Why is PDF Printing Slow? And How to Fix it?

In a world increasingly moving towards digital documents, PDF files have become an essential file format for sharing and printing. Whether you’re printing important work reports or personal documents, having issues with your PDF printing slow can be frustrating and ruin your workflow.

This blog aims to help you understand why these problems happen and how to take proactive steps to ensure your PDF printing process remains simple and stress-free.

Part 1: Why is My PDF Printing Slow?

There are many reasons why you could be experiencing slow PDF printing— such as file size, print settings, and more:

• File Size: Attempting to print large PDF files, especially when they contain high-quality images or complex graphics, causes it to take longer to process and print the document.
• Printer Quality: Older printers or those with low specifications may have trouble handling larger or more detailed PDF files.
• Software Compatibility: Certain software like Adobe Acrobat may be causing conflicts with your printer’s drivers, slowing the printing process.
• Print Settings:  Having the printer set to high-quality print settings can significantly impact the speed at which your PDFs print.
• Background Applications: Having too many applications running on your computer can use up vital resources, slowing down the PDF printing process.

Knowing the causes of why your PDF is printing slowly can help you begin troubleshooting the problem. In the next section, we’ll guide you through the fixes you can implement with our easy-to-follow steps.

Part 2: How to Fix Slow PDF Printing Issues?

Now the common causes of slow PDF printing have been identified, it’s time to look at some solutions to the problem. Implementing these easy-to-follow fixes will help you overcome the stress caused by slow printing when dealing with your PDF documents, ensuring your work efficiency won’t be interrupted again.

1: Try Another Tool to Print PDF

One of the best and most effective solutions to slow PDF printing problems is using a different tool to print your documents. UPDF is a user-friendly and efficient PDF editor that allows you to print your PDF files seamlessly. With UPDF, you can print documents one at a time or in batches without sacrificing speed, this ensures your workflow remains uninterrupted.

Head over to the below button to download UPDF today and follow the steps below for a better printing experience.

Step 1: Opening Your PDF with UPDF

Open UPDF, click “Open File”, and select the PDF you’d like to print. Next, navigate to “File” and “Print” to bring up the print settings.

Step 2: Printing Your PDF

In this settings box, adjust the settings based on your needs (such as selecting your printer, the number of copies, etc.) Now simply click the “Print” button to begin printing your document.

UPDF also offers many other features beyond printing— such as editing, translating, or converting PDFs and so much more! For an in-depth look at UPDF’s many capabilities, check out this comprehensive review and watch the video below.

Switching to UPDF will alleviate many frustrations with PDF printing slowly and allow you to enjoy a more reliable printing experience.

2: Let the Printer Determine Colors

Another method to handling the slow PDF printing issue is allowing the printer to determine colors instead of relying on the software you’re using to do so automatically. By allowing your printer to handle color management instead of programs like Adobe Acrobat, you often reduce the processing time, especially when working with color documents.

Step 1: Changing Advanced Printer Settings

Open your PDF document in Adobe Acrobat, click on the “Menu” button, select “Print” from the dropdown list, then “Advanced.” In the Advanced Print Setup window, find “Color” and check the option that says “Let the Printer Determine Colors” or similar depending on your printer model.

While a simple adjustment, allowing your printer to determine the colors instead of Adobe Acrobat, can speed up your printing process significantly. In the next section, we’ll look at another quick solution to resolving slow PDF printing problems.

3: Restart the Printer and Computer

Sometimes, the simplest of solutions can be the answer to your problems and as such, are often overlooked. Restarting your printer and computer can clear any glitches or issues either might be facing, causing your PDFs to print slowly. With this fix, you refresh your system and printer's memory, allowing for a more streamlined printing process.

Step 1: Turn Off Your Printer and Computer

Start by powering down your printer and unplugging it to ensure it fully shuts down. Next, shut down or restart your computer.

Step 2: Reconnect Your Printer

Once your printer and computer have both restarted, ensure your computer is properly connected to the printer via USB or a network connection. Now open your PDF document and attempt to print the file again.

Restarting your printer and computer, while a simple fix, can often improve the speed of PDF printing— however, if the problem persists, it could be due to file size. In the final section, we’ll show you how to flatten your PDF.

4: Flatten the PDF Before Printing

If the size of your PDF document is too large because it contains lots of images, annotations, comments, etc, it can significantly slow down the printing process. An effective solution to this problem is to “Flatten” the PDF, merging all layers into a single image. This not only reduces the complexity of the document but also greatly enhances the printing speed. UPDF is the perfect tool for flattening PDFs efficiently.

Step 1: Finding the Flatten Settings

Open your PDF document in UPDF, navigate to the “File” menu, select “Save as Other” and then “Save as Flatten.”

Step 2: Flatten the PDF

Once you have selected the settings you want, click the “Save as” button to merge all elements into a single layer. After this, save your PDF and attempt to print the document.

Flattening your PDF before printing reduces its complexity and improves the speed at which you can print the document. This simple step can make a significant difference in print speed, especially for documents with lots of visuals and annotations. If you value time, download UPDF to flatten your PDF files and avoid waiting for slow PDF printing!

Conclusion

In summary, problems with your PDF printing slow can be stressful and interrupt your productivity and workflow— there are however effective solutions to these issues. Although adjusting color settings on your printer or restarting your devices can help with slow printing issues, the standout solution is UPDF.

UPDF improves your overall PDF management, whether you need to print efficiently, or flatten PDFs— UPDF has you covered. If you’re in need of a fast and reliable experience when printing PDFs with many additional features and a budget-friendly price, download UPDF today!