Date: Thu, 21 Apr 94 12:15:32 PST From: Paul Brians 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