How to make a poster from a Word document

I needed a poster for the Maker's Faire, but had my text and graphics laid out in Microsoft Word. These are the techniques I used to make a large poster using my plain old printer and freely available software.
Before you begin, check your printer driver to see if printing in poster format is an option. It will save you a lot of time and effort. Big thanks to the aware Karel Jansens for the printer driver tip.

Step 1: Save your Word Document as a TIFF file

Let's hear how Microsoft would instruct you how to do this (from Office "Help"):
1. On the File menu, click Print.
2. In the Name list in the Print dialog box, click Microsoft Office Document Image Writer.
3. Click Properties.
4. In the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer Properties dialog box, click the Advanced tab.
5. Under Output format, select the TIFF - Monochrome Fax option, Superfine 300 DPI and then click OK.
6. In the Print dialog box, click OK.
7. In the Save as dialog box, select the View Document Image check box, and any additional options you want, and then click OK.

Comments

[mahor1990]

It is a program which allows to print posters. Personally I use this banner maker and can say that it is very good and simple in use. You can also try it.

[flyboy13]

or cant you just use rasturbator, i find that, that program is a TON! Better!

[superMacaroni]

But this guy's poster was made from text. Text looks weird in halftone form.

[stephenniall]

im doing this now with some band posters ! Hope my printer quality is good Aww damn i selected black backround gonna use alot of ink lol

[Karel Jansens]

Before you do this, check if your printer has a "print as poster" (or something of that nature) setting. Many printer drivers have that functionality, I know HP's do and I believe it's even more or less standard in Linux. It's a lot simpler, but this 'strukkie is a nice, if somewhat more elaborate, alternative.

[TONYMYND]

In fact, I did what you suggested and worked flawlessly, i have a HP Photosmart, which has on the 'effects' tab an drop-down list where you can choose to print a poster up-to 9'!

[sleepydog]

Thanks Karel! I didn't realize that this was even a feature on some printer drivers. I'll amend the intro to prevent folks from taking the long road.

[jonathaninwa]

A program called Posteriza is also great for doing this and is free forever. You can download it from posteriza.com . I've used many times to print anti-Bush posters and also fantastic satellite imagery from visibleearth.nasa.gov .

[Patrik]

For a more professional look - if you can afford it - make your poster in Powerpoint (more flexibility than Word in poster layout), and have it printed full-size at Kinko's. It'll cost you $100 and up, depending on size and quality of paper, but for a large event, that's only a few cents per viewer. You do lose your DIY street cred if you go this route though! ;-)

[ara]

good ideea. until now i have recomended o copyer (in Romania we use the "Xerox") apologise for my english

[joejoerowley]

Cool! Nice Tip!