Converting .pub to .tif

May 15, 2008 4:41 AM

I need to send files to a print shop in tiff format. I know I've done it before, but can't seem to figure it out now: How do you convert a MS Publisher file to tiff format?

Online resources suggest a "save as," but there is no tiff choice on the "save as" menu. Following the instructions in the Publisher "help" files only gets me a black-and-white tiff. The print shop people keep giving me suggestions via email, but they are clearly guessing, and their guesses aren't working.

posted by etc. to computers & internet (7 comments total)

There are instructions here on Microsoft's website. Make sure you're choosing color TIFF, not monochrome TIFF.
posted by bcwinters at 5:40 AM on May 15, 2008

As someone who's worked at a print shop, I have a quick question: are you sure that you need to send a .tif? I know that my place and most of our vendors preferred .pdfs. I believe that the more recent versions of Publisher (2007 and up) let you publish straight to .pdf, and earlier versions might as well.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 5:49 AM on May 15, 2008

What version of Publisher are you using?

I have 2003, and I just now made a TIF by using the "Save As" and choosing TIF. It saved fine, and in color.

Also, what are you viewing the TIF in? Maybe the TIF is in color, but your viewer is set to grayscale mode from some reason.

I also concur with the PDF suggestion, if you have the proper software.
posted by Fuzzy Skinner at 6:11 AM on May 15, 2008

For professional output, PDF is superior to TIFF.

A TIFF is a bitmap image (all dots). In a PDF, the fonts are embedded in the file as vector graphics which will be output at the native resolution of the output device (i.e. sharper).

Does the print shop have Publisher? I suppose not from the context, but if they do, you can collect all the files for output & give those to the shop. (Sorry I don't remember exactly what MS-Pub calls this process -- in Quark Xpress it's "Collect for output.")

(If you do end up sending a TIFF, make sure it is CMYK, not RGB.)
posted by omnidrew at 7:47 AM on May 15, 2008

Are you sure they want a composite tiff and not separated, 1-bit tiffs?
posted by nathan_teske at 8:08 AM on May 15, 2008

You can Save As a TIFF but typically the output options are limited and unsuitable for print. Send a PDF.

If you're not using a bunch of freeware fonts, I recommend http://www.pdfonline.com/. You upload your file, it emails back a PDF. Double-check it to make sure your fonts are correct and that your image settings will work for your desired output.

Other PDF output options if you don't have Acrobat Pro are Ghostscript (for CLI nerds mostly) or PrimoPDF (I've heard it phones home but hey that's "free" software for you).

If you are going to be sending output to printers frequently, I recommend that you use just about anything other than Publisher. You need something that exports to PDF natively and that handles type and images the way they're meant to be handled. You could probably get an older version of InDesign or Quark that would still work for your needs without paying the premium costs of the current versions. One reason that printers hate dealing with Publisher output is that most of them have used Publisher maybe thirty hours in their life, instead of the tens of thousands of hours they've had working with Quark and ID. There are a lot of other reasons not to use Publisher, as well, but I don't really need to tell you - you already found out it's not very powerful or flexible.

On preview, omnidrew: it's called "Pack and Go" and it is god awful.
posted by Optimus Chyme at 8:24 AM on May 15, 2008

In Publisher 2003 you can simply save the file as a jpeg, then use Photoshop to save the jpeg as a tiff. Make sure that you save the jpeg at 300 dpi and you should be OK.

I know that Punisher Publisher does a pretty good job exporting .PS files; you might ask your print shop if they can accept postscript files.

I commonly export a .PS and use Distiller to generate a PDF, or just use the PS file when I'm running plates.

Sometimes saving directly out of Publisher doesn't always work the way it ought to though; in these instances, I use Win2PDF to print to file.
posted by lekvar at 5:53 PM on May 15, 2008