Random printing orientation!

[Matthew Schultz]

I'm experiencing a very frustrating issue with Publisher. 

I've created a custom paper size for a business envelope. When I select it and print, sometimes the envelop is printed as depicted in the preview, that is, it's printed from right to left. Other times, and randomly, it's printed the reverse: from left to right. 

Functionally this means when I put the envelope in and print, there's a 50/50 chance the printed text will match the envelope's flap… or not.

Is there something I'm missing? Is there a setting to ensure which direction AP always uses?

Edited July 31, 2020 by Matthew Schultz
typo

[Gabe]

Hi @Matthew Schultz,

Welcome to the forums. 

What you mean by "it's printed left to right / Right to left" ? What is your document setup? Have you got some examples?

[Alfred]

On 7/31/2020 at 7:12 PM, Matthew Schultz said:

there's a 50/50 chance the printed text will match the envelope's flap… or not

Is the envelope being fed in the same way (long side or short side) each time? Are the printer’s settings adjusted accordingly?

[Matthew Schultz]

Let me reframe/restate the issue in a similar context that might help clarify:

When I print a portrait document, the page is always printed from top to bottom, meaning, the top of the page comes out of the printer first, and the bottom last.

With a landscape document, normally, the left side of the document is printed first, i.e., it comes out of the printer first, and then across to the right.

That's not happening with the envelopes. Yes, I always put the envelope in the exact same way, and with other programs (e.g., Apple Pages) it's printed with the left side of the landscape document first. That ensures the flap and the return address are both on the "top" when you're looking at the envelope.

But with AP, sometimes the app prints it so the right side of the landscape doc is printed first, meaning, it's rotated 180º, resulting in the return address being printed on the bottom of the front face of the envelope.

I hope that helps to clarify the problem. If not, I can add some pics.

Edited August 3, 2020 by Matthew Schultz

[Gabe]

When you get this rotated page, how exactly does it happen?

• Do you have a large document (say 50 pages), and when you print, some random (say 5) pages print wrong?
  • If you re-print the document, is it fine?
• Do you have a one-page document, and when you print it sometimes is wrong? 
  • If you re-print the document, is it fine?
• Is it document specific? 

[Matthew Schultz]

It only occurs when I change my paper to a custom paper size (I created), which is the dimensions of a US "business envelope".

I only print a single envelope at a time. If it's printed incorrectly, I try printing it again with a new envelope. The orientation can print the same (incorrect) way three times in a row, and then rotate 180º with me changing nothing, and I can't figure out why.

I'm using a Canon G5020, which means I'm putting the envelope in the "rear tray", which is a manual process. I thought it was tied to the "feed from" setting in the OS X print dialog (auto/main/rear), but that's proven not to be a factor.

I haven't done extensive testing, but happy to give it a shot if there's a way to narrow it down.

[jmwellborn]

@Matthew Schultz  You state that, "With a landscape document, normally, the left side of the document is printed first, i.e., it comes out of the printer first, and then across to the right."  I use an HP OfficeJet Pro 8620 for regular printing, and just printed a landscape document.  The right side of the page came out first, just as I remembered.   So could it be that it is a printer issue, not a Publisher issue?  Just wondering.🤔

[Matthew Schultz]

I would agree except that I don't have this issue with any other app, and with any other paper size; just the custom envelope sized paper with Publisher. 

Maybe I'll just switch to Designer and call it a day. 🙂

 

[Gabe]

Do you not have this issue with Designer? 

[PaulEC]

A long shot, but I just wonder if there is some auto rotate setting somewhere in the printer driver settings which alters the orientation of the print depending on the amount of text (number of lines) and the exact position on the envelope?

[Matthew Schultz]

@Gabe I haven't tried it, but I'm pretty sure I can open a .afpub file with Designer, so I'll give it a try. But I might just create a new doc to ensure the file isn't corrupt (in some way), and check my results.

@PaulEC I've looked through the printer driver settings, and there _is_ an "orientation" setting which determines if it's printed portrait or landscape, but I've always left on "automatic". I'm pretty sure that changing that would print the doc rotated 90º, not 180º. There is also a "layout" setting with "layout direction", but that has to do with n-up printing, so doubting it'd affect it. Good call, though!

[a_hub]

Hi Matthew,

did you find a solution to this issue? I am facing the same issue and it drives me crazy. The horizontal layout randomly prints sometimes left-to-right and sometimes right-to-left and I am wasting a lot of paper and ink.

