Fit to page printing

[GooseKirk]

I'm using 1.0c with an HP LaserJet 5000N printer. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out how to print things the proper size. When I print an 8.5x11 page at 100% scale, it's too big for the page. When I choose Fit to Page, it's slightly too small.

When I turn on Show Print Borders, the page size is clearly wrong - it's slightly larger than 9x11.5 inches!

So what am I missing here? The page size is set up right in the printer settings. It doesn't seem to matter what I print to, anyway - the 5000N, the DeskJet 1220, Adobe PDFWriter... the paper size is always wrong. Is there something I'm overlooking, or is this a glitch? Help!

[GooseKirk]

I'm using 1.0c with an HP LaserJet 5000N printer. I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out how to print things the proper size. When I print an 8.5x11 page at 100% scale, it's too big for the page. When I choose Fit to Page, it's slightly too small.

When I turn on Show Print Borders, the page size is clearly wrong - it's slightly larger than 9x11.5 inches!

So what am I missing here? The page size is set up right in the printer settings. It doesn't seem to matter what I print to, anyway - the 5000N, the DeskJet 1220, Adobe PDFWriter... the paper size is always wrong. Is there something I'm overlooking, or is this a glitch? Help!

[Sean Sedwards]

If you swap between custom and best fits, the dimensions and margins are not necessarily reset, even if you set the scale to 100%. Apart from checking that File > Page Options & File > Printer Setup report the correct size and orientation, check that File > Print Options is set to Custom fit, Scale=100%, Top & Left=0 and Width & Height are the same as the page dimensions. The print borders should then be displayed accurately.

Regards - Sean

[GooseKirk]

Thanks, Sean!! It was the Top & Left settings that were screwing me up. Whew!

[ivca]

The screen grab below contains portions of 2 dialogs (the page options and print setup)... as well as the resulting image of the drawing board in Xara X. Ok, this may seem small and piffling, but for me, it's annoying. I'm used to it now, but it took a little trial and error (and wasted ink and paper), but now I know it's quirks. It's probably me, but I think the print dialog should be tighter than it is.

Wayne

[jclements]

Wayne, I am so glad you brought this up. Since day one of using Xara 2x, I found the printing issues/dialog confusing. I never mentioned it before because I thought I must be the only one. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

I think part of the problem is that default settings in the Print Options is to fit "Sideways" (rotated). This does not make sense to me. Perhaps someone in the know could explain the logic of this default setting.

This really gets confusing when printing to a plotter. I wound up creating a template document which had all the correct Print Options saved with it. (Its posted in the Xara Xone freeware section).

ALSO, I often get the "Page Only Partly Printable" message when, in fact, everything does print. ??????

[tonylondon]

thanks to Sean for his explanation - it gave me the courage to work things out. For me it helps to think of the Xara page and the actual page separately. Having set up the page size and orientation under page options the way you want it, then select the paper and orientation for your printer using printer setup. Finally make any adjustments using print options. As Sean says, these should normally be left set at 100% and zero displacement.
Tony
It may be worth noting that the red border disappears if you set a background but you can still view it by making your background layer invisible.