How to load 3x5 cards into, and print 3x5 cards from the Envy 5660

[NeoIII]

The Envy 5660 says that it supports printing 3x5 cards. 

It even lists 3x5 cards as a choice on the little screen when asking what you've loaded in the paper tray.

But the media with guides in the tray don't close to any width less than 4"

So 3x5 cards can't fit snugly in the tray.

So how do  you load/ print 3x5 cards with the Envy 5660?

[The_Fossette]

Hi @NeoIII,

Welcome to the HP Forums!

Thank you for posting your query in this forum, it's a great place to find answers.

I reviewed your post and I understand that you are having issues printing 3x5 cards on your printer.

Don’t worry, I assure you I will try my best to get this sorted.

In order that I may provide you with an accurate solution, I will need a few more details.

• When was the last time the printer was working fine?
• Have you made any software or hardware changes on the computer?
• Have you performed any troubleshooting steps before posting?

NOTE: Make sure that the cards are inserted in the right direction. The steps provided in the document are for envelopes, however, the same steps apply for cards as well.

Let me know how it goes and you have a great day!

To simply say thanks, please click the "Thumbs Up" button to give me a Kudos to appreciate my efforts to help. If this helps, please mark this as “Accepted Solution” as it will help several others with the same issue to get it resolved without hassles.

Take care.

Cheers!

[NeoIII]

I'm wondering if you read my question.  I explained in it that the problem is that, by design, the paper guides in the tray do not close to a width any less than 4".  Therefore they cannot close snugly on a stack of 3x5 cards.  When the printer last worked correctly or what I've done to it are totally beside the point.  And correctly loading envelopes is likewise beside the point.  Indeed, printing 6-3/4" envelopes is one of the main reasons I bought the printer.  As the Best Buy sales man said, "if it prints 3x5 cards, it will print 3.5 x 6 envelopes.  But the point is that the tray guides don't close to less than 4".  And my question is, "How then do you print 3x5 cards?"  Or, for that matter, anything whose narrower side is less than 4" in width.  If the 5660 media choice list did not list 3x5 cards as a legit media choice, I wouldn't be asking.  I'd just assume it doesn't take anything less than 4".  But since the clear implication is that it takes 3x5 cards, and since that was a key reason I bought the machine, my question is how do I load them into the machine so that it prints them.  Please do not refer me to any instructions or videos that you have not looked at yourself to make sure that they address the issue of the paper guides that don't close to less than a 4" width.

[8lives]

You are using the wrong tray, use the photo tray for your 3x5 cards.

[NeoIII]

You sound confident, but what is the source of your confidence.  Have you tried it?  Or seen a YouTube video?   Everything in every source I've come across suggests that to properly handle any media, it has to fit snugly in one paper tray or the other.   3x5 cards do not fit snugly in the 4x6 tray, and there is nothing in any literature or YouTube demo or any other source that suggests that.

I just had a one-hour live chat with an HP support "expert" who told me that the 5660 does not support anything smaller than 4x6.   I asked why it listed 3x5 cards on its menu of paper choices.  I asked him that twice.  He never replied.  Told me to load the 3x5s in sideways, which got me a message saying, "Paper too short.  Printer can't print any paper shorter than 4.5")  After which he had me restore the copy settings to the original default (which they'd never been changed from to start with), turn the print off then on again, then reload the cards sideways again.  Which I wasn't about to do because it was obvious he was not operating from any manual and there was no reason to think that turning the computer off and on again was going to change the computer's ablity to process a piece of paper presented to it as shorter than 4.5"

When even an HP support expert tells me confidently to do things that don't work, my level of caution rises proportionally.

[8lives]

No problems on my Envy 4520 which is part of the same family.

Looks like HP removed this option in the 5660 driver but left the specs the same.

[NeoIII]

When you say, "No problems on my Envy 4520", do you mean that you can print 3x5 cards (from the 4x6 tray) in your Envy 4520?  Or that the  4520 doesn't offer the choice of 3x5 cards in its list of paper choices so that the problem of thinking that you should be able to doesn't arise in the first place? 

(Interestingly, I found that I can put 3.5x 6.25 envelopes in the lower tray -- at least one at a time, which suits my purposes -- and it will feed them thru OK.  The 3.5" width is evidently close enough to the 4" minimum width that the printer's rollers will handle it.

I haven't tried 3x5 cards there yet, for fear of a jam.   Don't want to press my luck.  The official specs for paper handling do NOT include 3x5 cards -- only the on-screen paper choice list.  Just wish the HP live chat "experts" knew more about their machines than I do.

[NeoIII]

Yeah - I'm thinking it was cheaper to use the same list of paper choices for several printers rather than have a list for each printer that reflected that printer's actual paper-handling capabilities.  I love corporations.

[8lives]

There is only one input tray on the Envy 4520.

[RichAnt]

It's got to do it if the specs say so.    Note it says to center the cards in the  below   web page describing the process.   

So place them in the main paper tray but centered within the 4 inch slot that the the guides creates.  Or try the 4x6 tray.  Cut out some plain paper to 3x5 and experiment.  

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-envy-5660-e-all-in-one-printer-series/6809225/document/c0433...

The specs say 3" x 5" to 8.5" x 14"; that's listing the width first.    You would place the stock in the long way in.