Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tile printing in Illustrator CS4/CS5

In a recent Illustrator training session we had created artwork with three large (24” x 36”) artboards. Someone in the class asked how to tile print the artwork onto 11” x 17” paper. “No problem” I said, just select the Tile option in Illustrator’s Print dialog.

But when we looked, that option was grayed out.

This stumped me for a moment. But then we figured out that to tile print files that have multiple artboards, you need to select the Ignore Artboards option in the Print dialog box, then the Tile option becomes available.

If your file consists of just a single large artboard, you don’t need to select the Ignore Artboards option.

10 comments:

  1. euniceTuesday, August 03, 2010 11:11:00 AM

    I used the tile setting to print 36" by 96" on tabloid size paper(border) and i got pretty wide linds of white grids.

    when I tried the borderless tabloid, I was missing small fractions of images.

    How do I tile seemless using this new feature?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Keith GilbertWednesday, August 04, 2010 4:59:00 PM

    @eunice: Adjust the "overlap" setting in the Print dialog box to make this work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownFriday, January 07, 2011 8:25:00 AM

    I've been playing with the "overlap" setting and still have gaps, about 1/16 inch along each border. The problem didn't exist in Illustrator CS3, but exists in every document I tile print in CS4. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownFriday, January 07, 2011 9:23:00 AM

    I'd like to add to my previous post. When I turn on the view tiling option, I can see a margin around each tiled page (correct page sizes are shown and match the printer's). This margin is exactly what is not being printed. How do I change the tile margin setting? The problem is worse when I increase the overlap setting. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousFriday, July 15, 2011 1:20:00 PM

    "This margin is exactly what is not being printed."

    Change "full pages" drop-down to "imageable areas"?

    ReplyDelete
  6. [ ton ]Thursday, August 04, 2011 2:13:00 PM

    i have same problem with Margot
    and already Change "full pages" drop-down to "imageable areas"

    but printed have a margin (like cs4 print Page Tilling on every tile) and every margin still have gaps :(

    Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousTuesday, September 06, 2011 3:58:00 PM

    I have an issue that is not quite what the issues other have had. I cannot get my print tiling tool large enough to select my document. As a result some of my document is clipped.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousTuesday, April 24, 2012 4:08:00 PM

    This tip was rally helpful. I was in a bind had to deliver printouts asap and couldn't figure out why the tiling was grayed out. Got on google looking for answer and bingo! found your blog. Thanks man, you are the savior.

    ReplyDelete
  9. anthonySaturday, December 01, 2012 9:40:00 PM

    THANK YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousSaturday, November 22, 2014 7:09:00 AM

    I am disappointed with adobe illustrator regarding print tiling. Each tile should have a cut mark as guide if you put an overlap on your object. Well, Coreldraw is an expert of tiling. Illustrator sucks when it comes to this topic.

    ReplyDelete