print

[Hajeem]

Hi,

I am a new (swedish) member and recently bought Xaras flagship. I do not have any computer background in graphics. Just dabbled a little in inkskape, make the cut and other less sophisticated programmes. I am actually a watercolour artist and would like to produce my work on either postcards or posters. So far I have not succeeded very well in that area. The original painting is much brighter (probably due to the quality of paper but working on that too) and I don´t get the margins right. The borders are not even on all sides. In all the ´programmes´ I have worked with there is an option called ´print preview´. I consider this a helpful way tool. I have not been able to access this function. I already checked everything (?) in the printer options, printer set up etc but no luck.

So my questions are:
1. Is there a print preview option I overlooked
2. How do I get my borders even and set to my liking




I know this is a very small problem compared to the questions the forummembers post on this forum and I feel a little embaressed but like I said.......I am a actual newbee at this.

Appreciate your answers

Greetings from a very rainy Sweden

[handrawn]

if you go to the xara 'window' menu and tick 'show print borders' then everything that is within that frame will be printed [the frame is based on your default printer - if you change your printer or printer settings, the frame may change]

this frame is the xara equivalent of 'print preview'

it is raining on the other side of North Sea too...

[Acorn]

Sunny on the south coast though.

If you have a single page you can Preview that with Shift-F5; a series of pages with F5. each has a Preview button.
Xara Help (F1) > Search: Preview.

You can then see with Windows > Show Print Borders (Alt+W+P) how to align your edges.

Good luck,
Acorn

[handrawn]

isn't shift+F5 the website preview - I got the impression this is not a website question, and if so, if it is not a web document shift+F5 won't actually do anything?

Edit - just checked, because I don't have standard keys set - shift+F5 does give a web page preview, F5 being website preview, in a standard document with default keys - never though of using that as, strictly speaking, is not a print view and I am not convinced it takes printer borders into account

[Hajeem]

Hi Acorn

Followed your aligning tips and it worked. The shortcuts were very handy too.

[handrawn]

ok - double check if the shift+F5 view takes print borders into account [see my post edit]

[Hajeem]

Hi Handdrawn

I checked and it did not.

However selecting Window and ticking the ´show printborder´box helped.

I then tried several prints but they all had uneven borders again, eventhough on the screen all looked ok. BTW I noticed that my original print size matches with what I see on my screen perfectly. I put my print on the screen and the sizes were exactly alike. I had though on my screen two templates to chose from: one yellow lined rektangular (size 10x15cm) which fitted the original AND a template which was in my chosen backgroundcolour. Even this rektangular fitted my original (size 10x15cm) exactly. This is why my borders are uneven. The two are not aligned. When I then checked my page layer option on my right hand menu I noticed that my chosen template (to start my document with) AND my actual work do not align. I am not technical at all but it lookes like my work is at a kind of ratio to the document template. I watched the movies about documents a couple of times and saw that the work and the template were exactly on top of one another. Which is not the case here :-(

As I see it I cannot alter anything in the page gallery menu. I tried to manipulate one of the rektangulars in this mode to see if I could align them but that was not possible

I selected around the whole document and applied the align option from the menu on top of the screen to see if anything chaged in the page gallery but it did not.

I know I am glad with my purchase because I can (to an exend) utilize the other features eventhough there is a learning curve involved but this ´simple´ print a picture with a nice border is fighting back with a vengance.

I keep on struggling but I hope anyone has met and dealt with this problem.

Thanks in advance

[Hajeem]

This is a screenshot of the problem I have.
In the film document handling you notice in the upper righy corner that the document has a perfect fit.

[Hajeem]

Hi Handdrawn

I did what you wrote and I actually saw the print borders. Thank you.