Custom Paper Size problems

[Zack]

I'm trying to print on to custom sized paper (3.5 x 6 inces, oriented
vertically), and I'm completely stumped. I'm using Word 2004 v11.5,
and a Canon MP610 printer, OS 10.3.9

I'm going to file>page setup, and selecting 'Custom Paper Size' in the
'page attributes' pull down menu. I then check the 'Use Custom Paper
Size' box, and fill in the appropriate paper dimensions, and click
'ok'. This causes Word to configure the page size and margins as it
should, and 'print preview' looks fine. So far, so good.

However, when I try to print, Word is apparently failing to tell the
printer about the custom paper size. The printer insists on printing
the text aligned with the right margin of an 8.5 x 11 inch sheet of
paper (which of course would make sense if I were trying to print on a
standard sized piece of paper). This means that the text is
completely off the borders of a 3.5 x 6 inch sheet fed normally into
the printer (ie, aligned with the right side - when facing the printer
- of the paper feed tray). I've checked the far right icon in the
'Custom Paper Size' window, which should tell the printer that the
paper is aligned with the right side - when facing the printer - of
the paper feed tree, but this makes no difference.

I don't have the option of simply placing the paper against the left
side of the paper tray, since the printer lacks a roller on the far
left side and is unable to feed the paper when it is loaded in this
position.

One other thing seems strange - I seem to remember in the past that
when creating a custom paper size, one had to name the new size, and
that name then showed up in the pull-down list of paper sizes in the
Page Setup dialogue window. Currently, there is no option to name the
custom paper size, and no way to make the custom paper size show up in
the 'paper size' list.

Any help greatly appreciated!

Zack

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Zack -

The first consideration is that not every printer can conform to "any" paper
size you throw at it Confirm in its documentation that your printer is
able to respect the paper dimensions you're specifying. Also, you may have
to make a settings change in the Print dialog under Copies & Pages> Paper
Handling to make sure that the proper paper size is selected [Although the
Print dialog in 103.9 is a bit different - I'm running either 10.4.x or
10.5.x on all of my systems]. As for naming the custom size, yes - when you
create it the new item appears in the left column of the Custom Page Sizes
dialog as "Untitled". Dbl-Click it to change the name to what you prefer.

Additionally, it wouldn't hurt to check the mfr's site for an updated
printer driver. You also specified Office 11.5 as your current version which
is several updates behind - 11.5.3 is the current build for Office 2004 so
that should be tended to as well. Repair permissions after any updates.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Zack]

Hi CyberTaz -

Thank you for your response!

The first consideration is that not every printer can conform to "any" paper
size you throw at it Confirm in its documentation that your printer is
able to respect the paper dimensions you're specifying.

Hmm. The MP610 is a pretty versatile photo/text printer, it can handle
business cards, 4x6 photos, 8.5 x11 sheets of paper etc, so I don't
see why there should be any physical difficulties with the 3.5x6
size.

Also, you may have
to make a settings change in the Print dialog under Copies & Pages> Paper
Handling to make sure that the proper paper size is selected [Although the
Print dialog in 103.9 is a bit different - I'm running either 10.4.x or
10.5.x on all of my systems].

No such settings on my system. In the Print dialog box, there is no
'paper handling' option within the 'Copies & Pages' window. 'Copies &
Pages' has its own separate entry on the pull down menu, but when I
select 'Copies & Pages' the only options involve selecting which page
of a mult-page document I wish to print. There is a button for 'page
setup', but this just takes me to the regular 'page setup' window (the
same one accessed by selecting File>Page Setup in Word's menu bar).

As for naming the custom size, yes - when you
create it the new item appears in the left column of the Custom Page Sizes
dialog as "Untitled". Dbl-Click it to change the name to what you prefer.

Unfortunately, this does not happen either. When I go to File>Page
Setup and select the 'Custom Paper Size' option under the 'settings'
pull down menu, the only options present are to set the size of the
custom paper, 'feed method' (the icons indicating which side of the
printer feed sheet the paper is aligned with), and two buttons to
choose whether the feed method is 'face up' or 'face down'. There are
no columns in the 'Custom Page Sizes' dialogue box, and at no point
does a new item titled 'untitled' appear.

