Printing Selected Pages From a PDF
Updated 2017-03-06
Contents
- Introduction
- Printing Selected Pages From a PDF in Adobe Reader
- Printing Selected Pages From a PDF in macOS’ Preview
- Links to Related Pages
Introduction
This information page contains links to instructions for printing out selected pages from a PDF using a couple of the most common PC/Mac PDF-viewing apps.
As of this writing, early in 2014, more than half of the visits to the 3lines.org website are being made with tablets like the iPad and smaller mobile devices like the iPhone, and all signs indicate that this percentage will continue to grow rapidly. Suitably formatted Chinese language-assistive material (3-line, etc.) can just be viewed on such mobile devices without having to be printed out onto paper. This makes it much easier for users to have at their fingertips all the material they need, when they need it. It also saves users from the ongoing costs of the paper, ink/toner, and time and attention needed to print that material out onto paper.
Of course, for various reasons many still need or want to print out onto paper. However, they may not always need or want to print out an entire file at a time. This is especially the case with files that contain an entire publication rather than just a chapter of one. (Examples of files that contain an entire publication include the official Pīnyīn and Sidney Lau PDF files, and the existing unofficial Pīnyīn and Pīnyīn/Sidney Lau-English web pages and PDFs.) Even with a file that contains “only” a chapter’s worth of material, often users will only want to print out a few selected pages of it, rather than the whole thing.
Something that may understandably confuse some users is that with some PDFs, the page numbers shown in the content do not match with the page numbers that must be used for printing purposes. Also, some PDFs do not even have page numbers indicated in the content at all. For example, the official PDF files (English, Chinese, Pīnyīn, etc.) for the Jehovah’s Will brochure do not have visible page numbers, probably since the big Lesson numbers already provide strong indications of where one is in the publication. Another example is that the PDF files produced for more convenient printing of web pages like the Jehovah’s Will Brochure (Pīnyīn-English, Web, Scriptures) page omit visible page numbers in the content because:
- The Lesson numbers already provide strong indications of where one is in the publication.
- Commonly-used PDF-viewing apps clearly display the page numbers used for selecting pages to print, regardless of whether page numbers in the content match these, or even appear.
- With the best overall way that could be found to produce the PDFs, the only way to add visible page numbers would have produced visually unattractive results.
- With the best overall way that could be found to produce the PDFs, the only way to add visible page numbers would have added significantly to the number of pages that would have needed to be printed out, raising paper, ink/toner, and printing time costs for users.
The below information can help users to print out only selected pages from PDFs without unreasonable difficulty, even in cases such as those mentioned above.
Printing Selected Pages From a PDF in Adobe Reader
Adobe’s instructions for printing selected pages from a PDF in Adobe Reader can be found here:
The following screenshot should complement those instructions:
Identifying page numbers for printing in Adobe Reader
Printing Selected Pages From a PDF in macOS’ Preview
Apple’s instructions for printing selected pages from a PDF in macOS’ Preview app can be found here:
The following screenshots should complement those instructions:
Identifying page numbers for printing in macOS’ Preview
Selecting PDF pages for printing in macOS’ Preview
Selecting the option to only print selected pages in the Print dialogue of macOS’ Preview