How to print 2 pages per A4 sheet, on both sides in Publisher

[Ken]

In Publisher 2007 I have made a booklet. Each page is half A4 size. I want to
orientate standard UK A4 paper landscape, and print two (portrait
orientated) pages per sheet, printing on both sides of the paper (i.e. 4
pages when printed both sides). I should then have two sheets which I can
fold in half to result in an 8 page booklet.

I set up the Publisher print dialogue and despite print preview being what I
want, I am getting four pages per sheet not two. If I use the printer's
dialogue box then OK the settings, it returns to the Publisher box - but the
settings on this have changed and are no longer correct.

Any ideas - I've wasted tons of paper and ink and hours of time, playing
with the settings to no avail. The best I have managed is the correct two
pages per A4 sheet, but not double sided printing.

Regards

Ken

 

[Mary Sauer]

I can setup your booklet okay here. Are you using the built-in page setup for
your booklet? The page setup will duplicate over and over and sometimes the
duplicated page will setup wrong.
I never use the print setup until I am ready to print. I have discovered this is
the only way I can get a correct print in Publisher 2007. The print interface in
Publisher is not friendly.

Do you have a duplex unit?

 

[Ken]

Hi Mary - thanks for your prompt reply. I will try this later when I get a
moment - maybe I have been trying too hard to get all the settings to agree
(which I can't manage). I have a printer that is duplex enabled (HP
Photosmart 3310) but have to re-feed the pages by hand. This hasn't ever been
a problem with a cheap greetings card maker I have (albeit I have only
printed four pages of A5 print on one sheet of A4 using both sides). On this
software, you just follow the screen prompts and it is easy, so I agree with
your comments about Publisher not being print friendly,

Thanks again - will update you later.

Regards

Ken

 

[Ken]

Hi Mary
Further to my previous reply I have made some progress, but so far I'm less
than impressed with Publisher 2007.

I used the printer print set up, on the Finishing tab, set up "print both
sides manually", "Booklet layout - left edge binding", "two pages per sheet",
"portrait orientation". The little preview icon looks correct (i.e. two pages
side by side). If you OK this it goes back to the Publisher print dialogue
page, but the settings will have changed to "one page per sheet, and the
little preview icon will also show only one page per sheet. The 2 sided print
selector can still be selected. Perversely, this combination prints the pages
as expected BUT each booklet page is now printed much smaller - the top and
bottom margins are about 1.5" and the left and right margins are about 1",
despite the actual margin settings being set at 1cm.

Can you suggest anything else? Maybe if I set the margins to zero it will
print them at 1cm?

Regards

Ken

 

[Mary Sauer]

Ken, I have a Photo smart printer. Try this,
In page setup there is a search box at the top, type booklet. (it is slow).
Select the A4 setup.

Don't do anything else until you are ready to print.

File, Print, page range 1-4. Turn the page over, page range 2-3. (If you have
more than 4 pages you will have to work out the page range).

Don't mess around with the printer properties. I truly believe Publisher can't
communicate properly with the printer drivers. I have reported printing problems
to Microsoft several times, hopefully they will address the issue in future
service patches.