BookSmart
Print file huge. Takes a long time to print.I have completed my first book and was trying to print it so I could proof it. I tried printing it and it was taking a really long time (more than 10 minutes). I looked at the printer manager and it was showing only 8 pages printed and the file size was over 800mb. I canceled that print job and tried to print it to a PDF. Same issue. Only got through about 5 pages and the file size in the printer manager was over 500mb. I am using a Bother 8840 printer for hard copies and CutePDF for the PDF. Any suggestions? I tried re-starting the comptuer and had the same results. Thanks.
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No technical soloution for you but I use CutePDF. I set the "print" going and go to bed, the one time I tried watching it I gave up after 2 hours. .......Tony
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I’ve used Cute PDF on 2 different books now and can only get 31 pages. Is this a function of the printer manager? Any help would be appreciated. |
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Does anyone else have this problem? I can’t believe this is the way it is supposed to work. Hours to print a file or make a PDF seems crazy. Thanks. |
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I tried printing with similar results. My is 29 MB, about 80 images and 149 pages. Not big by any means. |
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I agree. I was really satisfied with the BookSmart program until it came time to proof my work. Not being able to readily print a proof hard copy or PDF is ridiculous. It makes it hard to have someone else look over your work before you drop the coin for a hard copy from Blurb. |
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Bigrig, Uhm, I’d want to chime in and offer some insights related to one specific thing. When you say ”... I am using a Bother 8840 printer…” So, when it comes to printing profile used your printer, Brother 8840 printer as opposed to Blurb’s outsourced printers that uses HP Indigo printer. So, when you want to compare between Brother 8840 and HP Indigo printer. The print profile, ICC profile and set up is done rather differently. Hope that help to clarify and put this into perspective as to the difference between Blurbarians’ home printer as opposed to Blurb, and outsourced printers that use HP Indigo printers, and types of materials and ink… It is totally different stuff, materials and stuff. Totally different. Cheers, |
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Brian Do you have the same issues when printing on your home printer? I agree completely that the software needs to be optimized for the printers Blurb uses to do the final printing. But… I would think that there would be some efficient method for the user to create proofs. An overnight print job on my home computer is unacceptable. I have no complaints about the software other than the issues I am having printing proofs. I have ordered my first book and will resereve final judgment until it arrives. I have high expectations from all of the comments I have read. I don’t produce a lot of books, but the printing issue may drive me toward another solution that better suits my needs. I am really interested in understanding if this is a known issue and if there is some work around. Thanks. |
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Yes printing is very intensive and very slow on Booksmart. If you are out of memory or have a slow CPU, it will takes hours for a large book. On my old PC, which was out of memory (only 1 Gb) due to the 100+ pages with over 400 large photos (13×11 format) it took hours. Overnight was the only way to go. With a brand new high end laptop (4 gb) it still takes a while, but it is down to under an hour. The most productive thing I’ve found is complete the entire book. Don’t proof parts. Get the whole book done, and then start review. I’ve found this is when I start seeing formatting inconsitencies and realize which things I like more. Then I start rebuilding pages to be consisent across the entire project. Making sure fonts are the same, consistent look to the whole book, proofing text. Perform as many soft proofs on screen in Preview mode as possible. I’ve easily done 1-2 dozen runs through the book since most of the pages were built. Spend the time cleaning up on screen repeatedly before trying your first hard proof. Then ALWAYS print to PDF. Then print the PDF to you local printer for paper proofs. Anything else risks wasting time. The PDF will print much faster to your local printer. I’m still using 1.9.4 which suffered speed issues, but until my two current books are finished, I can’t risk changing versions. |
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It also takes a very long time to print to pdf. AND I still cannot print to pdf beyond 31 pages. I am now forced to print multiple files and then combine. Does anyone have a solution? |
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Agree with Brian, above, whilst it would be nice to print out at home and see exactly how it will look, it’s not really going to happen. What you could end up with from your home printer could be very different from what Blurb will print. Different papers, inks, profiles etc can all make a huge difference. |
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I’m more concerned about have a portable version to review when not at my ‘home’ computer. This allows me to make editing notes that I can then implement. |
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I can;’t print. I just did one page to test this application. Then I tried to print that one page I have a new Thinkpad with the latest "stuff" and an HP printer. It slows down the whole PC to a crawl and then after about 5 minutes gives a popup error message saying the printer cannot print it. I also tried again and then clicked the cancel button and that took forever also to respond. |
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I’ve had the same issues that JLGHammond is having. I’ve tried to print to PDF, but even after running it all night (with no other programs open), it still hadn’t gotten past page 3. And, when I try to print straight to my HP printer, it only prints 31 pages (and takes several hours). Is 31 a magic number of some kind? I’ll bet there is a limiter in the software somewhere. I don’t need to proof the book for color or clarity at this stage. I’m just checking the layout. But, with a book currently at 177 pages, half of which are full-page photos, and weighing in at over 2GB, I’m beginning to think that proofing to my own printer isn’t a possibility. I’m upgrading BookSmart 1.9.7 to version 1.9.9, but have heard horror stories about layout problems when importing an existing book. |
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Hmmmm, this is definitely an issue that begs for troubleshooting. We’ve seen a given book fully print from a Mac, yet consistently stall on a PC… and on the same page no less (printing isn’t governed with page limits; BookSmart *should* be printing your whole draft). Could you please write into Customer Support? If it’s ok with you, support might want to look at your file to see what can be learned. Please include in your message a link to this thread. Thanks & cheers! Jeremy |
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just wanted to add my experience: I tried to print the last two index pages in a 120 page book (with many pictures). Checking such details is much easier in print than on screen … After many hours, Booksmart (1.9.4 ?) gave up because the PC ran out of disk space – apparently the print file had grown to over 5 GB just for printing these two simple pages … I’m using a bit older PC with 2.2 GHz / 1 MB with a HP color laserprinter – have never seen anything like this with other programs, most of my printing (including bitmaps etc.) is pretty quick. There must be something wrong in the Booksmart program. |
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sorry, correction for the above: PC with 2.2 GHz / 1 GB memory |
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Actually, I have been corresponding with a tech support rep named Mark. So far, he’s provided the standard suggestions of reducing image filesize, removing unused images, and upgrading to version 1.9.9… all of which I have done. I’ve been using BookSmart on my HP laptop (2GB RAM, 160GB hard disk, 50GB free space). But, I’m afraid to put it on my Mac. I can’t say running BookSmart on my PC is actually "buggy", but it’s flaky enough to cause me to hesitate putting it on a pristine isolated Mac that will never see the risk of downloaded material. |
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I recently (and reluctantly) installed the new software on my Pro Mac, hoping that its incredible power (16GB of RAM, dual Quad Core Xenon processor, and 4 internal 750GB hard drives) would help speed things up. Unfortunately, the program runs as slowly as it did on my weaker PC. And, I think I might have an idea what the problem is… Every click, every font correction, every edit, literally every single move within the program requires 15 to 30 seconds before the software is ready for another move. Could it be that the "Always Save" function causes the program to pause and save after every "event", slowing down the creation process? Could it be that if this function were modified or turned off that the software would run faster? Is anyone else having problems with their 100+ page photo books? |
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