How to Prepare a PDF for Printing
A checklist to avoid cut-off margins, wrong orientation, missing pages and blurry output when printing a PDF.
Most printing problems can be caught before you press Print. Run through this checklist.
Check orientation and page order
Scroll the whole document once. Rotate any sideways pages with Rotate PDF so they do not print upside down.
Remove blank and unneeded pages
Blank pages waste paper and mess up double-sided printing. Remove them with Delete PDF pages.
Add page numbers
If the document will be handed around, page numbers make it easy to put back in order when dropped.
Page size and scaling
In the print dialog choose the paper size that matches the PDF (A4 or Letter). "Actual size" prints without resizing, while "Fit" shrinks content to the printable area, which avoids cut-off edges at the price of slightly smaller text. Most office printers cannot print right to the edge, so keep important content at least 5 mm inside.
Image quality
Images in a PDF are only as sharp as they were made. For print, 150 dpi is acceptable and 300 dpi is better for photographs. Heavily compressed PDFs can look soft on paper, so avoid strong compression for print copies.
Double-sided printing
If you print on both sides, make sure the page count and breaks make sense. Starting each new section on an odd page may need an inserted blank page.