Printer Page/Paper Size?

users
#1

Hi All,

I'm not much of an office suite guy, so please forgive me if I'm trying
to do something utterly stupid :slight_smile:

Scenario: Just yesterday our Canon copier/printers were swapped out for
newer models. (It didn't go as smoothly as was promised.) Now one of
my users cannot print to 11x17 paper.

As an experiment I created a simple "text" document with LO Writer, then
tried to get it to print to 11x17. No matter what I did, the page size
kept going back to 8.5x11. "File -> Print -> Properties" Change to
11x17. Without doing anything else: Go back to Properties: *Bang*,
back to 8.5x11

That's on a Win7 box.

I'm playing with it on my WinXP laptop and it's doing the same thing.

Yet, on both machines, if, in the printer properties, I go to "Paper
Source" and mouse over the bottom drawer, the tooltip shows "Drawer 4,
Paper Size: 11x17, Paper Supply: 100%"

Both installs are LO 4.1.4.2

The copier/printer things are Canon iR-ADV 4251s

So what gives?

Thanks,
Jim

#2

I'm not much of an office suite guy, so please forgive me if I'm trying to do something utterly stupid :slight_smile:

I doubt that.

Scenario: Just yesterday our Canon copier/printers were swapped out for newer models. (It didn't go as smoothly as was promised.) Now one of my users cannot print to 11x17 paper. That's on a Win7 box.

Was the correct printer driver for the new printer installed on each PC?

As an experiment I created a simple "text" document with LO Writer, then tried to get it to print to 11x17. No matter what I did, the page size kept going back to 8.5x11. "File -> Print -> Properties" Change to 11x17. Without doing anything else: Go back to Properties: *Bang*, back to 8.5x11

You may be suffering from Worditis. Unlike Microsoft Office, which treats page size as a matter solely for printer settings, LibreOffice - more sensibly, in my opinion - treats page size as an aspect of page format. If you want to print a 11" x 17" page, you will first have to set the page to that size at Format | Page... | Page | Paper format | Format.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#3

Not at all.

This is a very serious BUG in the Windows version of Libreoffice that has been there for over 3 years (inherited from :

https://www.libreoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=65205

I finally found a workaround, and asked for some help in how to set this preference permanently, so I didn't have to change it every single time.

To work around it:

File > Print > Options and check the box "Use only paper size from printer preferences"

The problem is, there doesn't seem to be any way to force this box to be checked all the time.

Anyone have any ideas how I might do that?

#4

[snip]

>Scenario: Just yesterday our Canon copier/printers were swapped out
>for newer models. (It didn't go as smoothly as was promised.) Now
>one of my users cannot print to 11x17 paper. That's on a Win7 box.

Was the correct printer driver for the new printer installed on each
PC?

Well, it was on this particular user's PC. And on mine.

[snip]

You may be suffering from Worditis. Unlike Microsoft Office, which
treats page size as a matter solely for printer settings, LibreOffice
- more sensibly, in my opinion - treats page size as an aspect of
page format. If you want to print a 11" x 17" page, you will first
have to set the page to that size at Format | Page... | Page | Paper
format | Format.

I trust this helps.

Nope. At least that formatting "sticks," but it makes no difference.

Interestingly: I can go to "Printer Settings...", "Properties..." and
set the page size to 11x17. And it sticks. But "Print -> Properties"
keeps reverting to 8.5x11.

I've tried upgrading to 4.1.6. No help. I deleted C:\Documents and
Settings\username\Application Data\LibreOffice (and OpenOffice). No
joy.

Saved it as a .docx. Brought it up in MS-Word 2007. Print ->
Print -> Properties (same dialogue). Set to 11x17. Checked it.
Setting stuck. Clicked "Ok"

Printed 11x17, right off. No muss. No fuss.

Being as users need to print engineering prints, large spreadsheets and
the like: If I cannot work around this, LibreOffice will be out of here.

Just when I was making headway, too :frowning:

Regards,
Jim

#5

Hi :slight_smile:
Is there some way of rolling out the paper size to all documents or is it
now fixed in them all and needs changing for each and every document?

If MSO is picking up on the correct paper-size then i guess the correct
drivers are there.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
Is there some way of rolling out the paper size to all documents or
is it now fixed in them all and needs changing for each and every
document?

As to the first part: I've no clue. I've never heard of a way to do
what you're suggesting, nor do I know how many documents throughout the
company have fixed page sizes.

But... I don't see how the question pertains to my problem. I've set
the document size to 11x17 on a test doc and LO *still* insists on
printing it to 8.5x11 paper.

I cannot get LibréOffice under MS-Win, with the new copier/printers
in-place, to print to anything other than 8.5x11 paper.

If MSO is picking up on the correct paper-size then i guess the
correct drivers are there.

[snip]

Yes, they are there. In LO I can even go to "Print -> Properties ->
Paper Source", mouse over the image on the left-hand side and it tells
me Drawer 4 contains 11x17 paper. If I select that drawer and try to
print, the copier stops with "need letter size in Drawer 4." So even
when LO is told to select a drawer that contains 11x17 paper, it still
insists on letter size.

Btw: LO 3.5.7.2 on my LinuxMint 13 MATE system prints to 11x17, no
problem, as well.

Regards,
Jim

#7

I cannot get LibréOffice under MS-Win, with the new copier/printers
in-place, to print to anything other than 8.5x11 paper.

did you miss my prior email.

This is a KNOWN BUG, and there is a workaround:

https://www.libreoffice.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=65205

I finally found a workaround, and asked for some help in how to set
this preference permanently, so I didn't have to change it every single
time.

To work around it:

File > Print > Options and check the box "Use only paper size from
printer preferences"

<snip>

Btw: LO 3.5.7.2 on my LinuxMint 13 MATE system prints to 11x17, no
problem, as well.

Because, as the bug notes, it is a Windows only problem.

#8

I usually print to pdf and use it later, to print phisically.

I tried both methods: i) Printer settings, properties and ii) Print, properties and both worked.

What I did:

First, I set the document page size to folio.
Second, I set the phisical page size to folio.

I saved, closed the program, loaded LO, loaded the file, and the settings persisted.

#9

I think I see the problem. Unfortunately: There are no other paper
sizes with which to test my theory. No other paper sizes that have
different designations in Format -> Page -> Page -> Format and in the
printer dialogues.

I *suspect* the problem is that LO has a paper size named "Tabloid" and
the printer dialogue has the same size paper listed as "11x17". If I
set LO's paper size to "Legal" and the printer to the same: It sticks.
If I try to do the same with "Tabloid" vs. "11x17": It does not.

MS Office refers to it as "11x17", btw.

Is there a way to define a paper size to LO?

Regards,
Jim

#10

[snip]

I usually print to pdf and use it later, to print phisically.

[snip]

And that turned out to be the work-around: Print to PDF, then, when
printing the PDF, set the size to 11x17.

Thanks for the idea!

Is there somewhere I should submit this as either a bug or enhancement
request? I think if they just added "11x17" to the paper size list,
the problem would go away.

Regards,
Jim

#11

This may or may not be of help.

Are you sure it says "11 x 17" and not "17 x 11"

Windows may not match a "17 x 11", but if you define your own and format a "11 x 17" might work.

The key is how the software interprets the printer driver in regard to paper length and width.

IE: I don't know what a 17" wide piece of paper is so I won't do it vs I know what a 17" long piece of paper is and I will print in landscape.

It is an issue which a friend of mine (Thanks Marc) came to with a document that would not print an Excel spreadsheet in landscape properly.

Hope it helps