printing business cards

[Robolovsky]

I am printing business cards using Publisher 2003 and an HP Deskjet 5552. The
cards are Promaxx premium and I have set up the page measurements according
to the template supplied.

My problem is that the printed cards are never positioned perfectly. Even if
I manage to get the first row exactly right the second will print slightly
further down or up depending on my settings. I have tweaked all the space
settings and still cannot get it exactly right. Also, annoyingly, Publisher
will sometimes modify my settings. For instance if set a top margin of 1cm it
wil change it to 0.99cm. I appreciate that this may have something to do with
it calculating the overall page size for my printer but it makes it difficult
to get everything right.

If anyone has any suggestions for getting the printing position more
accurate I would be very grateful.

Cheers Rob.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Avery UK has templates for Publisher 2000, they also work with my 2003 version. Using
the business card template from Avery I can set the top margin to 1cm and it sticks.
You might use this template rather than the one you have. The download for the Avery
templates are here
http://www.avery.co.uk/uk1/downloads/template.jsp

Printing on an Inkjet can be an adventure sometimes. If the stock isn't exactly
positioned correctly or the printer's rollers are not picking up correctly, all this
can make a difference. Some printer's have a lever for heavier stock.

 

[Mac Townsend]

Rarely will an inkjet printer put the mark on the same spot on the paper
in consecutive sheets. They are sloppy in paper handling and feeding.
And it is usually difficult (if not impossible) to properly clean the
feed rollers in an attempt to recify the situation.

 

[Mike Koewler]

I have a Canon i860. Each week, I print 80 pages of labels, been using
the printer for over a year doing this. The labels may not be perfect
from sheet to sheet, but they are well within the tolerance, < 1/32 inch
per label.

Mike

 

[Robolovsky]

My concern is that even with the exact measurements as given in the template,
they do not print correctly. It is not just that the card position is wrong
but that it changes from one row to the next. For instance even if the first
two cards are correct the next two will be slightly lower on the page and the
following two lower still etc. I guess that it may well be a combination of
the type of printer and the fact that Publisher seems to insist on changing
the template measurements by tiny amounts.

Thanks for all the feedback so far.