IN Libre Writer how do you create a custom paper size to print?

I’m trying to print on a piece of paper that is 5.5x8.5. I need to create this size I guess to have it print properly. How do I do that?

Thank you for helping me. I made my custom size page into a style but when I go to print it, there still aren’t any correctly sized selections to print. Do you know how to get those custom sizes to choose from when printing?

@C.Sara,

When responding to an answer it is best to add a comment under the answer you are responding to. In your post here, the person who you are responding to never receives a notification and has no idea you responded unless they specifically view the question again or you specifically mention their name as I did yours here (i.e. @RGB-es ) .

Writer uses the concept of “page style.” Basically, you set the properties of a group of pages (and that group can take the whole document) under a style. If you look at the status bar on the lower part of Writer’s window, in the third “box” counting from the left you’ll find the name of the current page style: click on it to edit its properties, or use the style editor in the Side Bar (open it with F11). In the “Page” tab you’ll be able to define the page size, either by picking a predefined size or by using a custom one, its margins, etc…

To use Writer, you need to learn how to manage styles. You can use the official documentation for that or, if you don’t mind the self promotion, read my free book about Writer.

Thank you for helping me. I made my custom size page into a style but when I go to print it, there still aren’t any correctly sized selections to print. Do you know how to get those custom sizes to choose from when printing?

@C.Sara it’s been more than a decade since I last used a physical printer at home: when I need to print I build a PDF and send it to someone else, so sorry, I don’t even have a printer driver on my system to check what’s needed.

Typical open source “help” site where no one understands what people are asking.

What you see there depends on your printer and printer-driver. So you have to add this also to the “printer server properties” (As you didn’t mention I assume you are on Win10)

  • So you have to go to the control-center where Devices an Printers are shown.
  • There you select your printer (single click)
  • As you have selected something there should be “printer server properties” available in the menu bar above. Click on this.
  • You will need to create a new form
  • Test, if everything is working properly. There are a lot of questions out in the net, concerning drivers/windows forgetting/deleting custom-formats or drivers where no change is possible.
    (I checked this with one of my drivers.)

The following link has some screenshots, but is from support of a “to pdf” printer-driver:
https://www.win2pdf.com/doc/pdf-custom-paper-windows-10.html

When people asking a question on a LibreOffice help site, not mentioning their operating system a “typical” answer will assume LibreOffice is the topic.

Like @RGB-es I sent away files with my only custom-format as pdf to a print-service, but as I also have several printers available I could easily check and so your otherwise completely useless comment leads now to better content…

I’m copying this over from another post since I was also looking for this solution and found a way.

It seems libreoffice gets the predefined paper sizes from the printer driver. You will need to go set a custom paper size from the printer properties.

In Windows 10:
Control panel > Administrative Tools > Print management

From within print management
All Printers > [your label printer] > right click > Properties

From within printer properties. This may vary depending on your printer model, so things might not work out the same for everyone.

Select the “stocks” tab
Find an option that lets you define a new label size
Name the new definition and define the label size in width and height.
After confirming, go back to libreoffice and print something (a restart of libreoffice may be required). You should see your newly defined size in the list of options.

See How do you set a user defined or custom paper size? which was about partial label sheet print. Above Question/Answer was offered as extra answer.


My comment is:

A more generic solution does not need to tweak the printer driver and is portable across OS (Window$, MacOS, Linux).

  1. untick Paper tray from printer settings in Tools>Options, LibreOffice Writer>Print
    Bonus: LO will start faster in case your printer is offline because LO will not probe the printer and have to wait for a time-out.
  2. define your custom paper size in Default Page Style or any other page style you’ll use

However, a final issue remains. When you print, you need to select a supported paper size (usually bigger than the custom size). Depending on the driver, the custom may be centrered in the physical page or flushed to some edge. This is important to feed correctly your custom sheet into the printer.