As I mentioned last month, the Photoshop team has been working to address printing problems reported by customers using Photoshop CS3. My fellow PM Bryan O’Neil Hughes has been driving this effort, and he and the technical writing team have posted a detailed explanation of the changes made by the update. Bryan’s introduction is below.
In Photoshop CS3, we made a significant effort to improve the printing experience for our users. This resulted in many changes to the printing code, improvements to the print interface, new color management functionality, and support for new features in the latest printer drivers and operating systems. Throughout the project, we worked closely with printer manufacturers to ensure the best possible integration with their devices.
A number of issues have come to our attention since we shipped CS3, and we are now releasing a maintenance update to address many of those that are without an easy workaround. We have also discovered that some problems can be averted by minor refinements to a user’s workflow and we have done our best to describe some of those here. Please read on in this document for specifics. — Bryan O’Neil Hughes, Photoshop Product Manager
“… We have also discovered that some problems can be averted by minor refinements to a user’s workflow …”
I like that one 🙂
/ockley
John –
Thanks for posting this. Should make lots of folks happier.
Here’s an in-the-weeds question:
What’s a “BPE” printer? In the technical paper, reference is made to BPE printers, particularly the Epson 3800.
Rick
[Good question, Rick. BPE refers to “Best Print Experience.” I’m not sure whether the technology has been marketed under that banner yet or not (seems not). I’ll ask the team to follow up with more details. –J.]
thanks for that. 235 megs to fix printing? wow. did u try it? i have never let ps manage colors on my desktop canon printers, ever, as it seems the canon drivers do a much better job. but let’s see what they came up with:)
Now both Adobe PS3 10.1 is out and Leopard 10.5.1 but the crop size/feather size issue has not been solved. Is it on the way?
[Here’s more info on that subject. –J.]
I appreciate the documentation, but Xerox is conspicuously missing from the printer examples. I have seen more problems with Phaser laser printers than any other printer I’ve ever owned.
BPE references additional capabilities realized by some of our print partnerships (in short, enhanced communication between our application and some of the print drivers – the drivers continue to be developed). More information in a future blog/note.
Thanks,
-Bryan
The “infamous TechNote” referenced in the link to the thread in the Photoshop Macintosh forum (provided earlier) has been changed.
It has been amended to fix it in regard to CS3 by including the 10.0.1 update and correctly instructs to Let Photoshop Manage Colors, BUT…
…now it says to Let The Printer Manage Colors in CS2!
What is the matter with the folks signing off on this wrong-headed “TechNote”?!
That was never an issue in CS2.
It’s just plain bad advice that contradicts Adobe’s own videos and PDFs.
John,
Sorry if this is off-topic, but the 10.0.1 update didn’t address an issue that concerns me.
I’m on XP, Xeon processor, 3 MB ram, networked. PS CS3 is so very slow opening even the smallest JPG. I read a tip in the forums about not choosing a networked printer as the default. I’ve tried that by setting Adobe PDF as my default printer, but it doesn’t help.
Any ideas?
Thanks.
Ralph Sanders
[Ralph, Adam Jerugim from QE suggests the following:
1. Right click on Photoshop
2. Click properties
3. Click the “compatibility” tab
4. Click “disable visual effects”
Please let us know if that makes a difference. –J.]
John-
This is off topic, but I’m responding to a comment that you left on TUAW here: http://www.tuaw.com/2007/09/25/adobe-photoshop-elements-delayed-until-2008/
I don’t know if you check that TUAW post anymore for follow-up comments, and I couldn’t find an e-mail address for you, so I resort to this.
I’m sorry you feel Mat’s comment tough to hear, but Adobe is really dropping the ball on this one. Yes, those other achievements are nice, but they don’t mean a thing to me. I don’t use *those* products. I use Photoshop Elements. If I used those other products, I probably wouldn’t have a need for Photoshop Elements, now would I?
You fail to recognize that you are working with two different groups here.
Look at it from our perspective: Those of us that are consumer hobbyist have been waiting and waiting for a new version of Elements. We’ve seen Windows users get not one, but two new versions while we continue to wait. Meanwhile products like Pixelmator are coming out, and while not quite up to Elements (yet), they are tempting us to make a permanent switch.
I can’t believe that you wouldn’t recognize that you’re dealing with different markets when you left that comment. It’s thinking like that that will cause Adobe to lose in the marketplace. I love Adobe products, but I refuse to be overlooked by you while your competitors catch up.
