How to unlock printing shortcuts hp officejet pro 6978

[KarenZ_16]

How can I unlock the printing shortcuts on my HP Officejet Pro 6978 so I can print correctly? And...why are they locked in the first place? Thank you!

[8lives · Accepted solution]

The shortcuts are locked because the are the default ones, but if you change any of the options in the shortcut you can then save it under a different name.

[KarenZ_16]

So, I am to assume that the default printing shortcuts can't be changed.  I have to create new ones to use for each kind of printing I need to do?  Sounds like HP has made life difficult for customers.  Do you know of any reason that they did that?

Thank you.

[8lives]

That is correct, the default shortcuts cannot be changed.

But you can make any change that the driver will allow without having to save a new shortcut.

[KarenZ_16]

Thank you so much for your help!  By the way...how do you make changes to the driver?  Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[8lives]

You can not make any changes to the printer driver.

Can I ask what type of paper/size are you trying to print on?

[KarenZ_16]

You previously mentioned something about making changes that the driver would allow.  I was questioning what was meant by that.  I was trying to print a photo on some HP photo paper.  It was only allowing me to print on a 4 x 6 and I was wanting a 5 x 7.  I made do with the 4 x 6 in the end.  Also...the printer seems to print way too dark on the photo paper if I use the photo paper setting on the printer.  If I use plain paper, the photo prints great.  Any thoughts?  Thank you.

[8lives]

Here is my shortcut for a 5x7 print. (it will take awhile b4 you will see the image, HP policy)

Each image presents it own problem but it should be close to what you see on your screen.

What program are you using to print from?

One othe thing to check is the frmware on the printer, latest is MCP2CN1623AR. (see this link)

[KarenZ_16]

I cannot see the image.  I checked and the printer has the latest updates.  I just installed the printer about a week ago. My OS is Windows 7 Ultimate. It is a 64 bit operating system and has 8 GB of memory.  I have an ASUS Phenom processor 3 GHz.  It is a custom built computer and runs great!  I am printing after going to My Pictures, selecting the photo I want to print and then printing from the window that appears.  That is how I always have printed pictures with no problems until I got this new printer.  My old printer was an HP Photosmart Premium c309a and wouldn't print from my pc after the latest Windows update.  Would you like me to upload the image of the window that I get when I try to change the printer settings?

[8lives]

Let me see the image.