Change in Spacing during file conversion

I'm working in Publisher 2007 creating a 3-panel brochure, double-sided, on 8.5"x11" paper; and a 4-panel brochure, double-sided, on 8.5"x14" paper. I get the margins guides and grid guides all set up so that it appears on my monitor to line up perfectly, and the printed version is nearly perfect. However, when I convert the .pub file to .pdf, the spacing get all thrown off and the panels don't line up anymore. Since they are double sided the panels need to line up, othewise you get creases through your text; so the spacing between front and back page is off. Also, the spacing for the outside margins (top, bottom, left, right) is also off, despite it being setup properly in the .pub file.

These brochures are for water quality reports. It's traditionally a 3-4 page report that I'm creating an option to have it in a brochure style for easier distribution (hand-delivery usually). These are printed inhouse or will get copied at Staples for example. What's really confusing is that I also create brochures for our training department, for upcoming class. The same protocol is followed (created in .pub and converted to .pdf for printing). However, we outsource these brochure to a commercial printer, which they will also mail for us, and their printed brochures come out just fine.

Any suggestions as to why Acrobat causes this problem in the formating. I'm also wondering if the issue lies in the type of printer being used, whether an everyday printer (office printers, lasers, etc) compared to a commercial printer where it's a whole process. I know that they can print items with bleeds (to the edge of the paper).

Hi Jason, I've run into troubles in the past in conversions to pdf.  I've never found a one-size-fits-all solution, but I've usually been successful doing a trial and error approach.  I've had quite a bit of success with Cute PDF Writer in instances where Adobe messes stuff up.  It acts as a printer and shouldn't mess with your formatting.  Its free, so I would say it is worth a shot.  Hope this helps, if not, let us know.

Best of luck,

Gary

If CutePDF doesn't work for you (It should, given that your printed copy looks almost perfect), then take a look at [ 2007 Microsoft Office Add-in: Microsoft Save as PDF or XPS ].  You might have better luck with that than the Adobe product.

Also had similar issues in the past and another vote for Cute PDF  - One thing you can try (when printing to PDF) is to access the virtual PDF printer properties > layout > advanced and experiment with scaling and dpi options. It might take some fiddling but I've usually managed to sort out these sort of issues.