HP8730- 5x7 envelope support

[tklius]

Hello,

I'm having major trouble getting 5x7 invitation envelopes to print with the proper orientation, as defined in Microsoft Word.  I have a MacBookPro on Catalina OS.  The printer instructions tell me to load envelopes a certain way but they will not print properly from Word despite changing the settings to match (or so I thought).  Help would be appreciated.

[Dragon-Fur]

@tklius 

This whole post might be completely worthless - or, if you can extrapolate the necessary bits, it might actually help.

I do not speak Mac - this is a big problem when trying to explain how things work in Word and Print.

I did have a nice Officejet Pro 8740 as a loaner for a year - lovely printer and it could do just about everything very well.

I looked it up and apparently the Mail Merge Task Pane (Mailings?) is equivalent to "Data Merge Palette".

?

OK, for what it's worth...

Either load your envelopes into the printer tray - or cut and load some 7x5 inch paper.

• Load envelopes flap facing up - flap on the left, short sides front /back
• Close the tray - check the Printer Control Panel > "modify" or change the paper size.
• Select size "Custom"

Things to watch for:

• Envelopes cannot be embossed, too thick, foil lined, or other "weird" fanciness. 
• Need nice, regular, white envelopes for this to work as expected...

The toughest part to explain is how you create a custom paper size form for your Mac printer software.  The driver setups in the Mac flavored printer software look nothing like the Windows version.   Meh - makes sense that they are different.  Different animals.

 The actual mechanics to create the custom form might be similar - for example, find a "starting form" and edit it to create your "new" form for your 5x7 envelope.

The How-to document includes "Mac" bits...

HP Printers - Creating Custom Paper Sizes

Example for Windows print software - Officejet Pro 8740 - custom paper size form

8740_Printing_Preferences_Custom_Envelope_7x5

Things to watch for: 

• The width of the envelope is the 7 inch side, the height is the 5 inch side.
• When you load the envelopes into the tray (use some 7 inch wide by 5 inch tall paper to test), load the envelopes into the main tray with the flap on the left side, facing up - short ends of the envelope (or test paper) facing front / back.
• Load about five to eight envelopes - you need enough to trip the sensor but no so many that they crowd the tray.

More trickiness - Mac Word likely does not look like Windows Word in this section, either.

Hopefully, the entries are at least recognizable...

Things to watch for:

• Just because you have created your "custom paper size" form for your envelope does not mean Word > Mailings > Envelopes can "see" your form.
• Ignore this detail.
• When the Envelope size is offered, if you don't see the size you want, scroll the list, look for and select size "Custom".  Enter the dimensions for the envelope.

Example - Officejet Pro 8740 - Word > Envelope 7x5

Rabbits_and_Chickens_Test_Envelope_7x5

Things to watch for:

Not sure how your Address book works - if the address book won't open, try opening the software in which the address book is stored (somewhere else on the computer screen).  It is not necessary to "do" anything with it - sometimes just opening the email software "kicks" the address book contents.  I would bet this is a "Windows" thing - and more important, I would bet this is more related to my convoluted, "sometimes" messed up, mail software and settings than anything actually reasonable... (I do some strange things to mail on occasion to test / play with it.)

Do not go into your printer software to change any of the printer setups / driver settings.  Once you have the Word Envelope set up and ready to go, click Print.  Poof.  May work.

End of story.

If I find that I missed anything or if I notice any mistakes, I will edit this post.

Thank you for participating in the HP Community Forum.

We are a world community of HP enthusiasts dedicated to supporting HP technology.

Click Thumbs Up on a post to say Thank You!

Answered? Select the relevant post "Accept as Solution" to help others find it.