Print Settings Won't Stick

[HickersonJasonC]

I'm relatively new to OS X, so hopefully there is a simple answer for this.

When printing from CS3, the print dialog does not always remember my print settings. This has happened intermittently before, but today I can't even get it to remember my custom presets. The weirdest thing is, even after reselecting the print settings, making a print, then reentering the print dialog, it has already lost the settings!

Any ideas on how to fix this? I never had this problem using XP and I'm using the newest version of the OS X 10.4 print driver (3.01).

[AaronPhotog]

Have you been following the progress of the changes to CS3 as documented in the Photoshop blog by John Nack?

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/06/printing_in_cs3.html

Adobe has issued an update to CS3, but I'm not sure that they've cured the amnesia.

[HickersonJasonC]

Have you been following the progress of the changes to CS3 as documented in the Photoshop blog by John Nack?

http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/06/printing_in_cs3.html

Adobe has issued an update to CS3, but I'm not sure that they've cured the amnesia.
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No, I haven't, but I'll take a look. Thanks.

[Farmer]

No, I haven't, but I'll take a look. Thanks.
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This is normal behaviour in OS X.  It doesn't have the Windows stickiness to the driver settings.

This was not changed with the 10.0.1 updated to CS3 (but Windows stickness was restored to the way it was in CS2).

[neoprinter]

"I'm relatively new to OS X, so hopefully there is a simple answer for this."

Jason, there is.  In the Print window, where the Presets drop down menu appears, select the previously saved one you want.  Then in the drop down menu below that, go to Print Settings and check that they are correct (sometimes they are).  If not, click on the preset name, which will make it "come forward," then click it again.  Your correct settings will appear, they haven't been forgotten.  

This is really an Epson software problem, not OS X.  

Robert Liles
Pushdot Studio

[Farmer]

No, this is an OS X issue :-)

If you read the documentation for 10.0.1 or check some of the posts by people like Dave Polaschek from Adobe, you'll see that the removal of stickiness in Windows was to match the OS X default because of things they wanted to do under Vista (that was supposed to be similar to the way they were going with OS X) and to keep it consistent.  OS X didn't support the stickiness that was available in Windows.

10.0.1 addressed that and returned to Windows the stickiness that was available under CS 2.  For OS X, though, it's never existed in that manner and so continues to be the case.

[neoprinter]

10.0.1? Uh, that's really old.  No, it's an Epson issue.  I've corresponded with them about it, and they attribute it to having problems writing drivers to work with UNIX CUPS (common UNIX printer service) that OS X uses.  Again, settings that are saved are NOT lost, they just don't always appear when the preset name is selected.  The workaround I mentioned above makes them appear, in 10.3.x and above that I know of.  

The Windows drivers are even worse, especially having to wait for an image to RIP before you can finally click Print.  Also, it's a good thing Apple wrote Bonjour for Windows, because otherwise it's nearly impossible for Windows to find a printer connected by ethernet.  I've been through the hell of printing from Windows (XP Pro, Epson 9800).

[Farmer]

10.0.1? Uh, that's really old.  No, it's an Epson issue.  I've corresponded with them about it, and they attribute it to having problems writing drivers to work with UNIX CUPS (common UNIX printer service) that OS X uses.  Again, settings that are saved are NOT lost, they just don't always appear when the preset name is selected.  The workaround I mentioned above makes them appear, in 10.3.x and above that I know of. 

The Windows drivers are even worse, especially having to wait for an image to RIP before you can finally click Print.  Also, it's a good thing Apple wrote Bonjour for Windows, because otherwise it's nearly impossible for Windows to find a printer connected by ethernet.  I've been through the hell of printing from Windows (XP Pro, Epson 9800).
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10.0.1 is the version of Photoshop CS3 - not OS X.  It's not very old, it was released just a couple of months ago as dot release.

Also, you're talking about a different thing to the stickiness issue (as are Epson in their response to you).  Under Windows, print settings remain sticky for the duration of your application session.  We're not talking about the ability to save them, but for changes made without saving to remain throughout the session.  This happens under Windows (CS2 and prior and now restored in CS 3 10.0.1) but doesn't happen under OS X.

The Windows driver doesn't need an image to RIP before you can click print at all.  Finding a printer connected via ethernet for Windows is simple and has nothing to do with Bonjour - you either use the supplied Epson utility (which supports either static or dynamic IP allocation to the printer) or you simply create the TCP/IP port directly if it's a static allocation via the Port dialogue in the print driver.

You seem to be taking this as a "Mac vs Windows" issue, but it's not.  It's just a few simple facts and I happen to be very well acquainted with the process from both sides.

[neoprinter]

That was confusion on my part about 10.0.1, but the workaround I described applies to Photoshop CS, CS2 and CS3, as they are normally known by.

Your experience is different than mine.  Perhaps you are not working with a RIP as well as printing from Photoshop.  And yes, in printing from Photoshop in Windows one has to wait for the image to RIP before the preview window appears, after clicking Print the first time, sometimes several minutes if a large file. It still requires clicking Print again after RIPPING.

