Print dialog defaults to Letter page format

maxxer · October 2, 2020, 9:00am

Hi.

We have a Linux only office running Ubuntu 20.04. On a printer (Lexmark) sometimes we experience an unwanted setting change: the main tray paper format becomes Letter instead of the A4 we use as default.

We checked all the CUPS printer settings and all the computers use A4. We only spotted Letter format appearing occasionally in Libreoffice on the first time we try to print a document. Even a brand new document, when print is attempted the dialog shows Letter.
We checked all the possible settings in Libreoffice and they’re all configured to A4 format.

Can this be a bug or I missed something? Thanks

Version: 6.4.5-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

Lupp · October 2, 2020, 9:33am

I have no ubuntu and no need to use CUPS.

Whether or not there is a bug concerning the communication between LibreOffice and CUPS:
Did you define standard templates for Writer, Calc (…) having set the paper size A4?
Is this setting ignored?
The other way round: If the internal default template (No file!) actually contains a paper size setting (what I don’t know, but doubt), it should override the CUPS.
The other way around again: Similar complaints I read in the past were about the usage of A4 where ‘Letter’ was expected.

EarnestAl · October 2, 2020, 9:42am

Does the printer (Lexmark model xxxx) have a network web page with settings that can be changed? If the printer has the paper tray set to Letter then it probably doesn’t matter what the other software tells the printer.

maxxer · October 2, 2020, 10:34am

The printer has a Paper configuration page but this settings gets changed apparently via software.

The print dialog propts Letter even for a blank Writer file, without templates or other external sources.

Lupp · October 2, 2020, 11:01am

Quoting @maxxer: “The print dialog propts Letter even for a blank Writer file, without templates or other external sources.”

That’s what I wanted to say:
If no template is set as standard for the document type you apply ‘New’ to, and no template is explicitly chosen, LibreOffice uses an internal template (default settings). If this internal template got a paper size ‘Letter’ during the installation, this setting would override general settings for the printer defined independent of LibO (via CUPS).

Simply define a Standard template for each document type which you may derive from the internal one by only changing the paper size to A4, and the issue should be solved.

Yes. This is “only” a workaround probably, but you wouldn’t need to wait for a bugfix.

I may be wrong, of course, and the issue may have causes “in the deep”. Excuse me for having tried an answer in this case.

maxxer · October 6, 2020, 7:06am

Thanks for the suggestion. Where should I find those internal templates? I found Paths in settings, but they don’t seem to contain base templates, or at least emtpy ones. Thanks

Lupp · October 6, 2020, 1:31pm

The internal defaults / templates / styles aren’t accessible by the user. To change the defaults effectually, you need to define a template for the respective document class, make the settings (paper size in mainly in your case), save the template (>File>Templates>Save as template), go to >Templates>Manage, and make the new template your default (context menu).
If you later create a new file of the respective class without explicitly choosing a template, it will use this new default.
If you feel to basically not know enough about templates and styls you may want to read https://nextcloud.documentfoundation.org/s/zzYwR792A3iewwS (Chapter 10 for templates. Don’t download the large pdf every time anew.).