Print PDFs

Print button missing?

If you can't see the Print and Cancel buttons, your monitor is set to a low screen resolution. Reader wasn't designed for low-resolution displays (the minimum recommended is 1024 x 768). However, you can work around this limitation. Do either of the following to print your document:

  • Press Enter or Return.
  • If a scroll bar appears on the right of the dialog box, drag the slider down to access the buttons.
Note:

(Windows) On some monitors, the Windows taskbar covers the Print button. You can hide the taskbar so it appears only when you mouse to the bottom of the screen. Right-click the taskbar and choose Properties. In the Properties dialog box, select Auto-hide the Taskbar, then click OK.

Set the Taskbar properties to hide the taskbar so you can select the Print button

Also refer the article for related registry fix: HiDPI, Retina display support

Print a PDF

  1. Choose File > Print or click icon in the toolbar.

  2. Select a Printer and number of Copies to print.

  3. (Optional) Click Properties to open the Printer properties. For more information, see your printer documentation.

  4. Under Pages to Print, select an option:

    • All - prints all pages in the PDF.
    • Current page - prints the current page in the PDF.
    • Pages - specifies a subset of pages to print. You can enter individual page numbers, a range, or a combination. For example: 1, 6-18, 33, 98.
    • More options - specifies additional options such as even or odd pages, and reverse pages.

  5. Specify other options as per your requirements:

    • Page Sizing & Handling
    • Orientation
    • Comments & Forms
    Note:

    As you change the settings, the print preview is displayed. Click the arrow buttons at the bottom to preview the other pages.

  6. If necessary, click Page Setup to change the paper size, paper source, or orientation.

  7. Click Print.

Common printing tasks

Print on both sides

You can print double-sided if your printer supports double-sided (duplex printing) feature.  

Note: Double-sided printing is also called duplex, back to back, front and back, or two-sided printing.

The printer driver controls the options, not Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader. Check                                             your printer documentation to see what features your printer supports.

  • In the Print dialog box, enable Print on both sides of paper, and choose an edge to flip.
Note:

There could be a scenario when a printer actually supports duplex printing and this option does not appear in the Print dialog box. In such cases, open the printer properties to directly access this option from printer preferences.

For more information, refer to the article Print double-sided.

Print in black and white

You can print a color PDF in shades of gray (also known as grayscale or composite gray).

  • In the Print dialog box, enable Print in grayscale.

Print at a different size

You can scale the page to shrink or enlarge pages when you print. You can automatically scale to fit the paper or manually scale by percentages.

  • In the Print dialog box, click Size and then specify the scaling options.

Print large-size documents

You can print a large format document, such as a poster or banner, by splitting the page across multiple sheets of paper (called "tiling"). The Poster option calculates how many sheets of paper are needed. You can adjust the size of the original to best fit the paper and specify how much each "tile" overlaps. You can then piece together the tiles.

  • In the Print dialog box, click Poster and then specify the tiling options.

Print multiple pages on a sheet

You can print more than one page of a PDF on a single sheet of paper. Printing multiple pages per sheet is also called n-up printing (such as 2-up or 6-up). You can specify how the pages are ordered, either horizontally across the page or in vertical columns.

  • In the Print dialog box, click Multiple and then specify the pages to print on a single sheet and other related options.

Print booklets

You can print a multipage document as a booklet. The pages are laid out two per sheet. When you collate, fold, and staple the double-sided sheets, the result is a single book with the correct page order.

  • In the Print dialog box, click Booklet and then specify the booklet options.

Print comments

You can print comments in place (like sticky notes on a page), in a list, or as a summary.

In the Comments and Forms area, do one of the following:

  • Choose an option from the drop-down list.
  • Click Summarize Comments.

Print a portion of a page

You can print a portion of a page in a PDF. Use the Snapshot Tool to select just the area you want to print. The area can be text, graphics, or both. You can print the selected area full size or resize it to fit the paper.

  1. Choose Edit Take A Snapshot.
  2. Draw a rectangle to select a portion of a page.
  3. Choose File Print.
  4. In the Print dialog box, click Selected graphic.

Why can’t I print my document?

Start with these troubleshooting tips

Printing problems can have various causes. To identify the issue, start with this helpful tech note: Troubleshoot PDF printing | Acrobat, Reader

If the PDF is password protected, and printing is not allowed

If you receive a password-protected PDF, enter the designated password to print the document. Some protected documents have restrictions that prevent you from printing, editing, or copying content in the document. If a document has restrictions on printing, contact the PDF author.

(Windows only) Protected Mode is interfering

The default Protected Mode greatly enhances the security of Acrobat Reader. To determine if Protected Mode is interfering with printing, temporarily disable it. Right-click the document, and choose Document Properties. Click Advanced to view if protected mode is enabled.

To disable protected mode, choose Edit > Preferences and click Security (Enhanced) on the left. Deselect Enable Protected Mode At Startup. Close Reader, restart it, and try to print the document again.

Note:

To ensure maximum security, when you finish printing, reselect Enable Protected Mode At Startup.

Simulate overprinting of inks

Overprint simulation approximates how blending and overprinting of colored artwork looks when printed on an offset press. You can simulate the effects of overprinting on a color desktop printer by selecting Simulate Overprinting in the Advanced Print Setup dialog box. Overprint simulation converts spot colors to process colors for printing. If you intend to use a file for final output, do not select Simulate Overprinting.

Note:

Color printers vary greatly in color reproduction quality. For that reason, proofs from a service provider are the best way to verify the final output.

Three overlapping circles without overprinting (left) compared to three overlapping circles with overprinting (right).

What should I do if Acrobat Reader is asking to save a file when a document is printed?

In case Acrobat Reader is prompting to save a file when you click Print, then click Advanced print dialog and deselect the Print to File option.

Note:  

  • Make sure that you have selected a physical printer to print upon and not Adobe PDFXPS/Send note or any other virtual printer.
  • Print to File option was available on Print dialog itself until Acrobat 10.X versions.

What should I do to print comments available on the PDF document?

There are certain annotations (example: pop-up notes) which are available on the PDF document and the annotations do not print by default unless you want them to be printed.

This has been intentionally designed so that such annotations do not hinder the view of the content available behind them.

However, there may be cases when you do want them to be printed. To print the pop-up notes and other annotations:

  1. Go to Edit > Preferences.
  2. Select Commenting from the Categories list.
  3. Enable the option Print Notes And Pop-ups.

Acrobat Reader crashes on printing / Acrobat Reader does not Print after clicking Print button

This could happen due to an Adobe Acrobat installation file corruption. To resolve this issue, ensure that you are using the latest version of Adobe Reader/ Acrobat application.

If you are seeing this issue with the latest version:

  1. Uninstall Acrobat Reader using the Acrobat cleaner utility.
  2. Reinstall Acrobat Reader.

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Oct 14–16 Miami Beach and online