Mac seems to print larger than Windows!

BE
Posted By
Bob_Eveleigh
Aug 11, 2008
Views
270
Replies
8
Status
Closed
I’m still fairly new to a Mac having been a Windows PC user for years. I certainly like what I’ve seen so far. Reasonably competent with Photoshop CS3 and have loaded Mac version.

Main printer is Epson R2400 but also use Canon Pixma iP8500 and both worked fine with PC.

I had a number of CS3 files set up in a folder on my Windows PC and copied these on to my Mac. Some involve an image of 7.5" x 5.5" centred (on A4 canvas) and then framed by a thin 1px border of 10" x 8". These are for a particular task I perform and they need to be like that. Also have a lot of straightforward images in folders where I resize them to say 12" x 10" and then print out.

All seem to print out larger than I’m telling them to do. For example, the images with the 1px border of 10" x 8" print out about 0.25" bigger. This isn’t a huge problem with the other images but the 1px bordered ones need to be exactly the size I specify (apart from it frustrating me that it won’t do what I ask!). What I’m doing is to reduce the scale to about 98% and then it comes out near enough to what I want.

Anyone have any tips?

Thanks,

Bob
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NK
Neil_Keller
Aug 11, 2008
Bob,

All things being equal, the prints should be identical, whether run out of a Win or Mac machine. But the control is within the Epson software, and a side-by-side comparison of the settings would be in order. I would also suggest to first be sure that your Page Setup… is configured exactly the same way on both machines.

Neil
JP
jean_p
Aug 11, 2008
are you printing borderless? If so, what expansion setting are you using?
BE
Bob_Eveleigh
Aug 11, 2008
Thanks to Neil & Jean for your replies.

Neil – I agree – all things being equal, the prints should be identical but can I achieve that? No! Sometimes I can, other times I can’t and I think it comes down to my not understanding yet how the Mac settings work. There is an Apple Store locally but it is a couple of hours driving as a round trip and I can’t get there for a few days. They won’t deal with phone queries.

Jean – you ask if I’m printing borderless. I’ve tried this but there’s another problem. Sometimes when I try this the printer icon in the Dock bounces around and won’t let me print, other times it’s OK but still prints bigger than it should. On yet more occasions I get an image centred and of the right size.

I’m sure I’m doing something wrong that’s obvious to someone else, and it’s nothing to do with the hardware. A few days ago I had a full head of hair but that’s no longer the case.

Sorry to put you to the trouble but can either of you tell me what settings you use for centred A4 printing? In a previous post I was advised to go into page settings and set all the margins to 0.56 ins. This seemed to work for a while but what do you use? Also what do you enter in Presets in the Print Dialogue box? Is the "Last Used Settings" the one to use or something else (I’ve tried various settings in this box). Presumably "Last Used Settings" does what it says on the tin – problem is, I don’t know the settings to use in the first place!

Apologies for raising such basic stuff.

Thanks,

Bob
B
Buko
Aug 12, 2008
sounds like print to fit
BE
Bob_Eveleigh
Aug 14, 2008
Buko,

Have been away for a few days – sorry for delay in acknowledging. Still intermittent. Probably now reached the stage where I need to get someone in. It will only be something simple but for the life of me I can’t suss it out.

Bob
B
Buko
Aug 14, 2008
Do you have print to fit checked. Is the % in setup larger than 100%
PT
Phil_Taz
Aug 15, 2008
There are often 2 (or more) places where ‘fit to page’ can be found, make sure you go through all the menus.
BE
Bob_Eveleigh
Aug 15, 2008
Buko & Phil,

This seems to have cracked it. It’s often an obvious thing isn’t it? Thanks for your help.

Bob

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