Deskjet 3050 Margin issue

[not-a-tech-girl]

With a brochure project due in less than a day and the HP tech guy adamantly insisting (after putting me on hold for a while to look up the answer) that there is no HP way to change the default margins on the printer (.25, .25, .56, .25)...  I finally found a non-tech solution.  It's not a true fix, but it works (at least on Apple's Pages)!

1.  Go to Page Setup (or wherever your print settings are) and change the paper size from US Letter to US Legal.

2.  Load your printer with 8 1/2" x 14" paper (legal size).  This is important because I tried doing this with letter size paper in the printer and the printer still read the paper as the smaller size and cut off that one side.

3.  Go ahead and print.  Your 8 1/2" x 11" document will print on the 8 1/2" x 14" paper.  You'll have an extra few inches of blank paper on one side of your document that you'll physically have to cut off, but at least it will print your entire document and not cut off half an inch on one side.

Good luck!

[ytfg1]

I too have the same problem, which becomes very much worse if you are trying to print to 6x4 photo paper as you get a ridiculous 1/2 inch wide border on one side (which can also be seen in print preview). I have already posted on this as replies to  "Deskjet 3050 won't print a full picture" and "Deskjet 3050 Photo Printing Problem and Ink Usage Problem". hp urgently needs to address this problem as the 3050 is not fit for purpose. Either they should do a product recall, or make a fix to the driver (which I belive is the problem) available on their website. It seems easier and cheaper to fob us off (even with product replacements which do exactly the same thing) rather than pay soemone to fix the bug.

[martin_murrayuk]

I think I've found the solution. In the Page Setup option of Word, on the Paper tab, is a Print Options button. Clicking this shows various options, including "Allow A4/Letter paper resizing". If this is unchecked, you can set the bottom margin to 0.57" instead of 1.26".

I must say I agree with those who have complained about HP's unwillingness or inability to answer this question sooner.

[ytfg1]

Martin, unfortunately 0.57" will still cut off footers etc and is a very big problem on a 6x4 photo. I now have the definitive answer - this is not a bug but a "limitation of the printer" - see my final post on

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Printing-Questions/my-deskjet-3050-cuts-off-about-1-2-inch-on-bot...

Unfortunately not many of HP's support staff know this. What is worse is that the new version of the printer (the 3050A which I was told I could have as an upgarde) apparently does exactly the same thing! I can see stacks of these on offer in supermarkets. I can only hope people don't try to use them to print photos (as suggested by the illustration on the box) - they will be very disappointed. Apparently if you want to print photos with an HP printer you have to buy a "photosmart" - this should be made clear on the box of all HP printers which won't do the job properly.

I don't imagine I will be buying an HP laptop as it would probably only display on 7/8ths of the screen.

[jcarlosd]

Tengo la deskjet 3050 y también tengo el mismo problema con los margenes cuando imprimo con hojas A4, el texto o grafico que esté dentro del margen de 18mm (milimetros aproximadamente) de borde inferior de la hoja no se podra imprimir por más que configures el setup del programa de la  impresiora (en la PC) en formato A4, cuando he tratado de revisar en el setup de la impresora (en la misma impresora) sólo hay 3 tipos de formato (8.5x11 Photo, 10x15 photo y 8.5x11plain) pero no hay el formato A4, sin embargo en sus espcificaciones tecnicas mencionan que si se puede imprimir con la deskjet 3050 en formato A4, por favor área tecnica pongase a resolver este problema con urgencia!!!!  :manmad:

[gmmklly]

Glad to see I'm not theonly one having this problem. Trying to print invitations on 8x5 index cards and it is constantly cutting off the images/picures/text. Am totally fed up of it. The only good thing about this printer is the cartridges being cheap!

However.....

When you install a new cartridge, the page you scan to set up the alignment, at the very bottom of the page it prints 2 grey boxes, within the 'dead zone' area of the page that doesnt ever print on any other programme.

So can this flipin' printer actually print to the bottom of the page or has it been a total waste of my cash and clubcard vouchers?

HP reply to your customers!

[Cin41dy]

I have been having this same problem. The integrity of this company is on the line. If you made a mistake fix it and own up to it. The printer is useless if you cannot print a full page!

[Cin41dy]

That's exactly how I feel!

[barrydrake]

I can confirm that the issue is with hardware.  I use Ubuntu Linux which has open-source software.  One thing HP is very good at is providing Linux support.  However the output to this printer is configured, it will not allow print within the bottom 1.4 cm of the page in portrait mode.  All other margins can be almost as low as you like.  It seems evident to me that there isn't going to be a fix for this.  Like the rest of the posters, I am disappointed that an HP employee is not posting to this thread.  Comments please?  My printer is a 3055A all-in-one supplied in July 2013.

[ytfg1]

I finally found a workaround for the wide border on 6x4 photo paper. The main problem is that, unlike earlier hp printers in which this problem could be overcome by using 6x4 + tab paper, the 3050 does not recognise tab paper (even though it is listed in the "paper options" when printing). The (tedious) way to get round this is to import the photo into "paint", where you can change the margins. The most imprortant thing is to fool the printer into thinking you have paper which is bigger than 6x4 - as it does not recognise tab paper you have to tell it the paper is 7x5. You can then adjust the margins (turn off centering) until the photo neatly fills the 6x4 area. (Unfortunately "paint" won't store these settings so you need to make a note of them). This method means you have fooled the printer into recognising tab paper, so when you fill it with 6x4 + tab paper you should be able to play around with the margins until all the borders on the 6x4 part are small. You may waste a bit of ink and paper with trial and error - make sure the print area is not larger than 6x4! The difficulty now comes with the fact that hp have stopped producing tab paper (they really are determined that your photos should have a wide border on one side!). However you can still get it if you shop around for old stock. It is worth persevering as the photos are pretty good quality, but what a ridiculous thing to have to do. Very very poor marks to hp.