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Windows machines can't print PDF files made on Macs.

dopey220

dopey220

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 19, 2006
418
3
... That's why my files wouldn't print at Kinko's, according to the guy working there. I knew that was a load of crap, but I decided not to call him out on it because I knew the real reason my files wouldn't print: Because they wanted $120 plus tax to print two 24x36 documents.

Needless to say, the Kinko's on the corner of State and Liberty in Ann Arbor, Michigan won't be seeing me again.
 
Ahhh, I do have to admit that that particular Kinko's saved me on many a hazy early spring morning when I went there at 5AM to get materials for a Tech Comm class before going to North Campus. :(

P.S. While you're over there, can you please pick me up some Stucchi's? Grasshopper pie, please, cup. The waffle cones are good but too messy. :D

P.P.S. Damn straight -- Mac PDFs print fine on Windows. The concept explaining why is the entire fracking point of what a PDF is. :rolleyes: I take PDFs of my conference posters to a campus lab here at the University of Florida to print them on a plotter (usually 36x48 or so). There should be a campus lab to which you have access, even if you're not in engineering or architecture, with a plotter that you can use for less than Kinkos. It's not hard to print a PDF on a plotter at all. Probably at the one in Angell Hall or NUBS if it still exists?
 
Actually, I go to Washtenaw as a graphic design major, and there's a plotter there I can use for free. The only reason I even set foot in Kinko's was that I wasn't sure how busy the production center would be the next day.
 
Kinko's Seems Very Binary

From my experience, the people working at Kinko's fall in to one of two categories:

1) Extremely skilled and helpful

2) Dumb as a bag of hammers

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground at Kinko's. One either gets helped by a (1) or by a (2) when visiting Kinko's...
 
I'd hoped that Kinkos would improve after they were bought by Federal Express, but I guess that didn't happen.

Is this the place for sharing bad Kinkos experiences? I've got lots of them.
 
dopey220 said:
Sure, bring 'em on.
Click to expand...

Here's one that happens almost every time I go into a Kinkos: I stand at the order desk for five minutes or more, while nobody seems to notice me. Finally, somebody stops to ask if I've been helped. I haven't been helped, thank you. I place my order, the employee goes off to check my PDF on the computer or some such, and almost immediately another employee comes to the desk and asks if I've been helped. No thanks, I've been helped. Then another. They have no system -- no system at all!

I used to e-mail files to the local Kinkos for printing. They would insist on faxing back a proof (as if that does any good). Since I work at home, I'd write explicitly on the order "please do not fax proof after 10 PM!" You guessed it -- 11:30 PM, the fax line rings. I've even had them call at that hour with a question! Unbelievable.

BTW, my local Kinkos is in the city where the Kinkos corporate offices used to be located, before they moved to Texas and were bought out by Federal Express. So I can only imagine how badly run the stores must be when they aren't located just a few miles from corporate!
 
I have had problems with Windows not handling transparency... Don't know if that's relevant.
 
Actually, I have found that if you have a slightly dodgy PDF, often Acrobat (and most others) won't load it whereas Preview will. So the problem might only happen on a Windows machine.

What appears to be a Mac PDF problem actually stems from the fact that Preview is too good! It hides the problems. Now I keep a copy of Acrobat Reader on my machine and do a quick "open with" before I take the PDF to the print shop.

The specific problem that led me to discover this was a PDF that opened fine in Preview but would make Windows crash. It turned out that the original Pages file had a text box that was slightly too small, just cutting off the very bottom of some text. Preview was happy with the resulting PDF but Acrobat (on PC and Mac) would crash on opening it, or open it grossly misformatted. Because the problem was not obvious until it was loaded on a PC (I did not have Acrobat installed at the time) it made it seem at first to be a Mac problem.

Maybe the guy had experienced this before.
 
I have a Kinkos story..

One time i went in to get a color copy of a record album. I thought it would be neat to color copy it and make a big album collage.

Anyways the guy refused me "Saying it was a violation of copyright." I said fair enough i can understand that.

Then i asked what about every single person that copies a page out of a book here. He said "Well thats different...."



Go figure.
 
smellslikedan said:
Then i asked what about every single person that copies a page out of a book here. He said "Well thats different...."

Go figure.
Click to expand...

I think there may be laws that say you are allowed to copy certain portions of a book for research etc. When I was at university you were allowed to copy 10% of any book. I don't know if this is unique to the UK, or specific to universities etc.
 
Cult Follower said:
Sounds like the kincos guys no nothing a PDF is a PDF.
Click to expand...


If only... there are so many ways to put together a PDF, it's not funny. And what's more, there are quite a few versions of the PDF standard, some containing features that aren't backwards-compatible.

I've seen some cack-handed PDFs in my time, produced from technically-suspect sources. We've got one or two printers who still won't take a PDF on its own because they get all sorts of junk (not from me I hasten to add ;)); they prefer the source files be they Quark, InDesign, whatever...

Let me assure you that not all PDFs are created equal.
 
