Very slow when printing either to Adobe PDF or Print To File

[kblake2 at mmm.com]

I'm not sure if anyone else has previously reported this issue as I visit 
this list infrequently. I apologize if I am bringing up an old issue. 

I'm using Frame 9.0p250, and I have a coworker using Frame 7. Our normal 
process is to create PDFs by using the Print To File option, then 
distilling the .ps file. It has worked perfectly since forever, and we're 
ok with using that two-step process. Now, our corporate IT dept has 
installed new HP printers with the Universal PS driver (v5.0) and it now 
takes much, much longer to create a .ps file. Before it would take about 
20 seconds to create a .ps file for the entire 300 page manual. Now, it 
takes about 5 seconds *per page* to create a .ps file. Gaaah! When we used 
these printers for the first time, we of course got a warning about 
unavailable fonts. No big deal....we've seen that before, so we let the 
font substitution happen, figuring that the new printer had slightly 
different font names and the substitution was ok. We're wondering if that 
corrupted our files somehow? Could the problem be the Universal PS driver? 
It doesn't matter if we're using FM 7 or FM 9, whether we print to Adobe 
PDF or make a .ps file with the HP printers....all those have the same 
result....slow, slow, slow .ps file creation. I've seen folks complaining 
on the Web about the HP universal driver. Is that part of the problem? 

I have both FM 7 and FM 9 installed on my PC (because it didn't force me 
to uninstall 7 before installing 9). The really strange part is this...I 
can go out on the network, find other manuals that aren't yet converted to 
FM 9, open those files and never get the font warning, and I can make a 
.ps file in FM 7 without the big slow down. Yet my coworker, who is using 
only FM7, continues to have the slow .ps file problem.

All the printer and driver properties are locked down by IT, so I can't 
adjust any of those settings. Do you have any suggestions? 


Kathy Blake
3M Health Information Systems
Documentation Dept.
Tel:  801-265-4462