It’s Saturday morning now, and I am at it again. The good thing is, due to a clue from another commenter, I was able to see what you meant in the BTW. Thanks again.
@ajlittoz Yes, that document had some “cut and paste” text so perhaps there were some “issues.” (I was just trying to fill the page with text for a test document.) I am now going to create and attach a new document, created totally in Writer with the default settings (i.e., I have not changed anything when it comes to margins or anything else.) It is a one-page document filled with the letter B, that is, if I typed any more Bs, they would go to the second page. I have inserted page numbers using the procedure I explained near the beginning and I see “1” at the bottom left of the document. (Yea, I know this is no doubt obvious, but I just want to make sure you’re seeing what I am seeing.) I am going to print it now. In my “print” dialog box, for “paper size” it says "Letter 8.50 in x 11.00 in.
I have just printed the document. The top margin is 3/8 in. (0.375", which is less than the specs listed on the HP site for this printer of 0.5"). At the bottom, the last line of text is 1.75" from the bottom of the page. And… there is no page number. Grrrrrr.
Any ideas as to what is going on with the margin issue and the no page numbers issue now?
The “B” document.odt (16.0 KB)
FYI: I am running Linux Mint 20.1 and the version of LibreOffice is 6.4.7.2
Thanks again.
Everything fine here. Margins are everywhere 2cm. I didn’t try to print because my printer only has A4 and it isn’t an HP model.
Just to make sure, is print preview OK? All margins equal and page number visible? You said that printing a PDF version of same document exhibit the same problem.
This really sounds like a printer configuration issue. I don’t know how you installed your printer. I gave a look at my CUPS (Common Unix Printing System) administration page but I couldn’t find this exact 3755 model. However printers from the same provider usually share the same software driver. I recommend you check printer installation and configuration. By the way, does this printed offset occur also with other applications?
@ajlittoz has a great idea. Test your printer using a different application and see if you still get the strange margin problems. Try something as simple as NotePad, filled with text. Does it print all the way to the proper margins?
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@ajlittoz Bless you! Bless you, kind sir (or madam)! There were a few clues in your last response that led me to a solution to the problem Here’s what I did:
In the box that comes up when you click print, near the bottom of that box on the right hand side, under Page Layout, there is Paper size. The default setting is: Letter 8.50in x 11.00in which makes perfect sense since I am printing a letter-type thing on paper that is 8.5 x 11.
Only problem is— That does not work and results in all the margin/absent page number problems I was having.
But, if, using the drop-down menu I change that to: A4 8.26in x 11.69in (You mentioned A4) , the page prints with absolutely perfect top and bottom margins and the page number is there!!!
My only question is: Why? Any ideas? And, as I said, this is my first post here. Is there a way to say that a solution has been found so that all who are interested will see it?
Thanks for your help!
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@LeroyG Your reply of a few days ago was so brief that I did not catch what you were saying. This is what I did to fix the problem:
In the box that comes up when you click print, near the bottom of that box on the right hand side, under Page Layout, there is Paper size. The default setting is: Letter 8.50in x 11.00in which makes perfect sense since I am printing a letter-type thing on paper that is 8.5 x 11.
Only problem is— That does not work and results in all the margin/absent page number problems I was having.
But, if I change that to: A4 8.26in x 11.69in , the page prints with absolutely perfect top and bottom margins and the page number is there.
Thank you for your help.
If (and I emphasize “if”) your print configuration on your new computer is correct, you should experience no discrepancy/distortion when selecting the paper size corresponding to your tray. The fact that you need to select A4 to print to Letter is a sign that something is wrong.
You said somewhere your new computer in under Mint Linux. Find a skilled friend or colleague to check your configuration. IMHO LO 6.4.x on a new computer looks to me a bit old. Your should verify the adequateness of your OS level with your hardware and upgrade to a more recent/up-to-date version. Current LO version is 7.2.x-7.3.x depending on distribution.
If you are under Windows, the advice to check your configuration is even more crucial. And update to a current LO version is a requirement.
Of course, before doing such a fundamental upgrade, backup your documents. Just in case.
