Expert: Glen Demers - 2/3/2010

Question
Hello,

I have a recurring problem when printing InDesign documents. Black lines (or sometimes just a singular black line) will appear across one or more of the images, vertical or horizontal.
All the images I use for my projects are 300dpi CMYK flattened tiffs; and it doesn't matter if the images are embedded or not. Just today it went even further - a simple rectangle frame, filled with a gradient colour in IDD, also came out with a stripe across it...?
I really can't figure out what makes this happen, I've looked online for all sorts of answers but nothing seems to apply to my situation.
Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer
Hi Anna,

Instead of printing to a printer, Export the page to a pdf and see if the black lines are still there. This will tell you if the problem is occurring in InDesign or the printer. Since it has happened to an image and an InDesign graphic we can eliminate Illustrator and Photoshop.

If the lines are not in the PDF then try printing out the PDF, if the lines appear on this printout, then the culprit must be the printer. I would try a different media as the paper may be slipping going through the printer, or it may be a faulty network or printer cable. Contact the printer company for troubleshooting assistance.

If this doesn't fix the problem, please follow up with details including InDesign version and platform, Printer model and driver info and rip details, if available.

Hope this helps,
Glen Demers
Prepress Technician, Best Printing Online
www.bestprintingonline.com

For more InDesign tips please visit our help pages here: http://www.bestprintingonline.com/indesign.htm