Page Set-Up - What I see is not how it prints

[James E Middleton]

I usually make prints using B4 paper. I set up the page margins at .3
inches. When I layout a page, I always make sure the content is inside the
margins, and until now everything has been fine. Now, in some of my files
even if a text box or image is aligned exactly on right hand margin, it
prints about an inch from the right edge of the paper instead of .3 inches.
In fact, I can place an image or text box exactly on the edge of the paper,
or even place it so it appears to be extending off the paper onto the
scratch area, and it still prints.

Less than 3 weeks ago, I did a clean install of Win XP Pro SP2, and all my
office applications. Printer drivers and video drivers are the latest. And I
have been printing away like crazy for three weeks without a hitch. Any idea
how to get back to, 'What I see on the screen is how the printer prints'.

Thanks

 

[Mary Sauer]

Printer drivers are known to go corrupt. Check again on the manufacturer's web
site for a newer driver. If there is none available, remove your present driver
and re-install. It is always advisable to completely remove your driver before
installing/reinstalling.

Bruce Sanderson's Windows Web
How to clean up printer drivers
http://members.shaw.ca/bsanders/CleanPrinterDrivers.htm

 

[James E Middleton]

Thanks Mary,

I followed your instructions implicitly, no luck... To be honest, I don't
think it's a driver... I went through files I've been working on recently
and all are fine except four. And it just so happens that they are the only
four using catalogue merge.

Since I just started playing around with merge about a week ago, I'm not so
good at getting the images ready to import into the template for a nice
looking layout. So when I Insert a picture inside the merge area, I have to
drag it off the page to the left to get it to align properly with the margin
when I do the merge. I'm wondering if that has something to do with it..?

(Long story short I make prints with bingo cards on the left side of the
page and another language activity on the right. So each student received a
different bingo card on their print, I make the cards, print them to a .pdf,
convert to .tif, and then do a merge in Publisher, so I get 44 prints each
with a unique card - I make another master page and put the right hand side
content on it, then apply master B to A.)

 

[Mary Sauer]

When you insert the first catalog picture, all others will be aligned with this
image on the left. You cannot change this unless the picture is in the merge
text box.

If you insert the picture into a merge text box instead of the catalog block, it
will be inline with the text. You can change this by either putting the image
into the catalog block or right-clicking the picture, format picture, layout
tab, select exact.

I don't know why all the sudden you are having problems with the catalog merge.
Why are making Bingo cards so convoluted? Bingo cards are simply tables, you
could turn them into images and merge them. .tif files can be large. Do you have
memory problems?

 

[James E Middleton]

Reply in line with your text...

When you insert the first catalog picture, all others will be aligned with
this image on the left. You cannot change this unless the picture is in
the merge text box.

If you insert the picture into a merge text box instead of the catalog
block, it will be inline with the text. You can change this by either
putting the image into the catalog block or right-clicking the picture,
format picture, layout tab, select exact.

Thanks for this info, I will make sure I'm following the proper procedures.

I don't know why all the sudden you are having problems with the catalog
merge. Why are making Bingo cards so convoluted? Bingo cards are simply
tables, you could turn them into images and merge them. .tif files can be
large. Do you have memory problems?

Well, I guess the 'all of a sudden' comes from never having used merge
before, I'm a newbie with this feature. The school year just started here in
Japan and for the first month or so, the pace is frantic. When the dust
settles, I'll have more time to experiment.

Anyway, I use bingo card software to make the cards. And when I print, I
print to PDF then do a save as, so that's exactly what I am doing, creating
images and merging. Before I started this project, I experimented with
different outputs using Acrobat. Out of .tif, .jpeg, and .bmp, .tiff created
the smallest file size. 44 cards are only about 12MB. Haven't tried .png
yet, which just gave me something to think about.

Thanks again Mary.

Jim