Setting print preferences on HP OJ6500 Wireless/OJ Pro7300/OJ Pro7500

[Stobbo]

I am trying to to reset the printing preferences on my printers so that the default paper size is A4 not Letter. 

I have read a number of posts on the same subject (though for other printer models) elsewhere in these forums but I haven't yet managed to find a definitive fix to this problem. 

I use Windows XP.

Whenever I set the printing preferences I want to use (e.g. A4 paper size amongst others) when I next go to use the printer I find the paper size has reset back to Letter. This is so frustrating !  I just want to be able to set my own defaults so that I can just press print and have confidence that when I get to the printer my output will appear the way I wanted it to i.e. at a bare minimum: correctly aligned, with no bits cropped or missing, correct print quality, single/dual sided, single/multiple sheets per printed page, portrait or landscape.

I have attempted to make the change umpteen (!!!!!) ways and there are numerous places that the changes need to be made to stick:

I have made changes in all of the following to no avail:

1.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Printing Preferences>Printing Shortcuts page

2.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Printing Preferences>Features page

3.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Properties>General>Printing Preferences>Printing Shortcuts page

4.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Properties>General>Printing Preferences>Features Page

5.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Properties>Advanced>Printing Defaults>Printing Preferences>Printing Shortcuts page

6.Control Panel>Printers & Faxes>right click on printer>Properties>Advanced>Printing Defaults>Printing Preferences>Features page

7.MS Word 2007>Print>Properties>Printing Shortcuts

8.MS Word 2007>Print>Properties>Features

...and in each of the Printing Shortcuts pages there is a list of several shortcuts (including one called Factory Defaults) in which the paper size needs to be set to to A4 not Letter plus I want to apply these changes to cover the three HP Printers that I use: two at home (home office & personal use) and one in my employers office.

The problem is that it seems that every time I make the change I want and click apply it only applies to the last one of the list of shortcuts that I apply it to and then only for one session.

I could create a list of new shortcuts which set the printing up my way and would do except that I print in many different ways, and would end up with a frustratingly long list of shortcuts (since I can't delete the factory-set ones, apparently) and I would have to all three printers up the same way.  I wouldn't be allowed to do this on my employer's printer but I would be allowed to se the printer's default to A4 since nobody in our organisation EVER uses letter-size stationery and lots of people struggle with screwed-up, misaligned printer and therefore wasteful output as a result. 

It seems unlikely that HP would intentionally sell me, in a country where Letter size stationery is unheard of, printers with software drivers that allow the default stationery size to be altered from Letter to the local standard but which then defaults it back every time to Letter because that would be defeating the object of providing those features; but for now I am struggling, as are others, so can someone out there tell me how I can effect the change I want on a permanent basis ? 

Perhaps someone at HP could let us all know what the answer is, after all a number of people have raised the same issue already so I guess there must be countless others out there putting up with the problem (or who have fixed it in which case it would be nice to hear what they have done).

[Stobbo]

I have dones some more work to try to diagnose the problem(s).

Firstly, it does seem as though I can set the Printing Shortcut setting "Factory Default" for the OJ PRo 7300 and 7500 successfully to A4.  It is not easy to determine exactly what is going on, but it seems that with this Factory Default set to A4 all of the other Printing Shortcuts default to A4 for these printers which is pretty much the result that I am after - I am not entirely sure because with Factory Default set to A4 General Everyday Printing and all the others still seem to show the setting "Letter" until you click on one to change it & then it changes to A4.  As I say I am not entirely sure what the behaviour is... but it seems to be ok-ish,

The OJ6500 is a different matter, however.  In the case of this printer it seems that if you change one of the Printing Shortcuts to A4 and Apply it all seems good. But when you go to change the next one to A4 the previous one reverts to Letter.  This applies in exactly the same way to the Factory Default Shortcut: you can change the paper size in the Features tab, Apply & all looks good until you go back to one of the other Printer Shortcuts to see if it has changed to A4 and it will show Letter; when you go back & check in the Factory Defaults (where you just changed it to A4) in my case i find that it has reverted to Letter.

I think there is an fault in the way that this facility is working the the OJ6500 software:  my guess is that the idea is that if you change the Factory Default printer shortcut from Letter to A4 via the Features tab it will automatically change all of the others which use Letter to A4.  This certainly seems to be the way it is working on the 7300 & 7500 but with the 6500 the changes you make don't seem to 'take' and everything seems to revert to "letter" the moment you click off the place where you are making the change you want.

I would dearly love for someone to tell me how this can be fixed - as it stands it it a real PITA for me: I have bought these HP printers to replace Lexmarks which were really bad (due to poorly executed software) because they are the same basic type as the ones at my work - the idea being to make my life easier.  Unfortunately if I can't fix this anomaly so that I can set up standards for printing on any/all of them without having always to think and select every time I want to print it won't make my life much easier at all and if I find that all I have done is to swap one set of software problem for another this will just be the icing on the top !

All assistance gratefully received!

[FrankThompson]

Stobbo,

A couple of us are having the same issue with an HPC4580 - see thread below: 

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=Printing&thread.id=7743&view=by_date_ascending&...

I'm going to try looking at the "Factory Defaults": I had just assumed that was a button to reset all of the Printing Shortcuts to the factory defaults, rather than it being a shortcut in its own right.  I'll let you know if it makes any difference changing the paper size under the "Factory Defaults" shortcut.

In the meantime, how do we put pressure on HP to update the drivers to enable saving changes to the Printing Shortcuts?

[Stobbo]

Frank,

Sorry to hear you have been having a similar problem.

Setting the page size in the Factory Defaults certainly worked in 2 other HP printers I use as per my post, but the changes definitely do not 'stick' when I make the same change for my new 6500.  I hope that the Factory Defaults works for you. 

I have to say that as far as I can tell, nowhere in the product manuals does it tell you that this is the place for making a 'global' change to the page size from A4 to Letter or Letter to A4 (if indeed it is).  When I searched the product manuals I could find no mention of how it could be done & I ended up thinking it was just a really cr*p  HP "feature" which put me off changing from my equally cr*p Lexmark.  When my wife made the change to HP as well as one at work I had one at home and the problem became worse;  when I finally decided to junk the Lexmark and got the 6500 it became unbearable &^ I decided to spend some time to research the answer, after all, I said to myself, there has to be a way to do this, surely ?!  Imagine my delight when I eventually stumble by accident upon the answer for all the printers I use except the one I have bought for myself ! 

You could argue that this is only a tiny problem but because it means that you have to re-do the same change over and over again at the start of every print session it is infuriating: every time you want to print on every printer - change the default setting before printing...   ...had I already done it in this print session ? .... can't remember...   ...better do it again to be on the safe side...   ...document looks OK now to print it in best quality...  ...check the setting again...   ...same document, different printer...  ...check the setting and make the change again... etc etc etc.   

To me it is as though the designers think that everyone in a particular country will use whatever factory default is set and will not want or need to change it, so there is no reason for them to publicise how to do it...  very strange...  almost like they have designed the software in a vacuum ! 

The Lexmark I replaced had its own idiosyncrasies (poor print quality, poor scanning to pdf among them) which were probably worse, but at least you knew that draft quality print was going to be formatted correctly on the page and not to use the scan to pdf function; this HP 6500 idiosyncrasy still impinges on me every time I use the printer !

 As to putting pressure on HP to fix the problem...  dunno...   I had kinda hoped that was what this forum was there for; after all it is 'sponsored' by HP so I had assumed that they would be monitoring it ?!  

I tried raising a support call via an "online chat" with HP support, but I was informed in an automatically generated message that the 6500 printer is not one which is supported, hence my post in this forum. 

[Stampatore]

I've been having the same problem with the paper size on the OJ 6500 constantly defaulting to "Letter" instead of "A4".

Following Frank's link (above) to the discussion on similar problems with the HPC4580 and searching other discussions I've found a partial solution which has helped a bit.

I've downloaded the HP driver pre-configuration utility from http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&prodNameId=308332&prodTypeId=18964&prodSeriesId=308330&swLang=8&taskId=135&swEnvOID=228
(I'm still using Windows XP, not sure if there's a version that works with Vista).

I searched for the config files (hpwj65n0.cfg) and found a copy in 3 different folders in c:\windows\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\... and to be on the safe side changed all of them in exactly the same way.

The utility allowed me to change the default paper size to A4 and this is then initially reflected in the "Factory Defaults" shortcut - although if you select another shortcut and return to "Factory Defaults" it has, of course (!), gone back to letter. It does seem to mean that default printing when you click on the printer icon in Word or Excel uses A4.

I've also made a copy of the factory settings in a shortcut which I've called "A4" and also changed to use fast draft print quality greyscale. This now seems to be working as my default print settings (the same as I had on my trusty old HP DJ 720C) but allowing me to change to colour and high quality when I want to.

Far from perfect but it's at least made it usable for me. 

[Stobbo]

Stampatore thank you for sharing this info - I will try it in due course when I have some time to spare to focus on the problem (again).  Let's hope that HP 'exdigitates' soon & fixes this issue for us and all the other users who are wrestling with this problem !

[a4default]

I have struggled with this issue for months and now have the steps to solve the problem.

It is, perhaps, a case of caveat emptor for buying an 'enterprise product' for use in a home environment - user error as the support guys would tell us.  I leave you to your own conclusions.

For info, my setup is OJ6500 USB/wireless on windows 7 and XP pro machines, users are users only and admin is done only by an admin account.

Situation: on install, default paper size is LETTER and cannot be changed.  If you create a shortcut and then later try to create another or just check one of the standard ones it loses the settings you thought you had set.

The following are described:
A little background and then
1/ How to set A4 (or whatever you prefer except letter) as default
2/ How to keep A4 as the default
3/ How to set a special set of frequently used settings and keep them

Background - I have had two previous models of office jet (1150 and 6110) which I dont recall any issue with setting A4 as a default paper.  Care has to be taken in some applications and its not uncommon for people not to realise they have letter as default and it never matches A4.  Installation of the 6500 produced its first surprise in that even as admin the defaults couldnt be changed - search on forums and reviews found hundreds of complaints and product returns but no solution.  Some detail study of some of the responses (even some from HP) showed that no one could explain how the driver was working or that even the problem for us A4 users was understood.  But there were also some clues as to what might be going on and how to solve it, some analysis of the results of procmon (microsoft sysinternals) also showed what was going on when you edited a shortcut.

So this is what appears to happen:
There is a default configuration file that is read when you install the driver and this sets certain parameters for the printer - one is paper size; this config gets 'built in' to an non-editable dll or binary registry entry.

When you create a shortcut, the local machine registry hive for the printer is read and a temporary file created. you change the settings and the file is read and stored in the user portion of the registry against the printer.  It appears you can only store one shortcut against one printer.

Solutions:
1/ How to set A4 (or anything but letter) as default:
a) note the version of your current driver and download the HP scrubber utility related to it.
b) uninstall your printer (via uninstall option of original install utility)
c) run the scrubber to make sure its really purged.
d) download the latest driver from HP website, extract it to a suitable target directory. e.g. c:\OJ6500vE709_Full_13
c) download the HP driver pre-configuration utility, documentation if intrested**
d) extract it to a suitable directory e.g. c:\HP Driver Pre-Configuration
e) run the application e.g. c:\HP Driver Pre-Configuration\hpbcfgap
f) from file->open browse to your driver directory (e.g. c:\OJ6500vE709_Full_13) and pick one of (for the 6500, other printers will have similar style names no doubt) hpwj65a0.cf_ or hpwj65n0.cf_
g) pick A4 as default papersize (or other you want) and save the file
h) repeat f-g for the other file
i) now run the HPsetup utility in the driver directory you created in d) and install the printer. Note the driver is now 'unsigned' and you are prompted to accept the unsigned driver by windows.
j) Once installed, go to 'devices and printers' in windows (7) and you should see one or more entries for your printer; in the case of USB 6500 both fax and printer are within one icon here.
k) with RH mouse menu, select 'printing preferences' and you'll see that factory defaults are now A4 (or whatever) and that that is highlighted (active) set in 'printing shortcuts'.
l) press cancel.

