Spooling over a WinXP workgroup results in a large spool file

[Guest]

The workgroup I have setup at home connects about 4 desktops running
WinXPSP2.

When I print to a shared printer over the network however, it is noted that
within the print spooler the Size shows a larger size than expected whilst
spooling e.g. 1.01Mb/363Mb,whilst the file is actually around 1Mb. Why is
this?

This results in the print job over the network being spooled very slowly,
taking over 1n hour to spool a 1Mb print job from MS PowerPoint 2007.

The printer 'Owner' is expected to be the windows user sending the print job
(right?!), however, it shows another user name on the pc where the printer is
attached.

This slow connection speed is not noted when say moving or copying files, so
I think this confirms it is not a network issue, but a printing problem.

 

[Bill Dilworth]

I very sorry Jon, you've wondered into the chic-geek group and you seem to
want the uber-geek one. (Couldn't resist)

Most jobs sent to the computer will reflect a much larger size then the
finished 'save' formatted file. This is because printers do not read
PowerPoint formats (or any application software format), they read pixel
data. It is as though the printer is thinking .o0O (This pixel is 30%
yellow, 0% magenta, 2% black, and 10% cyan, the next one is ...) This may
be the reason that you are seeing largish data files to transfer -- as a
normal printing process. However, there is also a situation that can
explode a file size to silly proportions.

The main reason I have come across for silly-large print spool files
(instead of merely way-too-large print spool files) with PowerPoint has
seemed to stem from transparency layers generated by alpha-channel
supporting graphics formats. In essence, for each transparent laden image
on each slide, the computer prints another full page of printer information.
This will result in very silly-large spool file and much slower network
printing times.

If this is for one specific case, you may want to save the presentation as a
series of flat graphics files and print these graphics files instead (Save
As ... EMF or such). This gives the printer only a single layer to print
and therefore less to transmit and therefore a faster print time.



--
Bill Dilworth
A proud member of the Microsoft PPT MVP Team
Users helping fellow users.
http://billdilworth.mvps.org
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
vestprog2@ Please read the PowerPoint FAQ pages.
yahoo. They answer most of our questions.
com www.pptfaq.com
..

 

[Echo S]

In addition to Bill's advice, make sure you have up-to-date printer drivers.
Also, you might see if going to Office button | PPT Options | Advanced |
Print and unchecking "high quality" helps. Maybe also uncheck "print in
background" and see if that does any good.

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PowerPoint 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
(New!) The PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/2qzlpl
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/powerpointannoy/index.html
PPTLive! Oct 28-31, New Orleans http://www.pptlive.com

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

When I print to a shared printer over the network however, it is noted that

within the print spooler the Size shows a larger size than expected whilst
spooling e.g. 1.01Mb/363Mb,whilst the file is actually around 1Mb. Why is
this?

The size of a queue and the size of the document being printed have no fixed
relation to one another.

This results in the print job over the network being spooled very slowly,
taking over 1n hour to spool a 1Mb print job from MS PowerPoint 2007.

The printer 'Owner' is expected to be the windows user sending the print job
(right?!), however, it shows another user name on the pc where the printer is
attached.

This slow connection speed is not noted when say moving or copying files, so
I think this confirms it is not a network issue, but a printing problem.

Not sure why the owner would vary, but it's good that this extra info removes
network speed from the list of possible causes.

Fact is, some of PowerPoint 2007's sophisticated effects can be very costly in
terms of printer time. Is this by any chance a PostScript printer? Does it
have a non-PS mode as well? Try installing a driver for and using that if so.