HP 7740 - Printing four 8.5x11 pages landscape on an 11x17 paper

[ellisfive]

I'm trying to print four 8.5x11 pdfs (all from one file) onto an 11x17 paper (double sided) in landscape but the pdfs are printing much smaller than they should be. They are printing in the right locations on the 11x17 paper but just shrunk. (See photo) I can't find any setting adjustments that fixes this. Help? Thanks in advance!

[Dragon-Fur · Accepted solution]

@ellisfive

Commentary  (Random thoughts on the subject)

I do not think there is anyway to avoid the border that is pre-set when the settings are adjusted to print more than one sheet on the paper.  PDF reader software provides built-in restrictions meant to allow most printers to handle the print output.

Foxit Reader is slightly better at providing the setup and information.

Like its counterpart (Adobe Reader DC ), Foxit insists on setting side border well in from the actual side of the paper.

To Test, install Foxit Reader

Open the PDF file in Foxit

Click the print icon 

Under Print Handling

Click Scale

Fit to printer margins

then

Reduce to printer margins

1. Check for any size change in the Preview box.
2. There will likely be little difference reflected in the "Zoom" factor in the Preview.

Click / Select Multiple Pages Per Sheet

Pages per sheet:  2 x 1

Margins:  Set this to the minimum allowed by the printer Specifications (for example .13 inches)

Set / Select

Print on both sides of paper

Flip on long edge

Auto-Rotate

Auto-Center

Landscape

Click Print Page Border

Then Clear the box for Print Page Border

NOTE:

The point of checking the "Print Page Border" setting is to illustrate where the "data" is located.

There is no expected change or benefit to checking the setting.

Workaround (not to be confused with the sought-after Solution)

If the entire point of the exercise (print output) is to maintain as much of the original size as possible, consider creating single "images" of each of the pages in the PDF file.  That means,

Download, install, and use HP Photo Creations to print the image files as large as possible, two on a sheet, next to one another on the larger paper. (Multi-ups > two prints on a page)

Caveat:  Photo / Image printing does NOT support duplex

Reference

Printer Homepage – “Things that are your printer”

Drivers / Software, Videos, Advisories, How-to, Troubleshooting, Manuals, Product Information, more

HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Printer series

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[ellisfive]

So I figured out what works best for me. I had been trying to open the file and directly print using the default print dialog box but it wasn't giving me the options that I needed to adjust the size of the images. 

I had to open the file in Adobe Acrobat DC and change the print settings to "Multiple" and select 2 pages per sheet on an 11x17 paper size. Worked perfectly.

[Dragon-Fur]

@ellisfive

Excellent.

Keep the Foxit information on-hand. 

Both of these PDF view / print softwares are very similar in form and function.

• Foxit tends to be a tiny bit more intuitive and flexible.  It also provides a bit more "information" when you are looking for what is going on (setups / settings / adjustments).
• The printer software requires Adobe Reader DC (to be installed and functional).  The software works well for most projects and is very easy to use.

The printer works well with either PDF software.

Happy Printing!

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