Mr Skills said:
I think there may be laws that say you are allowed to copy certain portions of a book for research etc. When I was at university you were allowed to copy 10% of any book. I don't know if this is unique to the UK, or specific to universities etc.
Click to expand...

Yeah, in the U.S. it's called fair use. Not sure there's an exact percentage, because it depends on teh circumstances. I can see how copying the cover of an album would be less "fair" than a book. On the other hand, you're using it for something different.

FWIW, there was a big to do in the early 1990s, because a lot of college profs. were making "course readers" that basically copied an entire book. The readers were available for purchase at Kinkos near college campuses, quite often. Kinkos got in trouble for copyright violations, and may have been threatened with big $$ lawsuits. If I recall, they promised not to do it again, and got off.
 
Le Big Mac said:
Yeah, in the U.S. it's called fair use. Not sure there's an exact percentage, because it depends on teh circumstances. I can see how copying the cover of an album would be less "fair" than a book. On the other hand, you're using it for something different.

FWIW, there was a big to do in the early 1990s, because a lot of college profs. were making "course readers" that basically copied an entire book. The readers were available for purchase at Kinkos near college campuses, quite often. Kinkos got in trouble for copyright violations, and may have been threatened with big $$ lawsuits. If I recall, they promised not to do it again, and got off.
Click to expand...

The case. If it's of any interest, the subject of the suit was the original Kinkos store in Isla Vista, CA, just off campus from UC Santa Barbara. (I was doing my graduate work at UCSB at the time!)

The decision also includes a definition of Fair Use.
 
IJ Reilly said:
The case. If it's of any interest, the subject of the suit was the original Kinkos store in Isla Vista, CA, just off campus from UC Santa Barbara. (I was doing my graduate work at UCSB at the time!)

The decision also includes a definition of Fair Use.
Click to expand...

Am I alone in finding it hilarious that one of the works in question is called 'Understanding Capitalism'?
 
mkrishnan said:
Ahhh, I do have to admit that that particular Kinko's saved me on many a hazy early spring morning when I went there at 5AM to get materials for a Tech Comm class before going to North Campus. :(

P.S. While you're over there, can you please pick me up some Stucchi's? Grasshopper pie, please, cup. The waffle cones are good but too messy. :D

P.P.S. Damn straight -- Mac PDFs print fine on Windows. The concept explaining why is the entire fracking point of what a PDF is. :rolleyes: I take PDFs of my conference posters to a campus lab here at the University of Florida to print them on a plotter (usually 36x48 or so). There should be a campus lab to which you have access, even if you're not in engineering or architecture, with a plotter that you can use for less than Kinkos. It's not hard to print a PDF on a plotter at all. Probably at the one in Angell Hall or NUBS if it still exists?
Click to expand...

Aah, it's so nice to see someone else reminiscing about my hometown. Also, while you're down there, pick up a cheap lunch of bread and soup at Amer's and maybe catch an afternoon flick at the State Theatre. If there's nothing interesting, then maybe the A2 orchestra at the Michigan Theatre.

Out of curiosity, are there still a bunch of teenagers and old men playing Go in the Borders cafe every afternoon?

O, how i miss undergrad life at UM.
 
Moof1904 said:
From my experience, the people working at Kinko's fall in to one of two categories:

1) Extremely skilled and helpful

2) Dumb as a bag of hammers

There doesn't seem to be any middle ground at Kinko's. One either gets helped by a (1) or by a (2) when visiting Kinko's...
Click to expand...

I really think point 2 is more accurate, I have NEVER been in a Kinko's where I was served by a person who a has an IQ above room temperature.......

Seriously who does the hiring at Kinko's :confused:
 
At the nearest Kinko's here in Japan (yeah, there is one), they have a few Mac and Window workstations set up. You open up whatever apps you need and print it yourself. Then one of the staff bring what you printed to the counter for you. I've only been there once, but they seemed to be on-the-ball — even my lousy Japanese wasn't an issue.
 
smellslikedan said:
I have a Kinkos story..

One time i went in to get a color copy of a record album. I thought it would be neat to color copy it and make a big album collage.

Anyways the guy refused me "Saying it was a violation of copyright." I said fair enough i can understand that.

Then i asked what about every single person that copies a page out of a book here. He said "Well thats different...."



Go figure.
Click to expand...

Just get a copy card and do it yourself :cool:
 
Japanese Kinkos

CaptainHaddock said:
At the nearest Kinko's here in Japan (yeah, there is one), they have a few Mac and Window workstations set up. You open up whatever apps you need and print it yourself. Then one of the staff bring what you printed to the counter for you. I've only been there once, but they seemed to be on-the-ball — even my lousy Japanese wasn't an issue.
Click to expand...

I agree - I have used Kinkos in Akasaka a few times and found them to be very helpful at all hours of the night (jetlag).

But that may be the Japanese service ethic :)

Maybe the issue with the Mac PDF was that it should have been a .pdf <LOL> bag of hammers alright, but that's Windows users for you.

A
 
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