Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 12:15:32 PST
From: Paul Brians <BRIANS@WSUVM1.CSC.WSU.EDU>
Subject: How to Print Crop Marks Only in PageMaker 5 Documents
Aldus made the dubious decision that most people using PageMaker print
documents containing either gray-scale or color information. Therefore
in PageMaker 5.0 checking "Printer's Marks" in the Print Dialog inserts
not only crop marks but color/grayscale bars and registration marks on
every page. Even checking "Print all colors as black" (the only option
to tell PM5 that the document is B&W) does not suppress these extra
marks, which are distracting and use up extra toner.
After waiting forever on hold and dealing with Aldus' notoriously rude
"support" and biting my tongue (why don't they hire Miss Manners to give
seminars to those people?--I was warned by our local help desk to expect
rudeness, but it was still breathtaking) I was told that the solution is
contained in FaxYI number 115101. However that fax was not available
from their automated fax number (??). So the rude but helpful support
person personally faxed it to me. I asked for email if possible so I
could just copy and paste the code, but was told fax was the only way to
go. (Have you noticed that an astonishing number of support people have
never heard of the Internet?)
On receipt it turned out to be the following memo, prepared by
Compuserve resident PageMaker guru Olav Kvern (co-author of the
wonderful Real World PageMaker (buy it! you'll love it!), snatched off
CS by Aldus.
With the smudgy, sans-serif fax in front of me (is that an I or a 1 or a
vertical line?) I painstakingly typed it up and--voila, it works! For
other users I am attaching it as a text file below, which I suggest be
placed in the archives. Just copy and paste the appropriate sections
for your purposes.
I assume the fact that the fourth character in the first example is a
lower-case "l" and that the fourth character in the the second example
is an upper-case "L" is a mistake; but I reproduce them here as I got
them: it doesn't seem to matter.
**********************************************************************
ISSUE
When printing from Aldus PageMaker 5.0, the option to print only crop
marks, registration marks, color-control bars, or density-control bars
is not given. The only option given, "Printer's marks" in the "Colors"
Print dialog box, prints all printers' marks.
SOLUTIONS
The following solutions will work only when printing to a PostScript
printer.
To Print Crop Marks Only When the "Printer's marks" Option is Selected:
1. Open a new file in a word processing application that can save in
text-only format such as Microsoft Word or TeachText if you're working
on a Macintosh or Windows Notepad if you're working on an IBM-
compatible.
2 Type the following text below as shown:
%%AlAfter.ps
%%by Olav Martin Kvern
%%To have PageMaker print additional printers' marks,
%%comment out the line containing the appropriate mark,
%%as indicated by the preceding comment.
ALPS begin
%%registration marks
/V` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%density-control bars
/W` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%color-control bars
/X` {5{pop} repeat} def
end
NOTE: the character :`" (e.g., /N`) is a grave accent, located on the
same key as the tilde character (left of the "1/1" [or on some older
keyboards to the right of the command key--P.B.]. Ensure that a return
character is entered after the last word "end" or the PostScript error,
"undefined; OffendingCommand: endALPS" will be received.
3. Save as a text-only file named "AlAfter.ps" in the folder named
Aldus (Macintosh) or in the ALDUS\USENGLISH directory (Windows).
To Print Other Printer's Marks Combinations When the "Printer's marks"
Option is Selected:
1. Follow the steps above which prevents PageMaker from printing the
registration marks, density-control bars, and color-control bars, which
results in PageMaker printing only crop marks.
Comment out (using "%%") the line containing the appropriate mark wanted
to print with the crop marks.
For example, to have crop marks and color-control bars print, type the
following:
%%ALAfter.ps
%%by Olav Martin Kvern
%%To have PageMaker print additional printers' marks,
%%comment out the line containing the appropriate mark,
%%as indicated by the preceding comment.
ALPS begin
%%registration marks
/V` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%density-control bars
/W` {6{pop} repeat} def
%%color-control bars
%%/X` {5{pop} repeat} def
end
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Because most print jobs request both crop marks and density-control bars
or all possible printers' marks, the choice to have one option for
selecting all printers' marks was made for PageMaker 5.0 using the
"Printer's marks" option in the "Colors" Print dialog box.
PageMaker 5.0 allows for modification to its print behavior by creating
external patch files, containing PostScript code. The "AlAfter.ps" file,
located in the folder named Aldus, will be downloaded and executed by
all PageMaker publications at print time.
SOURCE
Olav Martin Kvern tip in CompuServe ALDUSFO (Aldus Forum)
KEYWORDS
croponly
Created 09/29/93 Updated 02/15/94
Paul Brians, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-5020