SOLVED (found a workaround): Page size and font enlarged when printing?
Sun, 17 Apr 2016 - 9:06 AM
I’m puzzled by a problem I have run into when trying to print unusual-size pages.
I have a small notebook which takes loose-leaf pages 8 cm wide x 12.5 cm high. I want to print some pages of text to go in it.
I started a new Writer document and used the Format > Page command to set the ‘user’ page size to 8 cm x 12.5 cm. I also set margins for the text. I saved that as a LibreOffice Writer template.
Using that template then typed four pages of text in Arial font 11 point. I saved the resulting document in .odt file format.
My intention was to print all four pages of text on one A4 sheet, then to cut the sheet with a guillotine to produce four notebook-sized pages.
In the File > Print > General tab I selected the printer: HP Deskjet 1000. In the preview window it showed one page of text on ‘Japanese Postcard’ size paper 10 cm wide x 14.8 cm high.
Then I used Print > Options tab to select ‘use only paper size from printer preferences’. In the preview window it showed one page of text on A4 size paper. (A4 is the default paper size for the printer.)
Then I used Print > Page Layout tab to select four pages per sheet; also ‘draw a border around each page’ to facilitate cutting the paper when printed.
At this stage the preview window correctly showed four pages of text on the A4 sheet, with borders around each page.
All good so far!
But then I printed the sheet and found:
a) each notebook page (defined by the border) is now 9.5 cm wide x 14.8 cm high
b) the font size appears larger than 11 point … possibly 12 point, I’m not sure how to measure it.
So it’s as though the page size I set, and the font, have both been enlarged in the process of printing.
Have I missed a setting somewhere? Is this a bug?
For info, I am using LibreOffice 5.1.2.2 for Linux (Build ID: 1:5.1.2~rc2-0ubuntu1~trusty0). I have previously followed this procedure successfully to print two A5 pages on each A4 sheet, but have never previously tried to define my own paper size.
I’ll be very grateful for any help you can give me!
Sun, 17 Apr 2016 - 9:28 AM
#1
I've now found this listed as a bug
After posting the above I did some more reading on the internet and found this posted as a bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libreoffice/+bug/1325931
Apparently the LibreOffice developers haven’t addressed it yet although it’s been around for at least a year. Post # 10 says that they seem to view it as a Linux problem only.
Can others on this forum who use a different operating system confirm that this problem does not affect them?
Sun, 17 Apr 2016 - 1:08 PM
#2
Further info and a workaround
Final post in this thread for anyone else who tries what I attempted. I found it can’t be done. First I tried the same experiment with LibreOffice Writer running on Windows 10: exactly the same problem as before. So the bug is not confined to Linux machines, it happens on Windows too. Second I tried to achieve what I wanted using Microsoft Word 2013: it was still impossible, and I found the Word ‘multi page printing’ options even more confusing than the dialogues in LibreOffice. So as a simple and successful workaround I did the following: (1) created a new A4 document in LibreOffice; (2) inserted a 2×2 table with column width set to 8 cm and column height to 12.5 cm; (3) in Table Properties, set a dotted border to each cell, as a guideline for cutting later; (4) also in table properties, set ‘spacing to contents’ to give a sensible margin to the text on each page of the notebook. I then saved that as a master document. Now, to create pages for the notebook I simply open a copy of that document, type the text I want into the four ‘pages’ (i.e. table cells), print it out and cut it up.