Non-centered printing

MM
Posted By
Mac McDougald
Jun 30, 2003
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113
Replies
3
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Closed
That’s because of your minimum printer borders.
Inkjets, except for certain "borderless" features of some, have minimum borders that can’t be changed. Usually the bottom short side has .5 inches or so.

PS is not a page layout program, only makes images of certain dimensions that must fit (or not) on your existing paper size.

Matter of fact, if you make an 8.5 x 11 inch image, it *can’t* fit on that size paper, because of minimum borders required by the printer.

Some other folks will present some workarounds, but this is the gist of your question.

Mac
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BH
Beth Haney
Jun 30, 2003
Sometime last winter there was a long thread on this subject. What we finally figured out is that there’s a lot of variation between printers, both in terms of brand and model, on the issue of centering a print that large. People using HPs seem to have the most trouble, but users of Epson and Lexmark ran into some challenges, too. It came down to being a trial and error thing and making note of the changes in the margins that were required in order to center various sizes of large images.

You say the margins are dimmed in Page Setup? First, use the Print Preview function of Elements (which does also link to Page Setup.) Once you’re in that, make sure there is NO check mark in the box to "Center Image." As soon as you remove it, the boxes in which margins can be changed will be activated. On my HP 1215, I have to insert a minus number for the left margin in order to get an image to center left to right. I also have to change the top margin for the up and down centering. The amounts, obviously, are slightly different depending on the exact size of my image.

By the way, I did come up with a way to "practice" my margins that wasn’t too hard on the ink supply.

Open a new blank canvas (Edit>New) Set the size to 8 X 10, grayscale, 72ppi. Now hit Control ‘a’ to get the marching ants all around the outside. Go to Edit>Stroke and set the width to 10 pixels, color black, and check the box for "Inside." You’ve now created a big rectangle of the size you want. You can print it and experiment with the settings until you find the margins to use so it comes out centered. Use the page to note the size of your box and the margin settings you used to center it, and keep it in that nifty Elements Tips folder you’ve got! 🙂 I did several of these at various sizes. I don’t need to center anything very often, but when I do I can just check my notes.
D
deacon65
Jun 30, 2003
Thanks for the suggestions. I played with the Center Image as suggested and it worked perfectly. I am very grateful for your prompt and accurate suggestions.
Deacon
BH
Beth Haney
Jul 1, 2003
You’re welcome. 🙂

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