can you help me print postcards?

  • Thread starter Thread starter nickb
  • Start date Start date
N

nickb

Can anybody help me? I'm looking to print some words and picturs onto
postcards measuring 5" x 3" 9 (127mm x 77mm). Do you know of any
software that will help me and also a printer that will print them?
Thanks.
 
nickb said:
Can anybody help me? I'm looking to print some words and picturs onto
postcards measuring 5" x 3" 9 (127mm x 77mm). Do you know of any
software that will help me and also a printer that will print them?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

How about making it in word - just define page size to your needs, fill the
words and print.
 
How about making it in word - just define page size to your needs, fill the
words and print.
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I do. My only issue is that the canon driver
doesn't permit boarderless printing of any media not of a predefined
size, or perhaps just a few defined sizes. This may or may not be an
issue on the newer pixmas, I have an ip3000. But so long as you can
live without boarderless this very modest printer does the trick.

I print a slew of 3x5 cards. Some cards I bought not not the best on
this printer, I forget which brand of card gave the most bleeding,
perhaps it was those oxford blues.
 
How about making it in word
Click to expand...

Only if you're not fussy about image quality and colour reproduction. Word does not have a good reputation for either.

Jon.
 
zakezuke said:
That is exactly what I do. My only issue is that the canon driver
doesn't permit boarderless printing of any media not of a predefined
size, or perhaps just a few defined sizes. This may or may not be an
issue on the newer pixmas, I have an ip3000. But so long as you can
live without boarderless this very modest printer does the trick.

I print a slew of 3x5 cards. Some cards I bought not not the best on
this printer, I forget which brand of card gave the most bleeding,
perhaps it was those oxford blues.
Click to expand...

hm...i never tried it...but, as i remember, it allows borderless only when
doing a photo print, so maybe an option is to select photo paper as
source...
 
Jon said:
Only if you're not fussy about image quality and colour reproduction.
Word does not have a good reputation for either.

Jon.
Click to expand...

True. But, after all, other programs can be adjusted to print on custom size
papers (even Paint Shop)
 
hm...i never tried it...but, as i remember, it allows borderless only when
doing a photo print, so maybe an option is to select photo paper as
source...
Click to expand...

I just double checked... I can select boarderless plain paper on the
ip3000 driver. Quality limited to "high" (#3). Page size limited to
a4, letter, 4x6, 5x7, credit card (2.13x3). One of my many complaints
about the canon, the fact that simple things like 3x5 are missing as a
paper size and boardless is only an option on pre-defined sizes.
Otherwise I find the printer ideal for 3x5.
 
zakezuke said:
I just double checked... I can select boarderless plain paper on the
ip3000 driver. Quality limited to "high" (#3). Page size limited to
a4, letter, 4x6, 5x7, credit card (2.13x3). One of my many complaints
about the canon, the fact that simple things like 3x5 are missing as a
paper size and boardless is only an option on pre-defined sizes.
Otherwise I find the printer ideal for 3x5.
Click to expand...

My Epson also has limits on sheet size for borderless and heavy card
stock. What I do it tape the card stock on a piece of letter sized paper
& feed that through to make small test prints. I'm going to make a card
frame with a hole in it to simplify centering for borderless and print a
tad bigger. That would also let me put the tape on the back to achieve
borderless. The only other option is to composite the pics in one large
file but it's impractical to cut straight along the line where they meet.
 
nickb said:
Can anybody help me? I'm looking to print some words and picturs onto
postcards measuring 5" x 3" 9 (127mm x 77mm). Do you know of any
software that will help me and also a printer that will print them?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Forget most of the arguing and discussions of
things you don't really care about here.

The answer is that almost any word processor (Word
, WordPerfect, etc.) and any printer can do that.
If the word processor doesn't have the specific
size you want, you can usually define a size in
the word processor. You need to pick the paper
size in the word processor which is usually in the
"Page setting" menu.

Surely any HP or any Canon printer also has a page
setting in the printer menu, certainly my HP and
my Canon do. You usually click the "Properties"
after you click print to select the various
options and one of those will be page size. It
may also tell you how to put the paper in for
sizes smaller than a full sheet. Otherwise, you
just need to experiment with where you put the
card on the infeed table.

Be sure you select the paper size in both the word
processor and the Printer menu.
 
The answer is that almost any word processor (Word
, WordPerfect, etc.) and any printer can do that.
Click to expand...
<snip>

Nobody uses publishing programs any longer? There are no new
versions of MS Publisher?

Geo
 
George said:
Forget most of the arguing and discussions of things you don't really
care about here.

The answer is that almost any word processor (Word , WordPerfect, etc.)
and any printer can do that.
Click to expand...

The printer won't let him use custom paper sizes when borderless is
selected. Probably true for most if not all printers. Heavy card stock
on my epson is limited to 8x10, letter, etc. but nothing smaller or in
between.
 
nickb said:
Can anybody help me? I'm looking to print some words and picturs onto
postcards measuring 5" x 3" 9 (127mm x 77mm). Do you know of any
software that will help me and also a printer that will print them?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

If you open the top of the printer (where you change the ink carts) you will
see that there is a long narrow open cell sponge under where the print head
travels to pick up ink that might be laid down beyond the edge of the paper.
The ink then travels down to the waste ink "tank". There are larger access
slots that are spaced just past the edge of 4x6, 5x7, and 8x10 borderless
prints, as the printer must "print" past the edge of the paper by a little
bit to avoid any white edges. That is why you can only print borderless
prints in the predetermined sizes. If you do other sizes you will end up
with ink residue in the printer where it shouldn't be.

The easiest way to solve your problem is to buy 8.5x11 card stock and lay
out your prints to do as many as you wish on one sheet. Then, use a paper
cutter to cut your prints to size. If you do very few of these prints you
can get by with a steel straightedge and a utility knife with a new blade.
If you are including photos, the best quality prints will be on paper
designed specifically for inkjet printing. I've used double sided photo
supreme matte paper from Staples and double sided matte paper from Epson for
greeting cards. These papers are specially coated with some sort of a clay
material that doesn't let the ink soak into the paper fibers.

Any program that does layouts will work fine. I like Photoshop Elements,
but I've also used Wordperfect or MS Word and had very good results.
 
Paul said:
The printer won't let him use custom paper sizes when borderless is
selected. Probably true for most if not all printers. Heavy card stock
on my epson is limited to 8x10, letter, etc. but nothing smaller or in
between.
Click to expand...
Borderless? The OP said nothing about borderless.
Heavy card stock? Many if not most current
postcards are no heavier than the photopaper
handled by my HP and Canon printers.
 
Borderless? The OP said nothing about borderless.
Heavy card stock? Many if not most current
postcards are no heavier than the photopaper
handled by my HP and Canon printers.
Click to expand...

You are right, the OP said nothing about borderless... however I being
one who employs the use of the same media type I must say that the lack
of borderless support on 3x5 is annoying to say the least esp since the
border on something so small is a large chunk... ok perhaps it's only 5
to 10mm but still.
 
It does seem like a long time since Pub 2003 was introduced. The next
version isn't due out until some time next year. FWIW, Publisher (or other
dtp applications like Serif PagePlus) are excellent for post cards. I've
been a heavy user of Publisher since Version 1 in 1992 when I opened my
first offset print shop and in that period of time it's become too bloated
with what I consider non-essential features. PagePlus is a great alternative
to Publisher, especially when the previous versions are available as free
downloads from Serifs website.
 
Back
Top