Stephen,
I have an HP970 (a little newer) and get the same results as you. There have been other treads here on the same subject (and not just HP printers).
I believe it was Beth Haney who posted a trial and error solution that doesn’t waste a lot of ink:
In Elements create a new document the same size as the photo that you are trying to center. Click Select/All. Click Edit/Stroke. Enter 4 in Width, Select "Inside", OK. Go to Print Preview and check Center Image. Note the Top and Left dimensions in Position. Print a draft copy. Measure the actual top and left dimensions. Go back to print preview, uncheck Center Image and adjust for the differences.
It usually takes me 2 or 3 tries. Unlike me be sure to record successful positions for various size photos where you won’t lose them.
Bob
Yup, that was me, and Bob got it right. HP printers, pretty much regardless of age, just don’t want to center properly in Elements. The trial and error method to determine what the manual margin adjustments need to be is still the best bet.
Beth,
Good morning, teacher.
Glad your student got it right. That tip saved me a lot of frustration not to mention wasted ink and paper.
Bob
Thank you all for your advice. At least it wasn’t my stupidity! You would think that Adobe and HP would get together and solve the problem.
I have the same problem with both my Epson 2200 and my Dell printer. So it appears that the problem is with Adobe, and not with the printers. I have spent hours trying to figure this out.
If you look at the preview box, you will notice that it is the grey area (not the white area) that is the true border of the paper. But it appears impossible to get the white area centered in the gray area.
How could Adobe — supposedly the leader in photo imaging — have created such a ridiculous program that won’t let you center an image on a sheet of paper without having to resort to all this manipulation? Whoever designed this program should use it to see how inefficient his/her design really is.
Adobe also ought to have a better designed help section to address this problem.
The very strange thing that I mentioned in my opening Post is that the problem does not exist in Photoshop Album, which I recently purchased. A simple solution for me is to edit in Elements, but print in Album. The two programs are linked so if you open a photo in Album, you can chose "edit with Elements", and then return to the edited picture in Album. Admittedly one should not have to buy the two programs, but Album is quite inexpensive now particularly with rebates.
Thanks, Stephen. I had no idea that one could print in Album and that that would solve the centering problem. I have been long resigned to centering manually. Isn’t this a great forum?
I agree. It allows you to tap a huge body of public knowledge. Now if Adobe would say why Elements has the problem in the first place….