Could you please provide us with a time frame for the next version of Photoshop Elements. 2008 is a pretty big year. I need to know if you’re talking January or December. Also will there be a public beta available soon? That would help immensely.
Ralph, please start a thread in the Adobe User to User forum, you’ll have a lot of people helping you. the troubleshooting necessary could take over this entire thread here, as there is a LOT more info that is needed to help you!
Thanks for the illumination on BPE printers, Bryan.
Can you expand on the “enhanced communication” between PS and the drivers? It would be great, for example, if you could set paper type and color management preference (as in “No-Color-Adjustment”) in the PS print dialog — kind of a one-stop shopping experience. This would make the entire color-managed print workflow much less painful.
Thanks, Rick
John, I just wanted to note here (I’ve also sent an e-mail) that the updated CS3 now prints perfectly with my Canon Pro9500 printer. I must admit I had my doubts (and had gone through the pain of reinstalling CS2 because of those doubts) but can confirm that, for me, the updates addressed all of my problems and concerns.
Thank you, and please than your developers. It may have been a long and painful wait (I’m lucky to have avoided most of that) but the end result seems to work quite well.
…Mike
Mike,
Really glad to hear that all is working well for you – thanks for the update.
-Bryan
Rick,
We’re working towards that very vision – not something we’ll achieve overnight, but the first seeds are already visible with certain HP printers in Lightroom. http://h30267.www3.hp.com/country/us/en/products/large_format/Z2100/solutions/adobe_lightroom.html
I’m a little lost with the instructions in the PDF:
Preparing to print
….
2. Delete your printer.
3. Re-add your printer via the OS Print Control Panel (Win) or Printer Setup (Mac).
…
What do they mean by step 2 under Windows XP? Does this mean
1) a full uninstall (in Add/Remove Programs) or
2) just selecting DELETE in Control Panel->Printers->Printers and Faxes?
If the latter, how do you add the printer again (Epson R2400)?
Thanks for the clarification!
Jeff
I didn’t (and still don’t) understand the need for deleting and re-adding the printer, but I followed the instructions. At least with my Epson 1280 on Windows XP, it involved going to “Printers and Fax,” selecting the Epson, and right-clicking “Delete.” Then I turned on the printer, and Windows automatically found both the printer and the existing drivers. I had a fresh copy of the drivers available in case I needed it, but it appears that “deleting” a printer this way leaves all the drivers, profiles, and settings intact.
When I fired up Photoshop and made some test prints, all the profiles and driver presets were still there. It correctly centered the images on 5.5×8.5-inch (letter size cut in half) paper, and remembered those settings after I closed one image and opened another. A significant improvement. The only problem is that when I closed Photoshop and started it again, the print dialogue opened up with my default laser printer instead of the Epson. So the documentation is slightly inaccurate: Printer settings are “sticky” only during a Photoshop session, not between sessions. It’s still a very welcome improvement.
Now I have to figure out how to delete CS2 and Bridge 1 without upsetting CS3. “Add/Remove Programs” has a whole slew of Adobe entries.
Jeff,
You can right-click and delete your printer (your step 2) and then to add, replicate your out-of-box experience (power, driver, setup, etc.).
I hope that helps,
-Bryan
Ted,
Very glad to hear that things are improved for you. I’m editing a revision to the document that you reference – I’ll consider your observation when we make changes.
Thanks for your feedback,
-Bryan
For the Epson 2400, after deleting as Bryan instructs, first make sure the printer is switched off. When you switch it back on, because the driver is still installed, Windows will be able to automatically re-add it but it will be “clean” so all settings will be back to default (which is the idea).
I have updated to 10.0.1 and followed all instructions as per the published pdf re uninstalling, reinstalling, deleting preferences but my pictures still print small and off-centre. Using Epson r2400 as printer. All is OK from CS2.
[Ugh. Let me see what I can find out. –J.]
Further to my last post. I downloaded the driver for R2400 and overwrote the existing driver(as opposed to the procedure from Phil Brown) and all seems well so far…..
I seem to be unable to delete my preferences file…following the instructions (ctrl-alt-shift) only brings up info about Photoshop, not the expected “delete settings?” message. What am I missing? How can I tell if the preferences file was, in fact deleted–if it was? I’m running Win XP SP2, BTW. Thx.
I spoke too soon –my printing has reverted again to smaller off-centre prints so it’s back to CS2 again. Has anybody else experienced problems since installing the update and using an R2400 printer?
With regard to Craig and his preference deletion–you need to do it from the program menu and not from a shortcut or task bar
It was suggested that I post my problem here. Hopefully there is a solution.
