wrong paper size when printing

[marty39]

I’m using LibreOffice Version: 6.3.6.2 in macOS High Sierra 10.13.6.

Is it a feature of OpenOffice and LibreOffice that they don’t print on user-defined paper sizes?

I have a document set up with page size 5" x 5.5" to print using the Create Booklet app. Print Preview shows it correctly. But when I choose File, Print, the print dialog shows the page truncated on the right side with a white area at the bottom. When I then select PDF, Open in Preview, the Inspector says the page is 4.14" by 5.83", which is A6 size. If I open in Create Booklet from the print dialog, I get the truncated page.

The same thing happens in OpenOffice, but NeoOffice prints correctly. What’s going on in LibreOffice? Why doesn’t it print on the page size I specified in the page style?

I just completely deleted LibreOffice and installed the bleeding-edge Version 7.0.0.3. Still printing on the wrong size paper.

[anon73440385]

Try your procedure while running LibreOffice in Safe Mode (Help -> Restart in Safe Mode). If that works. most probably your LibreOffice user profile is corrupt and you need to reset the user profile.

[marty39]

Same issue in Safe Mode. Anyway it can’t be the user profile, because the same problem occurs in OpenOffice, and LibreOffice and OpenOffice don’t use the same user profile.

[LeroyG]

Choose menu File - Printer Settings…, select your printer name, press Properties…, and search there where to select a User defined page size (varies by printer).

Press edit below your question if you want to add more information; also can comment an answer (Add Answer is reserved for solutions).

Tested on LibreOffice 6.3.6.2 (x86); OS: Windows 6.1.

[marty39]

There is no “Printer Setup” in the File menu. There is “Printer Settings,” but there are no “Properties” to press in Printer Settings. Whatever the printer, there are four buttons along the bottom: Help, Options, Cancel, and OK. No Properties—and no page size in Options. This is MacOS, not Windows.

[ajlittoz]

Is your question about size dimension rounding? Or printing on physical paper.

I experimented with your sizes, exported to PDF and got the expected paper size in the PDF viewer.

When it comes to physical printing, your printer can only offer specific paper format. Then there is the question of scaling or not and position of the user-format inside the physical sheet. This is usually controlled by the driver. Some drivers (e.g. the CUPS one I use; I think MacOS X uses CUPS because this printer controller was initially developed by Apple) may also limit paper size choice to those from the printer preferences. This should not happen with PDF export, but who knows? This is a driver, too.

[marty39]

This is not for a specific printer. As I said, it’s for a booklet creator. The pages are passed to the booklet creator, which then arranges them to be printed on letter size paper, which I then assemble and cut. But as I said, the booklet creator doesn’t get the whole page.

You got the correct paper size in a “PDF viewer.” Did you do that in Windows or in macOS? It’s not a problem for MacOS. In Pages, the word processor Apple provides for macOS, the print dialog shows the page format of the document. In LibreOffice, the print dialog shows what it apparently thinks is the nearest standard size, even before a printer is selected.

There is a workaround. If I choose File, Export As, Export as PDF, I get the document’s page size. I can then import the exported PDF into the booklet creator. But that’s an extra step, and it doesn’t answer the real question, which is: Is it a feature of LibreOffice (and OpenOffice) that (at least in macOS) it can’t print user-defined page sizes?

[marty39]

In response to the comment by LeroyG: I installed LibreOffice 6.4.5.2 in Windows 10. In Windows (but not in macOS) each printer has its own Properties. I don’t want to physically print, so I looked at Microsoft Print to PDF. In its Properties, Advanced, I can choose from a list of standard sizes, but there’s no option for a user-defined page size.

In Ubuntu I have LibreOffice 6.0.7.3. In the Print dialog the page size varies depending on the printer, but it’s always a standard size and can’t be changed. Printer Settings brings up a dialog headed Printer Setup that offers a list of standard sizes depending on the printer, but no option for a user-defined size.

It seems to be a feature of LibreOffice that it will not print to a user-defined page size.

[ajlittoz]

@marty39: my OS is a Linux one.

I’m no developer, thus I only guess. LO seems to layout the document in the format you define in the page style. On screen everything is as you expect it. When you “print”, the OS driver is called and apparently it comes with its default configuration, the one defined in the OS. The driver does not let me enter user sheet dimensions, only to choose from a list taken from the printer description configuration file.

In fact, I don’t fully understand the question. What kind of input does your booklet creator expect? PostScript, PDF? I don’t think it can read directly ODF document produced by Writer. If export to PDF works for you, why not automate the process with a 1-line script submitting commands to the shell. You can even disguise this command under a desktop icon so that double-clicking on it will do the job.

[marty39]

I think the booklet creator takes PDF input. It can open a PDF. It can also be called from the PDF portion of the Print dialog in macOS, which I think creates hidden PDFs.

Thanks for the suggestion to automate the process, but it’s easier for me to do it myself “automatically.” As an intelligent animal I can learn a routine; I don’t need to teach a machine how to do it. I even know how to write, save and retrieve a “howto” text file for later use in case I forget the routine.

[marty39]

The answer seems to be that LibreOffice (like OpenOffice but unlike NeoOffice) will not print to a user-defined page size, even if it’s going to a virtual printer.

[Lupp]

As far as I remeber related issues mentioned in this site over years, they were (mostly?) related to the usage of some OSX versions on a Mac. I don’t understand the background, however. I’m not a Mac user, and, of course, I don’t know anything about specifics of printer drivers for Mac. Using any Win version I never experienced a related issue. Currently I have no Linux system at hand, but I cannot remember a related problem with Linux either.
To be clear: My physical paper always was A4. User defined paper sizes were “virtual” insofar, but LibO and the drivers always placed the prints as expected -and possible- without spoiling them.

[marty39]

@Lupp: I don’t understand “placed the prints as expected.” What size did the print dialog show? If the user-defined page was placed on a standard-size paper, that’s not printing in the user-defined size. Virtual printing is either to a file or to another application, and it should be in the user-defined size, not embedded in another size. A virtual printer driver, since it’s not printing to physical paper, should be able to “print” in any size.