HP printer software won't let me print to "U.S. Letter" sized paper

[My-oh-my]

Dear HP Community,

Please help me fix the following printer 'software’ problem.

< BACKGROUND >

 1. Bought this 'all-in-one' 14 months ago at an U.S. 'Office Depot' store.

 2. Mostly used w/ Mac (OS X.9) &  PC (XP) to 'scan’, and Mac to 'print'.

 3. Product only printed 100 B&W pages and 24 color pages since new.

 4. Today tried (for 1st time) to print (1-page) Mac “Pages” document,

       on “US Letter” sized paper - with “US Letter” sized copy paper in

       printer’s (‘default’ and only) "Tray 1" tray.

 5. In the “Pages” ‘Document>“Printer & Paper Size”’ control box,

       I chose “HP Officejet Pro 8720” & “US Letter”.

 6. Clicked on "Pages" toolbar ‘File > Page Setup…’ buttons, which

       opened a small window where I set these variables’ values:
         Settings: “Page Attributes”
         Format for: “HP Officejet Pro 8720”
         Paper Size: “US Letter”

           (from sub-list of: “Index card Letter 8.5x11 in.”,

                                              “US Letter”, and

                                              “Borderless 8.5x11 in.”)
         Orientation: “Portrait”
         Scale: “100%”

 7. Then clicked on window's ‘Settings: “Page Attributes” button,
       next on its just-opened “Save as Default” option, and finally

       clicking “OK” button to ‘lock in’ these changes & close window.

< PROBLEM >

 8. When re-open “Page’s” ‘File > Page Setup…’, to verify changes are

       indeed “locked in”, I find they are not! My (“US Letter” ‘Paper Size’

       selection ALWAYS gets changed to “Index card Letter 8.5x11 in.”

 9. Thus, when I open “Page’s” ‘File > Print…’ command, and click “Print”

      (to have document printed on its “US Letter” sized paper), an error

      message icon immediately leaps from Mac’s desktop tray to announce:

       “Paper Size Error:

        Specified custom paper size is not supported in selected tray. < OK >”

         and lists its “Stopped - ‘Filter’ failed, 1 page” error message.

10. This is another “HAL 9000, NOMAD, CATCH-22” problem, in which:
    a) the printer first forcefully changes the correct “Paper Size” selection

         to an incorrect selection, and then (logically?!)
    b) refuses to print, since this incorrect selection does not match

         the correct ‘Paper Size’ paper stored in its default tray.

< RESOLUTION? >

 I have made numerous attempts to circumvent this problem, including:
   a) trying other ‘Paper Size’ options;
   b) turning OfficeJet’s “Settings > Setup > Tray & Paper Management >

         Override A4/Letter” switch on “On” and “Off”; and
   c) choosing (but not printing with) “OfficeJet 8270 (Fax)” as “printer”,

        (for which “US Letter” ‘Paper Size’ is accepted),

 but none of these attempts have enabled me to print my ‘document’.

 However, if I:

   d) run the ‘test print’ diagnostic,

 the printer prints out a ‘test print page’ just fine)!

 I am not a ‘happy camper’! A few weeks ago I spent hours (and $120)

 to install new ink cartridges, and now find myself again spending

 more hours just to print a 1-page document!! (This product needs to

 devote a fraction of its “verifying genuine HP ink is being used”

 ’ smarts’ on making things easier for the user!)

 Any help in resolving this problem would be most appreciated.

 Thank you for your kind consideration.

 Sincerely,

 My-oh-my

[Rainbow23 · Accepted solution]

Hi @My-oh-my,

Welcome to HP Forums, this is a great place to get support, find answers and tips.

Thank you for posting your query. I'll be more than glad to help you.

I understand that you are facing issues with your HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 All-in-One Printer wherein it does not print US letter.

Let's go through a few steps that may help to fix this issue from the link: Print Driver Settings Guide (Mac)

Also, you may follow the steps in the link: Printing Documents (Mac)

Let me know if this works.
 

You have a good day ahead.

[My-oh-my]

Dear HP Expert ‘Rainbow23’,

Thank you very much for kindly quickly supplying me with an easy solution

to my personally frustrating “product won’t let me print to ‘U.S. Letter’ sized

paper” problem.

Just as ‘TV Secret Agent #86 (Maxwell Smart)’ would (sarcastically) say (in

paraphrased fashion):

  “Ohhhh! It's the old {Unnamed print options pop-up menu list} trick,

   ehhhh?! Why didn’t I think of that?!!”

I am similarly compelled to (sarcastically) say:

  “Ohhhh! It’s the old {after clicking ‘print’, to then:

  (1) click on a non-descript ‘layout’ button; next,

  (2) open its options list of “color matching, paper handling, cover page,

  paper type/quality, supply levels”; and

  (3) then click on “type/quality”; so as to find that

  (4), for some unknown reason, my ‘Paper Type’ had been changed from

  ‘plain paper’ to ‘brochure paper > other matte inkjet papers’!} trick,

  ehhhh?! Why didn’t I think of that?!!”

 In my initial post, I had (incorrectly stated) that this problem appeared

 when I first attempted to print a Mac “Pages” document. But, in fact,

 I now recall having previously printed both “Pages” and “Numbers”

 documents without ever having encountered this problem. So, the

 question is: “Why did my ‘Paper Type’ setting change, as I have

 always only used 'U.S. Letter' sized 'plain paper' - and didn’t even

 know how (until now) to change “Paper Type”?!

 This unanswerable question reinforces the likewise mind-boggling

 experience I had (and posted) with this “HAL 9000”-like product a

 month ago. And, thus, my prior “less than warm & fuzzy feeling” has

 now degraded to the ‘Star Wars’ level of: “I have a baad feeling about

 this (product)”! But, thank goodness I can call upon “The Power of

 the HP Community” (when necessary) to rescue me from this

 monster’s evil deeds. May the (HP) Force be with you!

 Sincerely,

 My-oh-my

[DavidSMP]

Hi @My-oh-my,

I read the post. I thank you for your response. As @Rainbow23 is out of office for the day, I am responding now. 

Is the issue resolved? The change may have occurred because of a recent software update to one of the apps on the computer or an OS update as well.

Take care and have a blessed week ahead. 🙂

[ml1962]

The only options are the US Letter index . So I cannot print two sided. I'm on a Mac. I have reloaded the driver. updated the driver etc...

[kevin-t]

Hello,

Thank you for posting in this thread. Unfortunately based on when the last response was made, I have closed this thread to help keep comments current and up to date. We recommend starting a new thread for your issue by clicking here.
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