When I click on File/Print, the print dialog box is slow to appear and also the subsequent boxes, (Epson R2400). This is especially true for my wife’s PC which is connected via a network.
No problem when using Elements 5.0
thanks
Mike – I’d be happy to test a print on a 2400 for you if you have a file you can make available for download along with your *exact* settings in PS and the driver (I can cut down any paper to match what you’re using if needed).
I’m glad to hear that Adobe is trying to improve printing from CS3. Unfortunately, things still have a long way to go in Photoshop. After installing 10.0.1 it’s actually worse for me.
After printing on one printer (call it printer A), if I try to select a different printer (B) in the print dialog and then hit Page Setup, it will bring up the page-setup dialog for printer A. I can force it to switch by opening Page Setup from the File menu. This was occasionally a problem in 10.0.0.
Printing on my Epson R800 on roll paper is broken. No matter what I do it wants to print a landscape image “across” the paper in portrait mode and just will not switch to landscape. The dialogs and icons all say it’s in landscape mode but the print dialog preview window sizes the image for portrait mode and it prints that way.
I’m a 30-year veteran in software development. I’ve used Photoshop since version 6 and have utmost respect for the image editing features. However, printing support, while improved from CS2, still feels primitive and poorly tested. It’s always seemed that printing was an afterthought and didn’t get the same attention to quality as the image functionality. I eagerly await further improvements.
I experience the same problem as Bob Friedman reports above. The print dialog boxes all seem to hang a while before going on to display their content. In the “hanging period” the GUI is unresponsive and the Photoshop process is not responding, according to Windows. This is on 32bit VistaI am using an HP C7280 as a network printer.
Thanks for the feedback Jim, we’re investigating these issues now.
Print development touches countless drivers and pieces of hardware; that’s to say nothing of ever-changing operating systems. We are doing all that we can to play well with these many technologies, I think we do a great job. Could we do even better? Of course…that’s why I’m here.
-Bryan
The CS3 10.0.1 changes have not fixed the problems when printing on roll paper, at least not in a Vista/Epson R1800 set up. A single variable change between CS2 and CS3 10.0.1 shows the older version prints fine whilst the new one still makes a mess.
The Epson driver forces the choice of small width (across the roll of paper) and large values of height (along the roll of paper) which is rather counterintuitive when printing a wide panorama. It would appear that in Photoshop CS2 the writers did the obvious thing of swapping over the Epson width/height to show the correct preview of the wide photograph on a wide piece of paper. However in Photoshop CS3 the writers omitted to do this swap so that what you see in the preview is a tall thin piece of paper with the image slapped across it — to compound the error the actual print has its direction along the roll of paper (correctly) but it is severely cropped from both the end and side areas. The toggle buttons for portrait and landscape appear non-functional when using roll paper.
So for now — until there is an Adobe fix — I am forced to use CS2 for printing panoramas.
I followed all of the instructions for updating CS3 (deleted preferenced, and deleted and reinstalled the driver for my Epson R2400), and everything now works fine. Prints are properly sized and positioned, and settings in CS3 are sticky. Of course, if a printer other than my 2400 is set as default in Windows, I must select the 2400 as printer each time I open PSCS3. So, all is as it should be.
After the 10.0.1 update I am having the same issue as Philip Duke, above. Using roll paper, PS will only print in portrait mode — choosing landscape in the Epson driver (or in the PS print dialog) has no effect — thus I can no longer print images that are wider than the roll of paper. This has never been an issue before, either with the original version 10 or with any previous versons of PS. I followed the instructions in the print notes PDF — deleted and re-installed printer, deleted PS preferences at start-up — with no effect. Please fix! Epson 7600, XP SP2, PS CS3 Extended.
James – what dimensions for the image, the roll, and the custom paper size?
Phil Brown, many thanks for your kind offer to print for me but after restarting my PC several times the printing has settled down and all is well. Rather mysterious but I am not about to push my luck…..
Great news, Mike – I hope it all holds together now!
Of course, we all know that Adobe secretly control all of this – Mr Nack sits at home, remotely activating and de-activating errors and bugs to frustrate users so that he can bolster the hits to his blog and spend more time working on his own NackHawk (I saw that recent Podcast, John, don’t tell me you’re not toying with the idea)!
Well, maybe not so much 😉
Double color management problems with the epson 4000 printer using CS3 on intel pc. Looks like the printer management system is still on even after selecting let PS color manage, then on epson printer properties page turning selecting the radio button for no color management and turning off hi speed. Prints okay if I select sgrb in ps for the printer profile and select sgrb on the epson printer page seems to be a problem in the epson print profile or the print drive is also trying to color manage the system. Prints are too yellow, muddy, and dark.
