Adobe reader printing: A4 vs US letter

Question

Hi, I'm using Adobe Reader 8.1.1 on Linux (Red Hat enterprise Linux 4). Printers are defined on a remote CUPS-server.
As I'm not in US/Canada, I have printers which use sensible paper: A4 ;-)
The CUPS server has ppd files which define the default paper size as A4,
and that size is confirmed if I use the "kprinter" command to look at the properties of each CUPS-defined printer.
If in Adobe Reader 8, I view an A4-size PDF document, I can confirm it's A4 by looking at File -> Properties. If I then go to File -> Print, then there are several oddities:
1) with the "Choose paper source by PDF page size" unchecked, the page size shown by the Preview box on the right-hand-side shows US-letter size dimensions;
2) if I then continue to actually print, the printer LCD screen confirms that the Adobe Reader is trying to use US Letter size paper, and in the case of one make of printer, refuses to print it.
3) If I try to get more information about what Adobe Reader thinks about the printer by clicking on Properties next to the printer selection, nothing happens.
4) If I check the "Choose paper source by PDF page size" box, then all is well and the print does come out as A4. However, that ticked box is not remembered for next time, so the user is perpetually having to remember to check that box.
This problem appeared in later versions of Adobe Reader 7, but was not present in version 7.0.1, which was probably not CUPS-aware.
I suspect a problem with dealing with the information retrieved via CUPS. Does anyone know of a circumvention, or a fix?? Thanks.

Answer 1

Create print presets
A PDF can contain a set of print presets, a group of document-specific values that is used to set basic print options. By creating a print preset for a document, you can avoid manually setting certain options in the Print dialog box each time you print the document. Its best to define print settings for a PDF at the time that you create it, but print presets provide a means to add basic print settings to a PDF at any time.
Choose File > Properties, and click the Advanced tab.
In the Print Dialog Presets section, set options and click OK.
The next time you open the Print dialog box, the values will be set to the print preset values. These settings are also used when you print individual documents in a PDF package.
Note: To retain a print preset for a PDF, you must save the PDF after creating the print preset.
Print Dialog Presets
Page Scaling Prepopulates the Page Scaling option in the Print dialog box with the option you choose:
Default Uses the application default setting, which is Shrink To Printable Area.
None Prevents automatic scaling to fit the printable area. This setting is useful for preserving the scale of page content in engineering documents, or for ensuring that documents print at a particular point size to be legal.
DuplexMode For best results, the selected printer should support duplex printing if you select a duplex option.
Simplex Prints on one side of the paper.
Duplex Flip Long Edge Prints on both sides of the paper; the paper flips along the long edge.
Duplex Flip Short Edge Prints on both sides of the paper; the paper flips along the short edge.
Paper Source By Page Size Selects the option by the same name in the Print dialog box. Uses the PDF page size to determine the output tray rather than the page setup option. This option is useful for printing PDFs that contain multiple page sizes on printers that have different-sized output trays.
Print Page Range Prepopulates the Pages box in the Print Range section of the Print dialog box with the page ranges you enter here. This setting is useful in a workflow where documents include both instruction pages and legal pages. For example, if pages 12 represent instructions for filling out a form, and pages 35 represent the form, you can set up your print job to print multiple copies of only the form.
Number Of Copies Prepopulates the Copies box in the Print dialog box. Choose a number from 2 to 5, or choose Default to use the application default, which is one copy. This limitation prevents multiple unwanted copies from being printed.