If I go back to the default 'Page setup' dialog box and open the
'Paper Size' pull down menu, there IS an item titled 'untitled'
listed. However, if I select this 'untitled' size, the dimensions are
listed as 8.5 x 11, and the printer behaves as though it is in fact
printing on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper. I am unable to find any way to
modify the settings for this 'untitiled' size -- presumably, this is
the purpose of the 'Custom Paper Size' dialog box but for some reason
it isn't happening. Again, using the 'Custom Paper Size' dialog DOES
cause Word to format the document correctly when I look at Print
Preview, but the printer apparently never gets the information about
the custom paper size.

Additionally, it wouldn't hurt to check the mfr's site for an updated
printer driver. You also specified Office 11.5 as your current version which
is several updates behind - 11.5.3 is the current build for Office 2004 so
that should be tended to as well. Repair permissions after any updates.'

Thanks for the tip about the newest version of Office 2004. I
downloaded the update, and also reloaded the printer driver (I was
already running the most recent version). Repaired permissions and
performed other routine maintenance (Macjanitor, etc). Unfortunately,
there's been no change - printer still does not 'see' the custom paper
size.

I suppose I could work around this particular problem by selecting the
'4x6' preset in the 'paper size' pull down menu of the Page Setup
dialog box, and then fudging the margins, but I'll need to do other
custom sizes in the future and it would be nice to figure out what is
going on!

Best wishes,

Zack

 

[CyberTaz]

Unfortunately I don't have access to anything with 10.3.9 installed & I
believe most of the dialog discrepancy relates directly to OS version... But
there's one thing that still concerns me in your op:

This causes Word to configure the page size and margins as it
should, and 'print preview' looks fine.

If it looks as it should in Print Preview the comunications breakdown is
occurring outside of Word - the display in Print Preview is actually
feedback from the printer driver. IOW, programs don't generate the Print
Preview, it's showing you exactly what the printer should be "seeing". What
happens if you use Apple's Preview app to preview the file? Or use a
different printer driver, such as PDF or something generic?

 

[Zack]

Unfortunately I don't have access to anything with 10.3.9 installed & I
believe most of the dialog discrepancy relates directly to OS version... But
there's one thing that still concerns me in your op:


If it looks as it should in Print Preview the comunications breakdown is
occurring outside of Word - the display in Print Preview is actually
feedback from the printer driver. IOW, programs don't generate the Print
Preview, it's showing you exactly what the printer should be "seeing". What
happens if you use Apple's Preview app to preview the file? Or use a
different printer driver, such as PDF or something generic?

I was puzzled by this as well. My version of Preview won't open text
documents, but when I tried to print the 3.5 x 6 inch custom-sized
document as a .pdf, the resulting .pdf showed up laid out as an 8.5 x
11 inch document, ie, the pdf driver does not see the custom size,
just as the Canon driver failed to see it. One other bit of info:
although Word's "print preview" DOES see the custom size, as does
Word's 'page layout' view, the small preview window inside the print
dialogue box does NOT see the custom size.

I then had the bright idea of trying to open the custom sized document
in TextEdit. Nope, TextEdit didn't see the custom size either, and
displayed the docuement as 8.5 x11. It occurred to me to check
whether 'custom paper size' would work within TextEdit. Lo and
behold, when I selected 'Custom Paper Size' from the pull-down menu in
the Page Setup dialog box, the result was a window similar to what you
described in your first post, and what I remember from earlier
versions of Word. There's a list of existing custom paper sizes,
along with buttons that allow you to create, edit, and name new
sizes. I created and named a 3.5 x 6 size. This new size then showed
up in 'Paper Size' pull-down menu of the page setup dialog box, and it
printed fine. I then went back to Word, and found that the newly
created custom size was indeed now listed in the 'Paper Size' pull-
down menu of Word's 'Page Setup' window. And with this new size
selected, the document printed correctly out of Word! Whew.

There is clearly a repeatable bug in the way the Custom Size paper
feature of Word 2004's Page Setup interacts with OS10.3.9

Thanks for your help!

Zack

 

[CyberTaz]

Glad you got it sorted - kudos for your undaunted efforts. And thanks for
taking the time to come back with your findings... Perhaps others will
benefit from them.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac