Envelope printing

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#1

I cannot print envelopes properly on a Lexmark CX317dn printer from Libreoffice Writer 6.4.7.2 running on Ubuntu 20.04. The return address and addressee are positioned to the right of center as if printing on an 8.5" x 11" letter size sheet of paper, which is far off for a center fed #10 envelope. If it were possible to feed envelopes from the right hand side, there would be no problem but this printer can only feed envelopes from the center.

When I set the page style to #10 envelope, all the information appears in the right location, but when I look at the print preview, it shows up as a letter size form. Setting the page style and paper size to #10 envelope doesn’t change preview (as some settings do) nor does it correct the problem.

#2

There was an old question with a workaround for your printer. This answer might help, Printing #10 envelopes (Com-10) - #12 by Regina

Note that there does now appear to be a Lexmark driver for your printer but the list of supported OS stops at Ubuntu 18

#3

Unfortunately, that answer is no longer valid as updates have changed the option. There is no longer an “Options” tab in the print dialog box. There is a Paper Layout/Paper Size option, but the #10 envelope option in the menu is ineffective and there appears no option for user defined paper size in Libreoffice Write that I can find, so the “User Defined” paper size option is also not available.

I was able one time to get the print preview to show a #10 envelope pattern with the return address and addressee boxes properly positioned, but even then it printed wrong. I have not been able to replicate that experience since.

#4

I don’t have this printer and I don’t know the limitations of its driver in Ubuntu. LibreOffice gets paper sizes from the printer driver. It seems that the printer driver does not offer #10 envelope when you click on printer properties in the print dialogue, is that correct?

The remark by Regina suggests the problem is with #10 envelopes. DL envelopes are not that different in size and a little trial and error setting of margins or frames should allow you to tell it to use DL settings but feed with #10 envelope

You have tried just setting a page size like this odt page?
No10Envelope.odt (22.8 KB)

Alternatively, can you just lay out the frames on a letter size page so they will print where the envelope will be fed? For example for centre feed it might be something like this
LetterWithCom10Envelope.odt (10.9 KB)

#5

DL envelopes didn’t work either.

#6

Here is an approach that is a PIA but once completed is easy to use in the future.

  1. Open Writer and from the Format menu select Page Style → Page → Landscape. (This will turn an 8.5x11 page sideways.)

  2. Draw a box 9 1/2" wide by 4 1/8" high. (This is your envelope pattern.) Center it vertically and position it to the right hand edge of the page. Clear the fill pattern.

  3. Draw 2 text boxes, one for addressee and one the return address and position them appropriately in the envelope pattern. Be sure to place some text in each box or they will disappear.

  4. From the “File” menu select Template → Save as Template, give it a name (e.g., 10 envelope), select Envelope for style and save. Then close the document. (You don’t need to save it as a document.)_

  5. To print a #10 envelope, pull down the File menu and select Template → Open Templates → Envelope → Your Template Name (e.g. 10 envelope). Edit the text boxes, insert #10 envelope in manual feed tray and print.

#7

The problem with text boxes is that they disappear if there is no text and you can’t have fields inside them. That is why I suggested to use frames and why the sample I provided has a frame with fields inside for return address

#8

Frames is a good idea. I just left some text in the boxes - editing them is no problem.

#9

Here is a way to print envelopes using LO Writer in a straightforward way without having to resort to workarounds or other page formatting tricks.

I had been struggling with getting envelopes to print properly for some time now and I was at the point where everything seemed to be working except that the output from the printer would be too far to the left, as if printing on standard 8.5"x11" paper even though the page format was set to #10 Envelope. Because the manual feed tray on most printers automatically centers the media along the paper path, I worked around this by leaving the feed tray guides set for 8.5"x11" paper and inserting the envelope against the guide on the left side. This produced the desired result, but it caused other problems. The first is that the printer (at least on my printer) went into cleaning mode immediately after having printed the envelope. And the second is that (again, on my printer) the printer kept trying to re-print the job because it thought the job had failed. Cancelling the job at the printer did not work, so the simplest thing to do was to just let it print again on an 8.5"x11" sheet. But now, I no longer have to go through any of that soft of nonsense, and neither will you.

I`m using Linux Mint 19.3, LibreOffice 6.0.7.3 and an HP MFP M479fdw, but given the nature of the fix, this should work with any OS, any version of LO Writer and just about any printer.

The solution lies in the printer’s tray configuration. Here are the steps I took to get things to work the way they should:

  1. If you’re like most users, your printer’s paper drawer contains 8.5"x11" paper and the manual feed tray can be used for other media, such as envelopes. In your printer’s tray configuration menu, set your main tray (drawer) to 8.5"x11" (letter), and set the manual tray for ‘#10 Envelope’. You can leave the ‘Paper Type’ setting for both trays to ‘Any’.

  2. Start up LO Writer, create a new document, go to ‘Format → Page Style’, and on the ‘Page’ tab under ‘Format:’ choose ‘#10 Envelope’ and under ‘Orientation:’ select ‘Landscape’. Once you click ‘OK’, you should see a blank page that has the shape of a #10 envelope.

  3. You can now create your envelope by inserting text boxes (‘Insert → text Box’) where needed, filling them out and moving them around the page as needed. Personally, I create two text boxes - one for the return address and another one for the destination address. Alternately, you can just type in the return address at the upper right corner, hit ‘Enter’ a few times, move your left margin over to the right about 3 inches and entering in the destination address. Either way, your envelope will print correctly.

  4. Once your envelope looks the way you want it to, slip a blank envelope (side edge first) into the manual feed tray of your printer and adjust the guides to the size of the envelope. This should place the envelope in the center of the paper path. Then just print the document as you normally would.

Because your page format is set to #10 Envelope, your printer should not use the main paper tray (which is set to 8.5"x11") and instead use the manual feed tray which is set to #10 Envelope. This setting will also cause the printer’s output to be centered, matching the position of the envelope. This works flawlessly with my setup and I certainly hope it does for you as well.

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