I can't get my business cards to line up when I print them

[jondix_01]

I am trying to print business cards from publisher, using my own design
rather than one of the publisher ones. The cards do not have an avery number
but I have carefully measured all of the margins and put them into the page
set up screen - the cards are 10 to a page (5 rows of 2) and do not have a
gap between them so I have set the horizontal and vertical gap fields to 0.

When I print them the first card is aligned correctly but then the printing
on each successive one moves slowly upwards. After two or three cards they
are totally misaligned. I have checked the settings several times but can
find nothing wrong with them.

What am I doing wrong? I can't think of anything else to check.

Thanks

Jon

 

[Mary Sauer]

If you are using an inkjet it could be the way the printer is picking up the stock.
This is not a Publisher issue but a printer issue. Do you have a lever on your
printer for heavier stock?

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Your template is not set up correctly.. print onto plain paper and then
overlay the paper onto your card stock..

If you are using Avery templates on non-Avery card stock, you can't
guarantee results without some fiddling.. likewise, if you use non-Avery
templates with Avery card stock, the same will apply..

If you have a problem with paper feed, it would show up with any kind of
document.. for instance, if you were to load a text document into Publisher
and then print it onto your card stock, I doubt that the text would
gradually move up or move anywhere other than where it should be.. you might
want to try this just to knock out the paper feed problem from the overall
equation..

 

[Mary Sauer]

I use to have a Canon that would not print in same place twice. The way I worked
around was to print one copy at a time with only one piece of paper in the feed. It
is the same with a color Epson I have now. Plain paper printing does not have this
issue, nor does labels, it is the heavier stock.
I can put 50 sheets of paper of any weight into my laser and it never prints wrong.
I use all sorts of brand business cards (the best ones are not Avery, but they all
are 2.5 x 3), they all do the same. It is the way the paper feeds into the rollers.

 

[Mike Hall \(MS-MVP\)]

Mary

What can I say other than you should have purchased an HP..

I have had happen what the OP describes, but it was down to me using the
incorrect mixture of template and card stock.. however, I do not doubt for a
second that you have a valid and worthwhile point, especially as you are not
the proud owner of a DeskJet..

Enter JoAnn stage left <space> <space> "we love HP, we love HP"..

 

[Mary Sauer]

I have had several color printers over the years, never a HP. I have a HP LaserJet
5000. A wonderful printer...

I have no quarrel with Epson, it prints pretty good photos, pretty good is about all
I need.
I am considering a HP. I like the sound of the thermal color technology.
Vista arrived today...

 

[Ed Bennett]

When I got ready to take my empty cartridges
to the Girl Scouts recently for recycling - here's what I had used
since buying the printer - 4 cyan, 3 magenta, and 2 yellow. Since I
could replace them individually on my Epson, I wasn't throwing away
unused ink.

If you think you were throwing away a lot of ink on the Canon, you should
see how much you waste using an Epson that doesn't have the multiple ink
tanks.

 

[Ed Bennett]

Canon

Freudian slip - meant HP - sorry

 

[jondix_01]

I don't think it can be that as the first row of two cards on the page are
correctly aligned. I assume it must that it thinks the busiess cards are
slightly smaller than they really are. I expect I could cure it by fiddling
with the card size and gap settings on the page set up screen but it seems
odd that this is happening as they are undoubtedly "correct."

Thanks for all the replies, any other suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Mary Sauer]

You could setup your page manually, Arrange, side margins .75, top & bottom margin
..5. five rows, 2 columns. I doubt this will make any difference in the print. But if
you have to adjust it will be easier. Draw a line around the cards, print a draft and
compare it to your business card stock.

 

[drc023]

Instead of printing a full business card, setup a new one with only two
boxes. One will be the outside border of the card, 2" x 3.5", set the other
one at 1.5" x 3" and center it. Use a .5 line weight. Once these are printed
you can measure the distances between lines and determine what percentage
they are off. If it is a printer problem, you won't be able to correct it by
tweaking the gap settings. You'll need to set up the cards on a standard
size sheet and adjust them to correspond to the desired output.

 

[Wildfire563]

Hi,
I believe this user may have a valid point, though I don't understand why
you are not getting more calls on this problem. I just purchased an HP
6540xi Deskjet. Are you using a Borderless print setup to print the cards?
I am having a similar problem, and it only occurs with the Microsoft Office
products (both Powerpoint and Publisher). I don't understand what you mean
by "moves upward". My problem is that MS is stretching the image in the
lengthwise direction. Even though the paper measures 11" long, and the image
is set up at 11" long in MSO, the image is about .25" too long for the paper
when printed. It prints fine in the widthwise direction. I have tried
printing images from other software packages and it works fine. One
difference is that MS seems to use their own driver to print. I have the
driver set up to show a preview from the printer driver before it prints. It
shows this preview when I print from other packages, but not when I print
from MS Office products.

Any thoughts? This is not a printer issue per se, because it does print
images sized to the full page just fine from other packages. I am, so far,
only seeing this problem from Office products.

Thomas

 

[Brian Kvalheim [MSFT MVP]]

difference is that MS seems to use their own driver to print.

That is incorrect. Office (or I should say all MS products) use the
printer's driver. This would be an issue with your printer driver. See about
updating your printer driver from the HP website or contact HP direct.
--
Brian Kvalheim
Microsoft Publisher MVP
http://www.publishermvps.com

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