The 10.0.1 fix has done nothing for my problem of PSCS3 calling up the wrong print dialogue box if I change printers. Deleting the printers and reinstalling is a ridiculous idea. It’s okay if you’re a home user, but I work in a print/copy shop and have 18 different printers installed on my system. Does this mean that I have to reinstall every one of them? Who is paying for my time to do this, and also for the other system that runs PSCS3 here to have it done? Considering the outrageous prices Adobe charges, surely they can get something this simple fixed with a patch! And prior to CS3, it wasn’t even broken…
Phil — I was trying to print a 23×35 image on 24 inch media. Custom size was 24×39.
Are we ever likely to get any answers to the above 10.0.1 problems? Or is this just a waste of everyone’s time and money?
With your help we’ve managed to resolve a number of issues after releasing this dot; thankfully nearly all were work flow related (which is understandable considering that print gremlins manifest themselves not just in Photoshop, but the OS, OS updates and Drivers). In many cases we have done so one-by-one via email; others, here on John’s forum.
For those of you still experiencing problems, please know that we are in the process of constructing a revised document to clarify the most common issues.
Gordon G, in order to resolve some of these problems, I’m afraid that you will need to follow the directions we provided with the dot – I realize that this is painful and time-consuming in your case, but please understand that your frustrations are symptoms of many problems – not all of which come from Adobe.
Thanks to all of you for your continued information and help in nailing down these issues. As before, feel free to contact me directly with your problems, successes and feedback.
-Bryan O’Neil Hughes
Photoshop Product Manager
bhughes@adobe.com
Printing problems to our Epson 2000P were minor compared to the wreck that 10.0.1 caused. Is there any way to roll back the update so we can get on with production rather that fighting with off center prints and wrong orientations that were never an issue before. Why was this “update” ever allowed to be issued without proper testing when CS2 worked fine without the hassle that CS3 printing has become???
Well, congratulations Adobe… I just wasted a couple of hours of my time very carefully uninstalling all my printers and then re-installing them all and guess what? It’s still broken. It STILL brings up the wrong printer dialog box when I change from one printer to another. So why not do the right thing by your customers and FIX IT – not by “constructing a revised document” but by fixing the problem that didn’t exist in previous versions, and doesn’t exist in any other program on my system.
I did the 10.0.1 fix as instructed, but my prints are still too dark to be usable. They print up looking like the soft proof preview with the “preserve RGB numbers” checked. I can still print satisfactory prints in CS2.
XP, CS2 and R2400 honored PS color management. Vista, CS3, R2400 do not play well together, with print driver uninstall/reinstall, etc., I still get double-dark color, magenta or other shift. The implication of the Adobe note is that fundamentally the Epson driver is flawed, and Epson has now been told of this Adobe tech note. But it is unclear that they believe it. Where does the trouble lie?
XP, CS2 and R2400 honored PS color management. Vista, CS3, R2400 do not play well together, with print driver uninstall/reinstall, etc., I still get double-dark color, magenta or other shift. The implication of the Adobe note is that fundamentally the Epson driver is flawed, and Epson has now been told of this Adobe tech note. But it is unclear that they believe it. Where does the trouble lie?
So, Adobe is going to bury their heads in the sand, advise cod-liver oil for everyone and totally ignore this problem? After all, Adobe must know more about using the product than those who make their living actually using it…
Harsh comments? Not really, when you get as frustrated as hell because the software upgrades for which we pay a stupid amount of money break things that worked perfectly before the ‘upgrade’. And when Adobe suggest that we put our problems here, or on the Adobe forums, and they don’t get answered, how are we expected to feel? Come on, fix it!
[Here’s what Bryan Hughes, the PM on point for printing-related issues, wrote on Wednesday in the comment thread on another post:
“We have worked with many of you individually to help you through any outstanding print issues – understanding that remaining problems stem not only from Photoshop, but the Operating Systems and printer drivers as well. Throughout these one-on-one cases, we have found that an overwhelming percentage of issues occurring after the 10.0.1 release can be averted by minor changes to work flow and installation (and uninstallation) of updated drivers. As print hardware, software and platforms vary, so too do some solutions to these problems – please do not assume that all that troubles you is from one source (I assure you, it is not).
