 50% opacity. at first, i assumed it was a printer problem, so i changed the cartridges, cleaned the heads, etc. that didn't fix anything. then i printed some stuff out of Word and it printed fine, the text was very dark and full opacity. i tried reloading InDesign, but it still is doing this light printing.

any ideas anyone? i can't seem to find any preference or setting that will change this.

thanks,
tom

 

[jmgalvin]

It could be the printer settings that ID is remembering.

When you get the Print window, click on the Printer button - don't worry about any warning. Check the settings there, making sure it's not set to something like Draft, etc.

 

[scottmerrell]

You might want to make sure composite RGB isn't selected in the print dialog under output. If it is, it explains the washed out look since there isn't any black ink being printed. Just a thought.

 

[bhbhbh]

sorry for the delay. was out of town.

i checked the output settings and it is set to Color > Composite RGB. but the only other available setting is Composite Grey and that doesn't work b/c then i get no color output. i also have another computer with InDesign and it is printing fine, with the Composite RGB setting on as well. it's just this laptop that is having the problem, and only in InDesign (all other apps print fine).

also, disabled all color management (it wasn't on) and trashed the preferences. also checked transparency settings and they are set to Normal and 100%. but i'm still having the problem. any other ideas?

thanks,
tom

 

[jmgalvin]

You have to check the settings for the actual printer - not the ID print settings. Hit Print in ID. On a mac, when you get the Print window there's a Printer button at the bottom of that window. I assume there's something similar in Windows. Click that to get to the settings for the printer, as opposed to the ID print settings. See if you have it set for something like Draft, etc. This is the same as you would do in printing from something like Word. Hope that helps cause I can't think of any other reson why you'd be printing so light - barring any transparency in the actual ID doc.

When printing to a common, no postscript inkjet, the only things you can select in ID are RGB and Gray. That's because non PS injets only recognize RGB, not CMYK as postscript and commercial presses do.

 

[bhbhbh]

i've tried all those suggestions and still am having the problem.

the strange thing is that i took my laptop over to another printer - this time, an HP 3820 - and it works fine. but on my Canon i455, it still won't print correctly.

has anyone noticed InDesign having problems printing on Canon deskjet printers?

thanks.

 

[MarcusStringer]

Next to where is says Composite RGB, make sure you have TEXT AS BLACK selected otherewise it will print as a RGB black instead of 100% Black

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[bhbhbh]

already have that setting checked.

 

[MarcusStringer]

Just as a test... change it read Composite Leave unchanged
Does that fix it?

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au