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The page number, footer, or page border doesn't print or prints only partially (or: one side of my landscape pages won't print) Article contributed by Suzanne Barnhill and Dave Rado Frequently people have problems with material at the bottom of a page (the page number, for example, or the running footer) not printing correctly. Often, the characters get cut in half so that only the top half of the line prints. The most common problem is that the bottom margin of the page is set too small, or that the footer is placed too close to the edge of the sheet.
The other common problem (particularly on the Macintosh) is that you are formatting the document for a printer that is different to the one you are actually sending the document to.
Older Macs have a bad habit of setting the "Format For" setting to "Any Printer". Some corporations standardise on a single printer driver for every PC in the company, regardless of which model printer is actually connected in your office. In either case, the computer now has no idea where the edge of the paper in the printer is.
All the above comments apply equally, of course, to the right-hand side of a landscape page. Inkjet printers in general have a rather large unprintable area at the bottom of the page (up to 0.67" is common; the record is probably 1.01" in case of the HP 420 ). The default footer margin in Word is 0.5", and the default page border setting is “From edge of page,” with a default measurement of 24 pts (one third of an inch) and a maximum of 31 pts (less than half an inch), so obviously these elements will not print on many printers. To move the footer into the printable area, change the footer margin (on the Margins tab of Page Layout); you may also need to adjust the bottom margin to allow enough space between text and footer. For Page Borders, you can try setting the distance “From text” instead (again only up to 31 pts); you'll need to uncheck “Surround footer.” (Note that “From text” means from the text margins, not the actual text present.) Your printer manual may specify the printer's unprintable area, or this information may be included somewhere on the Properties sheet for the printer driver. An easy way to find out, though, is this: In Page Setup, change all the margin settings to 0. Note: You must have selected the correct printer first (see above). When you try to exit Page Setup, you will be told that one or more of your margins is outside the printable area. Word will offer to fix them for you; accept this offer and make a note of the resulting settings. Note that Word will not warn you if your header or footer is outside the printable area (after all, Word doesn't know that you even plan to have a header or footer), but Print Preview will usually give a pretty accurate representation of what will actually print. If you are determined to print outside the printer's printable area, some workarounds have been devised. One of the simplest is to temporarily tape an extension onto the bottom of the page and set a Custom page size a little longer than the actual sheet, adjusting margins accordingly. This requires some calculation and experimentation but reportedly does work if you are stubborn enough to try it! Microsoft's suggestion is to define the page size as smaller than the actual so that Word will be tricked into printing the page border, with a measurement “From edge of page,” higher than the actual bottom of the page. Another solution is to switch to a more modern printer. Most commercial printers suitable for an office environment will print within 10 millimetres (0.4 of an inch) from the edge of the paper, and many will go closer. Modern home printers will often go even closer: the ones marketed as "Photo Printers" will often print right to the extreme edge of the paper (known as "full bleed" printing in the trade). |
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