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This HP question describes a similar issue to yours although a different Deskjet printer: Solved: Bottom of page cut off when printing - HP Support Community - 7249615
When my new computer was being built (4/18/22) Linux Mint 20.3 was supposed to be installed, but a mistake was made and LM 20.1 was put on it instead. I am guessing (and have not checked to verify this) that LO 6.4.7.2 is what comes with LM 20.1 since that is what I got, and LO 7.2.x-7.3.x is what comes with LM 20.3.
I could upgrade to 20.3, but I really am not interested in the things that were “improved” with 20.3 and can live without them (I think.) Or, I could upgrade to the most current version of LO. Everything else with the computer is stellar, and now that I have figured out a way to print documents as I want them to appear (by simply changing to A4), I think I’ll just go with that and not mess with anything else… unless there is some reason I should. Is there?
ajlittoz
April 30
If (and I emphasize “if”) your print configuration on your new computer is correct, you should experience no discrepancy/distortion when selecting the paper size corresponding to your tray. The fact that you need to select A4 to print to Letter is a sign that something is wrong.
You said somewhere your new computer in under Mint Linux. Find a skilled friend or colleague to check your configuration. IMHO LO 6.4.x on a new computer looks to me a bit old. Your should verify the adequateness of your OS level with your hardware and upgrade to a more recent/up-to-date version. Current LO version is 7.2.x-7.3.x depending on distribution.
If you are under Windows, the advice to check your configuration is even more crucial. And update to a current LO version is a requirement.
Of course, before doing such a fundamental upgrade, backup your documents. Just in case.
@MarieW LM20.3 hints it is based on Ubuntu 20 LTS released in 2020, i.e. 2 years ago.There are tons of good reasons to upgrade to the most recent version of the OS, all the more if the computer is connected to internet, the least of these reasons being to be in sync with potential hacking threats.
More specifically, LM20.1 dates back to January 2021 while LM20.3 was released in January 2022. Including LO 6.4.7.2 in LM20.1 is consistent with an Ubuntu 20 base. Though LO 7.0 and 7.1 were already available at this time, x.0 and x.1 versions are considered “early adopters” ones ans still a bit unstable. Consequently, it is again consistent with LTS (long time support) distributions not to include them.
LM20.3 has crossed the “stability” threshold and now offers 7.2 or 7.3.
All in all, there are excellent incentives to upgrade to LM20.3. But, once again, if you don’t feel at ease with this operation, backup your documents first, as I bet your disk has not been partitioned so that to offer formatting independence between / (the root of the filesystem where the OS is installed) and /home (where your documents are stored). A full upgrade/installation could erase your disk.
PS: I’m a “sir” 
Following this discussion, I would suggest to update your LibreOffice Version, if nothing else works.
Current Version ist 7.3.2.
You can find it at www.libreoffice.org.
Download and install both: The Programm itself and the helpfile.
Normaly it should work…
Good luck!
BTW, I think @MarieW should upgrade both the OS and LO, so that’s one vote in favor and one against, but I’m not going to touch her computer. Hey, we technical types need to remember that there is more to support than just hardware and software. There is also human nature.
@James_Zimmerman First of all, I am sorry that you and your wife had a [discussion] over my predicament. But, I enjoyed your response tremendously because you clearly showed that there are basically two types of people when it comes the “all things computer.”
The first type is like your wife and me (or is it I?). As you so aptly wrote about our expectations when using a word processor: We expect “the keys on the keyboard to make words on the screen, and the [Print] button to make it appear on paper.” That is what a word processor is supposed to do, right? Why did I need to waste hours and hours of my “valuable time” trying to get the computer/word processor/printer to do that basic function? And, why should I waste more time moving to LM 20.3 and LO 7.3? Oh, sure… just press the download button and I’ll be all set within a minute or two. Oh, sure I will… like that has ever happened before. I know darn well that, if I press that download button, there will be a bunch of other stuff that will have to be dealt with. And, oh, it’s “just” this… and then “just “ that and before you know it, more hours have passed as I have been running down the rabbit holes.
So, right now, after this frustrating week, I am going with your wife’s vote and use LM 20.1 and LO 6.4 whatever because I want to get back to mindless relaxation online in between trying to get caught up on my word processor work. Maybe in a bit I will upgrade, but definitely not this week.
You, of course, are the second type of person. You don’t mind a challenge with an unco-operative computer system. You consider it fun to do battle with the computer and beat it. I am glad there are people like you out there, because you can post things in the forums that sometimes help people like me, who get hopelessly lost through no fault of our own.