“To assuage outstanding issues we have released a document (alongside 10.0.1); I have provided my email address (bhughes@adobe.com) and encouraged direct communication; and we have suggested driver updates – Epson, Canon and HP continue to update drivers and fix known issues (please check those sources regularly).
“Comments to this blog (especially when I’ve provided a direct line to development) are a very inefficient form of communication in this case as it necessitates John mailing engineering and QE a message that is detached from the source and thus at least somewhat out of context.
“We do plan to deliver a revised workflow guide for printing and I will be happy to provide links to driver updates in that. In the meantime, I can give no clearer guidance than closely following the guidelines set forth in the document which accompanied the 10.0.1 release; consulting Adobe’s incredibly rich and abundant User to User forums (http://www.adobe.com/support/forums/index.html);
regularly checking on current drivers – or mailing me.
“Thank you for your support,
-Bryan O’Neil Hughes
Photoshop Product Manager
bhughes@adobe.com”
–J.]
Dear all,
Nothing is more frustrating for the developers than other “team”/partners changing their goalposts continually. Adobe works blindingly to cover all bases with limited resources to help its customers. When operating systems, printers and software constantly change then everyone has to work aggressively to keep on the ball.
Bear in mind that the most important issues have to be addressed first and being frustrated with your individual product problem will not give it priority.
Adobe knows what’s needed most importantly and please don’t assume they drink coffee and chat all day.
Politely state your issue and be patient. The more they receive the more important it becomes.
Regards,
Richard.
I have the same issue as James Posch reports above: After the 10.0.1 update, when using roll paper, I can no longer print images that are wider than the roll of paper. Like James (and also Philip Duke) this was not an issue before, either with the original version 10 or with any previous versions of CS3. I too followed the instructions in the print notes PDF — deleted and re-installed printer, deleted CS3 preferences at start-up – no effect. I have an Epson 1800, fully up-to-date XP, CS3 Extended. All this was communicated to John Nack and Kellisa Sandoval in November 2007. I gave up on Adobe and went back to the original out-of-box version.
I have the same issue with CS3 R2400 using Roll feed to print beyond 44 inches.
I have been on to Epson Tech support, and they told me that the Printer can go to 129 inches via the roll feed.
I tested with Qimage and indeed I can print to the 100 inches I required for a specific panorama.
I’ve been recommended by Adobe to use CS2 for Panos!!!!!!
Epson also explained that CS3 is limited to a Print resolution of 300,000 pixels which is nuts. I tested this and indeed this seems to be true. I would have to reduce the print to below 50 ppi to print the size I needed.
Surely this can be easily resolved with a patch?
I have CS-3 and a Xerox Paser 8550 printer. If I print from any program other than CS-3 I get great photos. If I print from CS-3 the prints are terrible. I have tried every driver Xerox has available. I have tried every setting on those drivers and have done everything I can think of within Photoshop — no go. Any ideas?
Thanks
All these problems are fully corrected in Photoshop CS4?
[Yes; we always roll fixes forward. –J.]
Thanks
Well, 10.0.1 screwed panorama printing! I had a work-around for the previous version that worked near perfectly, but no, Adobe had to screw-it up even more! Now, I can’t print ANY PANORAMA!
I have the same issue as James Posch reports above: After the 10.0.1 update, when using roll paper, I can no longer print images that are wider than the roll of paper. Like James (and also Philip Duke) this was not an issue before, either with the original version 10 or with any previous versions of CS3. I too followed the instructions in the print notes PDF — deleted and re-installed printer, deleted CS3 preferences at start-up – no effect.
Give us a ***ing break!
The BUG with the 10.0.1 is that it keeps switching back to the A4 print size! WTF?????
Ok, after painful testing I have found the work-around for the Adobe Photoshop CS3 BUG!
What USED to work, is that you could set the custom size and use it. NOPE!….they screwed-that up. Now, you MUST SAVE it first!
Here’s how to print a pano using CS3, Epson 2200 and XP SP3:
Go into the Printer settings and create the custom paper size to the size you need and SAVE the setting. Don’t just click the ‘ok’….you must SAVE this custom size. NOW, go into file->print with preview menu. Go to Page Setup and select the custom paper size you just saved. Look at the preview image and make sure you have the orientation correct.
This should work.
I don’t know why all the engineers at Adobe can’t figure this out.
Geez.
Maybe because the paper size is controlled by the OS and printer driver, not by Photoshop.
Err, you always should save custom sizes. The issue you have with returning to A4 size is when the print length exceeded the Epson driver maximum length. By default, it reverts to A4.
What happened is that your work around was dealing with the problem, and now it works correctly.