The point is that Epson is a printer company, not a software company (or paper company either).  There are issues in their drivers for OS X and Windows.  If the "stickyness" issue refers to changing settings for a print without saving the changes, then subsequent printing not showing the changes, then that's why any changes should be saved.  In Windows, the same thing happens.  Go back to do another print and you have to redo all the printer choices.

Windows users don't know about OS X, but OS X users know about Windows.

[Farmer]

That was confusion on my part about 10.0.1, but the workaround I described applies to Photoshop CS, CS2 and CS3, as they are normally known by.

Your experience is different than mine.  Perhaps you are not working with a RIP as well as printing from Photoshop.  And yes, in printing from Photoshop in Windows one has to wait for the image to RIP before the preview window appears, after clicking Print the first time, sometimes several minutes if a large file. It still requires clicking Print again after RIPPING.

The point is that Epson is a printer company, not a software company (or paper company either).  There are issues in their drivers for OS X and Windows.  If the "stickyness" issue refers to changing settings for a print without saving the changes, then subsequent printing not showing the changes, then that's why any changes should be saved.  In Windows, the same thing happens.  Go back to do another print and you have to redo all the printer choices.

Windows users don't know about OS X, but OS X users know about Windows.
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At work I use machines from P IV to Core 2 Duo Win XP SP2 and Vista in various forms and Macs G5 to Intel Core 2 on Mac Pros, Mac Book Pros and iMacs using OS X.4 and .5  Having said that, I'm mainly a Windows user, but my job requires being able to fully use and support OS X which in reality means I'm about "average" as a user of OS X which is enough for what I do (whilst I'm "expert" with Windows).

I use both the Epson RIP and Onyx, but not as often as printing directly.  If Printing from Photoshop - say a 3.5GB file that prints to 2m at 180ppi and about 40" in width there's no issue.  I don't use the OS print preview (pointless) but certainly that preview may take time to render, but for printing you make your settings and hit print in PS and then again on the driver (instantly) and away you go.

RIPs such as Onyx certainly require you to RIP the image - that's the RIP, not the OS.

The point is in Windows you do NOT have to redo your print settings if you're using CS2 or earlier or CS3 10.0.1 because the stickiness was restored.  For so long as you keep PS open, those print settings will remain for that printer (rather than revert to their default settings).  That's a Windows thing.

EDIT: BTW, sorry if I come across at all strong or harsh - not meaning to but on re-reading I may be :-)  I am very sure about the information I'm posting.

[neoprinter]

At work I use machines from P IV to Core 2 Duo Win XP SP2 and Vista in various forms and Macs G5 to Intel Core 2 on Mac Pros, Mac Book Pros and iMacs using OS X.4 and .5  Having said that, I'm mainly a Windows user, but my job requires being able to fully use and support OS X which in reality means I'm about "average" as a user of OS X which is enough for what I do (whilst I'm "expert" with Windows).

I use both the Epson RIP and Onyx, but not as often as printing directly.  If Printing from Photoshop - say a 3.5GB file that prints to 2m at 180ppi and about 40" in width there's no issue.  I don't use the OS print preview (pointless) but certainly that preview may take time to render, but for printing you make your settings and hit print in PS and then again on the driver (instantly) and away you go.

RIPs such as Onyx certainly require you to RIP the image - that's the RIP, not the OS.

The point is in Windows you do NOT have to redo your print settings if you're using CS2 or earlier or CS3 10.0.1 because the stickiness was restored.  For so long as you keep PS open, those print settings will remain for that printer (rather than revert to their default settings).  That's a Windows thing.
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I don't understand why this is useful.  If you use a custom profile, you just make the print, you don't go back and tweak the settings that you haven't saved.  Perhaps you're not working in a professional environment?

Robert Liles
Pushdot Studio

[Farmer]

I don't understand why this is useful.  If you use a custom profile, you just make the print, you don't go back and tweak the settings that you haven't saved.  Perhaps you're not working in a professional environment?

Robert Liles
Pushdot Studio
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Very professional environment and supporting them, actually.  I'm an amateur photog, but definitely a professional when it comes to printing, for whatever that's worth.

It's useful because if you have a series of images that you wish to print and you want the print settings the same, you don't need to keep resetting them or loading saved settings etc.

Custom or canned profiles has nothing to do with it.  There are settings such as size, paper type and all the other things that you may want for a particular job and set of prints.  It's very nice to not have to check for each print during a PS session that the settings are what you want - they remain at whatever you've set them for that particular run.  Also bear in mind that not all users of PS are photographers.

On the Mac I'm quite used to checking for each print and setting anything that's needed.  It's not a problem.  It goes back to what you said about some OS X users knowing about Windows (some know nothing, but you're far more likely to have an OS X user with Windows experience than around the other way) than Windows knows about OS X.

Believe me, there are many, many pros on Windows who were caught out and not happy when CS3 took away the stickiness even though it simply gave the same environment as OS X.

If you feel inclined, there are pages of discussion about it on John Nack's blog (which is one of the places that Dave chimed in with comments).  The link was provided earlier on in this thread by another poster.