Does Publisher do this better - or should I turn my Designer Layout (and my head) by 90°?

Best

Ariel

[Matthew Schultz]

NO! In fact, I couldn't even get an acknowledgement that it was a real issue; everyone thought I was crazy. 

In the end I had to switch to Apple Pages for the specific task because I couldn't get Publisher to print predictably. I'll have to go back and try it again (or in Designer).

Maybe someone from the Affinity team will see this and add a comment. 

[walt.farrell]

30 minutes ago, Matthew Schultz said:

In fact, I couldn't even get an acknowledgement that it was a real issue; everyone thought I was crazy. 

No one thought you were crazy. I think people just ran out of ideas.

Some screenshots showing your print settings, and the print preview, might have helped.

[Matthew Schultz]

I was being a bit hyperbolic. 🙂

But I never did get a confirmation/acknowledgement of the issue from the Affinity team. 

[walt.farrell]

27 minutes ago, Matthew Schultz said:

But I never did get a confirmation/acknowledgement of the issue from the Affinity team

They probably were not able to recreate, but you had one of the Serif team participating. If they cannot recreate, then they usually need more info from the user before concluding that a problem exists.

But it's unclear why the discussion just stopped, like that.

[a_hub]

Maybe it's a system specific issue?

In my case on MacOS 10.15, printing on an Epson Stylus Pro 3880.

A simple horizontal DIN A4 layout which the driver inconsistently rotates either -90° or +90° for printing in the direction of the paper.

What I found out now after playing around with the print dialog is the following:

• when I enter the print dialog Orientation is set to "Automatic" and the print preview on the left is horizontal. Print is either -90° or +90°
• when i change Orientation to "Landscape" the print preview stays horizontal and prints either -90° or +90°
• when I change Orientation back to "Automatic" and the print preview suddenly turns vertical. The print comes out consistently beginning from the top of the preview! It's a bit of a mystery but at least I seem to be able to control the print direction.

Hope we have a workaround for the time being - but this is clearly a bug, either of Designer or the printer driver.

Best

Ariel

 

[a_hub]

1 hour ago, a_hub said:

What I found out now after playing around with the print dialog is the following:

• when I enter the print dialog Orientation is set to "Automatic" and the print preview on the left is horizontal. Print is either -90° or +90°
• when i change Orientation to "Landscape" the print preview stays horizontal and prints either -90° or +90°
• when I change Orientation back to "Automatic" and the print preview suddenly turns vertical. The print comes out consistently beginning from the top of the preview! It's a bit of a mystery but at least I seem to be able to control the print direction.

 

Just updated Affinity Designer 1.10.3 to 1.10.4 and now everything works fine.

When I enter the print dialog Orientation is set to Automatic and the print preview is vertical like in the third screenshoot above. Print comes out of the printer top first.

This issue seems to be coming and going in specific OS- and application- versions.

[a_hub]

...and two minutes after my last post the issue appeared in v1.10.4.

Same situation as two posts ago.

[Ricardo Juan Carlos]

I have been experiencing exactly the same problem with Affinity Photo. I have burned my way through a lot of costly paper. I an using an Epson ET2750 printer, AP 1.10.4 and Mac OS 12.1

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Ricardo Juan Carlos said:

I have been experiencing exactly the same problem with Affinity Photo. I have burned my way through a lot of costly paper. I an using an Epson ET2750 printer, AP 1.10.4 and Mac OS 12.1

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums. Sorry to hear that.

If you drill down into the printer driver's settings for that Epson, do you have a "Print Preview" option? It's there on Windows, and will prevent wasting paper. I use it all the time when printing my projects, as it can save paper and ink.

[a_hub]

17 hours ago, Ricardo Juan Carlos said:

I have been experiencing exactly the same problem with Affinity Photo. I have burned my way through a lot of costly paper. I an using an Epson ET2750 printer, AP 1.10.4 and Mac OS 12.1

 

I found the workaround described above:

- If the print preview is vertical I know the print is coming out top first.

- If the print preview is horizontal I switch the "Orientation" pulldown from "Automatic" to "Landscape" and then back to "Automatic". If I do this the print preview switches to vertical and the print comes out top first.

Not ideal but t least I know how to insert the paper!

 

Best regards

Ariel