I have to share another glitch I had with my new system last week. After setting up the system (you know, everything from Timeshift to settings like backgrounds), using the company’s user id and password, I added myself as a user, giving myself administrator status, too. Then I shut down the computer and booted it up again, expecting to be able to sign in as me. The online instructions that I had looked at said I was supposed to see a user list, listing me, on the login screen. But, I wasn’t there. I shut it down and rebooted. Same thing. No list. No me. What followed was two days of my “valuable time” trying to find the user list with my name on it so I could sign in as me on my own computer and delete the company’s login stuff, all to no avail. On the morning of the third day, I booted up the computer and was sitting there in total frustration, staring at the login window on the computer screen, my chin in my hands. My name was still nowhere to be found. It was then that I saw the tiniest (and I mean tiny. I would not have seen it if I had not been staring intently at the screen) bit of pixel distortion over the login window. I clicked in it, and voila! The name in the login window switched to me! Know what the problem was? The background I had chosen (Ulyssa/Swing of Life) had a large nearly white area where the login window was, and names in the user list are in white, so my name was basically made invisible. I tried other backgrounds and of course my name was highly visible. (Why the LM developers allowed this particular background to be given as a choice, in light of this, is beyond me. One would think that things like that would have been caught before it was released on an unsuspecting public.)
After I conquered that, it was then that I composed a document and tried to print it….
So, yeah, my brain is fried right now. I picked another background, and with the printer, I will just select A4 for the paper size and go with it. Since this A4 thing seems to be associated with countries that use the metric system, I will hum “God Save the Queen” as I do that to make the printer thinks I am in the UK, a metric country.
Two more things and I’m outta here: I truly feel your wife’s pain when you plunk down $300 only to find they changed the whole system “to make it better” no doubt, and you’re back to Square One. You could have done that for free by moving to LO. And secondly, I loved this line which you wrote: “Hey, we technical types need to remember that there is more to support than just hardware and software.“ Your wife is blessed in that she has a husband that understands that. Really. Plus you’re a techie and can fix computer things! Sweet!!
This was my first experience in this forum, and it sure was a trip. Thanks to all for your ideas and support. Just so you know, my plan is: I might update to LM 20.3, or wait a few weeks for June when LM 21 is being released, or wait until 2025 when 20.1 ends support and then install whatever comes out then. I’ll figure that out another day!
Nope. That is what a text editor does.
Nope. Never upgrade the software that is pre-installed on a Linux desktop unless you know exactly what you are doing. The deal is: If you are not familiar with your computer system, just install all the packages from the “app store” of your distribution and things will just work. If her distribution comes with LO 6.4, that version is well integrated into the desktop system and it will get bug fixes as well as security updates together with the system updates but no upgrades. Browsers are one exception to this rule.
For most people version 6.4 of LO is just as good as 7.3. I can do everything I want to do with version 6.0 that was shipped with my operating system. Of course, I can install OpenOffice and many LO versions in parallel but I do not recommend to do so if you are not familiar with your Linux system.
@Villeroy Thank you for that warning! I most certainly do not “know exactly” what I am doing, so I will NOT be upgrading the LO that came with this computer.
I think this problem is with the printer, not LO. I checked all the "language " settings that I could find every place I could find them, and they all say English US so I can’t understand why the printer wants me to put in a paper size that is associated with a metric system country. But, I must have missed one somewhere so I’ll just do it (change to A4) because that is what works.
@James_Zimmerman Thanks! I know I’ll need it. (I didn’t even tell you about the login loop I got tangled in when I moved from Windows 7 to LM 19.2 in January of 2020. What a nightmare. Now it’s a well-known bug but it was a brand-new thing when I fell into it.)
A Linux box has typically many text editors preinstalled. In this whole lengthy topic I can not find any information about your Linux system. If it has something like the Windows “start button” or some other search facility for installed applications, click it and type “editor”. This might find and start a text editor. It does exactly what you describe without any page numbers, without headers, footers, just like a type writer.
@Villeroy Cool! I found it (LM menu key and then typed editor) and tried it out a bit. Many times, I have to insert tables in a document. I did not see any way to do that. Maybe I could create the table in a LO document and cut and paste it into the text editor. Also, I do need to have page numbers on many documents. I’ll play around with it. Thanks!