2/ How to keep A4 (or whatever) as the default.
a) Ignore any of the shortcuts on the 'printing shortcuts' tab.
b) when you print from an application such as word and you want something like double-sided (duplex) printing, ignore the 'shortcuts' and instead use the 'features' and 'advanced' tabs to set this for this job - just as we would have done on previous models (which didnt have shortcuts).
c) Ignore shortcuts completely, do not be tempted to move off 'factory defaults' on that tab.

3/ How to set a special set of setting and keep them.
a) this seems incredibly messy, but is described in HP FAQ's and involves setting up a 'virtual printer' of the same type that you can then create a shortcut against - as noted before, it appears you can only set one shortcut against a printer entry, hence multiple shortcuts need multiple entrys.
b) in 'devices and printers' in windows (7), use RH mouse menu to check printer properties and note the (USB) port - in this example I'll use the usb connected device on usb001.
c) cancel and then select 'add a printer' and pick local printer.
d) for the printer port, pick the same port usb001
e) when prompted for the driver, select have disk and browse to the directory created in point 1d) above (windows 7 automatically found the autorun.inf file in there).
f) when prompted for a printer name, enter a description that gives a clue as to the settings you are going to set e.g. my-perfect-prints
g) let the install complete
f) using RH mouse menu, go to 'printer preferences' for your additional (new) printer name e.g. 'my-perfect-prints'
g) pick the shortcut closest to what you want and set the settings you reguire.
h) select 'save as' and give it a suitable name e.g. 'best pictures'
i) select OK
j) This has now set the 'active shortcut' of 'best pictures' against printer 'my-perfect'prints'
k) as in 2, ignore touching the 'shortcut' tab entries in future unless you want to loose your settings.

l) if you have further special settings frequently used, repeat a to k using different names of course.

In Conclusion, nice printer but shame about the software.

I hope this helps you.  Personally, after so many months of frustration, faith in HP products has vanished and when the ink runs out I'll replace it with another brand...enough said.

**for those intrested, the pre-config utility turns the binary cf_ file into man readable xml.  Within which you will find a setting something like 'force_paper_to_letter'.  Not 'force_paper_to_default' note.  And no, changing the parameter LETTER to A4 didnt work, its still LETTER.  Can you believe it!

[andy25]

OS win 7 printer is a hp laserjet 4700.  I need to change the shortcut under Doucument properties, printing shortcuts.  Can these be changed.  If so how.  can I add additional shortcuts? If so how.

[Gordon_H]

Hello andy25,

The HP LaserJet 4700 is a commercial printer. I suggest posting in the forum for HP Business Support for a better chance at finding a solution.

Here is the link to the Commercial Laserjet board:

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Printers-LaserJet/bd-p/bsc-413

[Printer_hater]

I have a similar prob. I need to print on paper 10" x 7.5" I cannot do this, there is no way I can select this in Printer Preferences...I must choose one of their stingyly offered sizes AND after setting what I can, all the settings change before I can print. If HP can make it so that we have to enter peach of our references:

1) ONLY ONCE per print job there would be no conflict. Right now we have to re-enter same information in several places

2) Truly be "preferences" on sizes in inches or mm not one of your very few choices, which seldom matches my paper.

3) allow us to select the paper weight as well

4) allow this printer to print borderless on  specialty papers other than just HP photo paper

5) allow us to print in one colour only, even if acartridge of a different colour is empty!

6) do not jam our printer from printing when cartidges are half full, telling us the cartridge is empty!