Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere, or something basic I should know. But I've combed the forums, the help files, as well as doing a general web search, and I cannot find the answer.
The issue: When I print, my documents margins are off. For example, a 3.5 " x 2" business card, all content contained within boundaries. I've tried it as a single card, making a full page (for Avery sheets) with the imposition layout tool, and well as a full repeated page of 10, on a document sized 8.5" x 10". I've adjusted gutters, margins -- basically anything I can find that's editable -- and no matter how it looks in the screen print preview, it prints slighty off, which on a perforated sheet pretty much ruins them all.
In regards to my above example, my left & right margin are 0.75", and my top/bottom margins are 0.50". There is no space between the 2-across/5-up cards. Again, looks fine on my screen preview, but prints 'slightly' to the left. I've gone so far as to adjust my graphics, moving them slighty to the right to compensate -- still fails.
I hope someone has the solution. I'm about to tear out my hair from frustration!! TIA.
PS: I've tried multiple printers, thinking that could be the issue, but the problem was repeatable no matter which printer I used.
I think you may have a mismatch between the size of the page in CorelDraw and the actual paper size.
This happens typically for two reasons:
Explaining how to fix it is not so easy because there are many printers with different driver setup screens. The best hope is if you can say what printers you have and perhaps somebody here has the same one to explain where you find these settings.
For ease of explanation, it would also be useful to say the exact size of the printer paper.
Thank you, Harry and David.
I am printing on US standard 8.5"x11" sized paper/cardstock (Avery 10-per-page Business Cards). The two printers I've tried most are: Ricoh MP C300, and Epson Workforce 845.Indeed I have tried selecting/deselecting "fit to printable area", as well as "fit to page", and "reposition images to", putting exact measurement in settings.
A question. Are you trying to print a full dimension background on the Avery Pre-cut cards?
Hi, Jack.
Not sure I understand your question. If you mean is there a background graphic which overlaps all cards, covering the full page, the answer is no. However, each card does contain graphics which extend to all edges.
If anyone thinks it would help, I can post the CDR file (assuming that's possible on this forum) -- the individual card version (measuring 3.5"x2"), the full page version (measuring 8.5"x11"), or both.
Honeyblonde said:However, each card does contain graphics which extend to all edges.
You deciphered my poor description correctly. At first, I was going to recommend that you not use precut cards for such a project. I manually set up the layout using card stock, and cut my own cards as suggested by Jeff Harrison of these forums. I start with 3.625" x 2.125" cutting them at 3.5" x 2". This allows a 0.0625 bleed area on all sides, eliminating the problem you are having.
A thought came to me, you could customize the layout and offset the side margins. This should move the whole print left or right, depending on your changes. For instance, changing the left margin to 0.755" and the right to 0.745" would move the print 0.005" right.
I use X4 but I am 99.9% certain X6 also has the Avery Template. You can save wasting whole sheets of cards while setting and testing the,adjustment by opening Print Preview, then the Imposition Layout Tool, selecting and deleting 4 of the 5 rows of card. Click on the number in the layout and use the delete key. Below, Have left only the 2nd row. Deleting 1,3,4, and 5. By changing deleted row you can reuse the same sheet. of cards for testing.
EDIT: I am wondering how adding a bleed using Corels layout to the Avery Label (Business Card) Template would affect the print outcome. I will try to get to the officed supply today and pick up some Avery Business Card forms and experiment this weekend. I am thinking it should work..
Jack Ross said: EDIT: I am wondering how adding a bleed using Corels layout to the Avery Label (Business Card) Template would affect the print outcome. I will try to get to the officed supply today and pick up some Avery Business Card forms and experiment this weekend. I am thinking it should work..
Wrong, it does not work as expected.
I did experiment with changing the tab dimemsions, and that does work. I printed one sheet and then measured the offset using a machinst rule. Corrected the tabs and the nest sheet printed fine. Not sure that would hold true for many sheets as it would depend on the printer feeding the sheets the same way every time. Not gonna happen
Printing a card with bleed requires either
If you don't have one of the above, then no amount of tweaking is going to give satisfactory results because the printer will certainly print every copy in a slightly different place. That's why we have bleed ... but if there are no gutters, then the bleed will print on the adjacent label.
I concur that every print job will be slightly off; and I could deal with that. I also understand the use of bleed and gutters. The thing is, even if I removed any color near the edges, taking bleed out of the equation, I still need the cards to be closely aligned. If the margins are more than a smidgen off, then my columns are shifted and none of the cards are centered. It's enough of a shift to be clearly noticeable, even to a non-artist, which makes it unacceptable in my opinion.
I realize I could cut my own cards, send them to a print shop, or even backtrack and create them as a Word document. But part of the thrill and plus of owning an excellent GA program like CorelDRAW is to have a greater feature set and end result that more watered-down software. I had hoped there would be some hidden feature or techie tweak that could resolve what seems like a simple problem.
I can get it exactly perfect in the print preview; margins to precise measurement and looks exactly centered. Here is a screenshot of a full page of cards:
The CDR file is also attached.
Thanks to all for your continued efforts, I do appreciate it.
Well, I printed your file, 10 up, on my relatively cheap inkjet printer and to my surprise it has come out completely centred, as far as the eye can tell.
I even folded the sheet in half and the centre crop is within a hairline of the fold:
I'm using A4 paper because letter size paper is not common here, but I'm sure the result would have been the same if I had used letter paper with all the printer settings properly set for that size.
harryLondon said: Well, I printed your file, 10 up, on my relatively cheap inkjet printer and to my surprise it has come out completely centred, as far as the eye can tell. I even folded the sheet in half and the centre crop is within a hairline of the fold: I'm using A4 paper because letter size paper is not common here, but I'm sure the result would have been the same if I had used letter paper with all the printer settings properly set for that size.
As well it should provided that the the printer feeds the paper exactly and the paper is cut ot precise measurenents. It would not take much to cause the printing to be off slighlly. A slight slip of the feed rollers or paper not cut square or not positioned correctly in the feed tray. Some printers may work fine, Others not so good. Too many varibles when printing on pre-cut lables.