Having problems downloading or printing an Adobe Acrobat document from CISAT Library's E-Reserve system? Please read through this guide before contacting us.
| - Our documents are tested to print successfully in our computer lab (HHS building, room 2021). If the suggestions below do not solve your problem, you may need to view and print your documents here on the east campus. |
Issues that can affect the downloading or printing of Adobe .pdf documents:
- Old version of Adobe Acrobat - at times older versions have trouble pulling up (or will not display or print correctly) documents created with the latest Acrobat product.
- Slow server or heavy traffic on the JMU network - .pdf documents can be fairly large, and a loaded network, coupled with insufficient pc memory on your machine, can result in the Acrobat Reader stalling or uploading a document incorrectly.
- Computer has old or incompatible printer drivers - Adobe Reader is particular with some types of printers.
Troubleshooting:
- What version of Acrobat Reader do you have installed on your computer?
- This can be found by opening Reader and clicking on "About Adobe Reader" under the "Help" tab.
- If you are not using the latest version (7.0), your printing problems might be corrected by installing the update. This can be downloaded at the Adobe site free of charge:
Adobe Reader Download
- What type of printer are you using?
- If you are getting printing errors with a dot-matrix printer, try switching your printer configuration to PCL or PostScript mode (if your printer has this option). This may resolve the problem. If not, you will need to find a "non-impact" type printer, as Adobe Acrobat only supports laser and ink-jet printers.
- What operating system are you running on your computer?
- CISAT Library does not support Unix-based operating systems (such as Mac OSX or Linux). Adobe does have a Mac OS printing problem guide within their "support knowledgebase" tech site. This document can be downloaded at:
Mac OS Printing Problem Guide
If you are running a Microsoft Windows OS, have the latest Acrobat Reader (7.0) installed, utilize a laser or ink-jet printer, and still have problems printing our e-reserve documents, here is another possible solution:
- Some proprietary printer drivers incorrectly interpret .pdf pages that have been rotated during the creating process. This can result in the document being printed as a mirror image or blank page.
- Select "Print As Image" within the Print dialog box. This creates a rasterized version of the file which can be interpreted by most (non-impact) printers.
- Download (and install in lieu of your normal printer drivers) the latest version of Adobe's AdobePS printer driver. This should allow your printer to correctly read and print the .pdf file, no matter how it was created. It can be downloaded at:
AdobePS Printer Driver Download
- Further Windows printing help can be found within Adobe's "support knowledgebase" site. A guide can be downloaded at:
Windows Printing Problem Guide
*In rare cases, you will not be able to print e-reserve documents off campus. If the above suggestions have failed to solve your printing problems, you will need to do your E-Reserve printing at the CISAT Library, or find a machine and printer elsewhere that prints them error-free. In this case, please send an email to library-cisat@jmu.edu with information including the name of the document you are attempting to pull up or print, the name of your professor and class (example...HTH230), and computer specs (example...Windows 98, Adobe 5.0, HP Deskjet 855c, at home, AOL internet provider). This information will help us troubleshoot the creation of e-reserves in the future. |
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