Printing a Gantt Chart - Optimizing Your Output

The PDF that is generated when you click the Print Gantt Chart option is an image of your schedule and the related Gantt chart (unless you choose to print only the task list). That image can be problematic to print, especially if you have a large schedule. There are some steps you can take in PPM and in some PDF viewers that make the output more print-friendly.

Optimizing the Print Gantt Output in PPM:

Include only those tasks you need—In the Task List, expand only those tasks you want to show, and collapse others to hide them in the hierarchy.
The Print Gantt honors the expand/collapse states in the Task List. For example, you may want to expand the tasks for the current time period and for the final time period of the schedule, and leave any others collapsed.
In the Print Gantt Options dialog:
Select only those task fields you need.
The fields you include impact the width of the PDF, so by not including certain fields, especially longer fields like Description and Assignee, you can reduce the size of the PDF image to a point where it doesn't not span across 2 pages.
Select Print Task List Only.
Including only the task list reduces the width of the PDF image. The Gantt chart can take up a great deal of space, especially in schedules that run many months. When you print only the task list, you can greatly reduce the width of the output.
Select a Zoom option of Month or Quarter.
If you are including the Gantt chart (you do not select Print Task List Only), zooming to month or quarter view reduces the width of the Gantt chart.

For details on options in the Print Gantt Options dialog, see Print Gantt Options Window.

Optimizing the Print Gantt Output in your PDF Reader:

Use the Print Preview option to view how the PDF output will be printed. Doing this can let you know when a schedule is going to print on large numbers of pages, or in a way that is not useful for you. If adjustments in PPM can make a difference (see above), regenerate the PDF after changing your selections.
In Adobe Reader 11, use the Custom Scale option and resize the image so it fits better in the pages it requires. By default a large (multi-page) PDF is centered across multiple pages. Resizing the image by reducing the percentage in the Custom Scale option can better orient the image.

For details on options in the Print Gantt Options dialog, see Print Gantt Options Window.