Answers to Off-Center Printing Problem Are Wrong

  • Thread starter Thread starter Trip Ives
  • Start date Start date
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Trip Ives

Hello all,

I apologize for being a pessimist, however…

I don't have an answer yet, however, I've noticed that many have
suggested that the reason PowerPoint misaligns when printing has to do
with the printer's margins. This just isn't the case. I'm having the
same problem with a Lexmark X6170.

In my efforts to troubleshoot this issue I fired-up Word, created a
landscape document, and centered a box so that the line was running
close to the outside edge of the page. It printed perfectly centered
and well beyond the "frame" of my PowerPoint slide. I then further
troubled-shot this issue by repeatedly reducing my slide size in
PowerPoint. Even when I got down to a slide width of 8 inches (as
opposed to 11 inches) it still printed terribly off-center – quite
obviously my printer is capable of printing within 8 inches of an 11
inch piece of paper.

This issue has nothing to do with a printer's margins. It is quite
obviously a PowerPoint issue.

If anyone has found an answer I would be very appreciative of any
direction they may be able to provide.

Thanks!

Trip Ives
 
I played with this a little and ...

I created a Word document. I moved the page borders out to the page limit,
added a page border, and printed the page. It was blank, all the print from
the border exceeded the printer's boundaries. So I moved all the borders in
about a half inch. All the lines for the borders printed EXCEPT the bottom
one.

Then, in PowerPoint, I printed a slide with a border around the edge of all
four sides and all four sides printed.

My printer has a print boundary of ~1/2 inch on the bottom (most inkjet
printers do because of the mechanics of holding the page while the inkhead
moves across the page).

The PowerPoint slide printed all four edges of the print, but was not
centered. It was off by the amount of unprintable space at the bottom of
the paper. The Word document printed on the center of the page but cut off
the bottom edge of the page to allow it to fit.

Does this information help with your understanding of the off-center
printing?

B
===============
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In my efforts to troubleshoot this issue I fired-up Word, created a
landscape document, and centered a box so that the line was running
close to the outside edge of the page. It printed perfectly centered
and well beyond the "frame" of my PowerPoint slide.
Click to expand...

Word isn't PowerPoint. They may (probably do!) handle printing tasks
differently.
troubled-shot this issue by repeatedly reducing my slide size in
PowerPoint. Even when I got down to a slide width of 8 inches (as
opposed to 11 inches) it still printed terribly off-center – quite
obviously my printer is capable of printing within 8 inches of an 11
inch piece of paper.
Click to expand...

Exactly according to earlier descriptions. PowerPoint's trying to center the
printed slide on the printable area reported by your printer driver. Since
this area is itself off-center, the results will be off center as well.

Does your printer driver give you a "centered output" or similar option?
If so, try it - this is exactly the kind of problem it's meant to solve.
 
[CRITICAL UPDATE - Anyone using Office 2003 should install the critical
update as soon as possible. From PowerPoint, choose "Help -> Check for
Updates".]

Hello,

PowerPoint does not have the specific capability that you are looking for.
Instead, PowerPoint always prints the slide area centered in the printable
area for the printer (defined by the print driver, not by PowerPoint). If
that print area is not centered on the page then the slide area will also
print not centered.

If you (or anyone else reading this message) think that PowerPoint should
provide some kind of margin control (within contstraints of printer, or
course) and/or an option to print the slide centered on the page instead of
centered in the printable area, don't forget to send your feedback to
Microsoft at:

http://register.microsoft.com/mswish/suggestion.asp

As with all product suggestions, it's important that you not just state
your wish but also why it is important to you that your product suggestion
be implemented by Microsoft. Microsoft receives thousands of product
suggestions every day and we read each one but, in any given product
development cycle, there are only sufficient resources to address the ones
that are most important to our customers so take the extra time to state
your case as clearly and completely as possible.

IMPORTANT: Each submission should be a single suggestion (not a list of
suggestions)

John Langhans
Microsoft Corporation
Supportability Program Manager
Microsoft Office PowerPoint for Windows
Microsoft Office Picture Manager for Windows

For FAQ's, highlights and top issues, visit the Microsoft PowerPoint
support center at: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=ppt
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
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