Pubcrawler

Something strange has happened. I created a totally new document and found that I could scale it. Then I went back to one of the documents that I couldn't scale, and now it is scaling. I don't know what changed. Perhaps the act of creating another doc flushed something out. Anyway, scaling now works.

Ah. Figured it out with QT Player. It will take me a while though.

I can't do that without some guidance. When I try screen recording with either Mojave's screen-recording system or with Quicktime Player I find myself locked out of using any app controls.

It's a one-page doc. I've just added a 1 in the Pages box, set scale to 50%. The output is still 100%. A further thought re Epson's greyed out Expansion setting as a possible suspect: The output also sticks at 100% on my laser printer, which has no equivalent to Expansion. I would guess it's unlikely that two totally different printers from different manufacturers would be to blame. Anyway, thanks for your perseverance.

Strangely I have found that printing 8-bit on coarse screen laser also shows no banding.

I think I've found what you're referring to. In the printer section of the Print dialog box, under Page Layout Settings there is an area labeled Expansion — which turns out to mean the opposite, i.e. scaling down. It's at Max and is greyed out, so for some reason it isn't allowing scaling by the printer. By the way Range and Scale is also in the Print dialog (hence my confusion), but within the app section. You've got me curious. Scaling within InDesign and Photoshop works even though Epson's Expansion setting is greyed out when I use either of those apps. But Lightroom has always refused to scale below 13x19. I've always exported to Photoshop from Lightroom when wanting smaller prints. Meanwhile the more I think about it, I'm pretty sure beta versions of Publisher did let me scale down. I always scale to save ink before doing final output, and used the betas without issue.

I think you are talking about the Print dialog box. There is only one area of Print that covers scaling on the Mac, as far as I can see, and that is in Range and Scale.

Hi Chris, yes you mentioned scaling in Publisher earlier. Where exactly? As I say, I haven't a strong grasp of its UI, and document scaling within Publisher remains a mystery to me.

Yes, this is all about printing from Publisher.

Hi Chris, As per the dialog box above, I'm trying to scale the entire document. I don't follow you regarding scaling separately in Pub and Printer. The only scaling option I see is in the Range and Scale tab of the Print dialog. I'm not that familiar with the UI of Pub itself yet. But I'm intrigued.

I just tried an A4 version at 50%. Still got print at 100%.

Hi Dan C, and thanks for your suggestion. I switched to my laser printer (ah, the savings on ink and paper!). Set to 50% as you can see below. Also tried a totally different document with unrelated layout. Still printed at 100%. I'm using the latest version of Mojave on a 2017 iMac, so nothing ancient. I think, but am not certain, that I was able to make scaled prints during Publisher's beta phase.

Thanks, R C-R. For some reason I had switched at some point from ColorSync to Epson Controls Colors. I think that may be necessary for B&W printing. Anyway, ColorSync solved all my color problems. Epson also offers the chance to tweak manually — but I shudder at the amount of experimentation (and paper and ink consumption) that would take. I was down in Texas (from Alberta) a few weeks back. Really loved it. Particularly Marfa.

I've just tried both Open in Preview and Save as PDF, scaling to 50%. The result is 100%, as indicated in Preview's Print dialog. I notice that Range & Scale can't remember 50%. It reverts to 100% the next time I open the dialog. A bug? Or a feature?

I'm with you, Chris. I'd never edit in 8-bit. I always shoot raw (usually even on iPhone). I'm still doing most of my editing in pre-subscription Lightroom, sometimes Photoshop. I export from Lightroom as PSD, 16-bit and Adobe (1998). My suspicion is that my screen is capable of a greater gamut than my printer, but in any event I'm happy with the 1998 colour space. At your suggestion, I'll try printing at 16 bit some time although I've not seen banding at 8 bit. Thanks again.