[Dropped] Booklet wants to print on wrong size paper

[johasco]

I am trying to print a booklet, where the final product will be 8.5X5.5 pages printed on 8.5X11 paper. I have composed the document using the page format to set the page size as width 5.5 and height 8.5. When I try to print the document, selecting the "brochure" option, it shows that the "destination size" of the paper is "legal," and that is what is shown in the printing preview: two 5.5X8.5 text pages on legal size paper. I have checked the printer itself, and it is set to "letter." I don't see any option to change the size of the paper used for printing. I am using OpenOffice 4 on a Mac.
(If it is useful information, if I save the document as a .pdf, it comes out for 8X11 paper, but the pages are greatly reduced in size.)
Thanks for any suggestions on fixing this.

[RoryOF]

I haven't access to a Mac, but in Linux, and I think Windows, in the Print screen there should be a Properties button. When that is pressed, one should select "letter" (in most of world A4, when printing to A5 booklet), and Landscape or Horizontal paper position (words differ according to printer manufacturer). On the same setting, one can select to print single or duplex (if the printer supports that), and if a duplex printer to flip on short side of the paper.

[johasco]

Thanks for the suggestion. I searched around for a while and found one place where that option exists, and sadly we now have reinvented the problem. The only place where there is a choice to select paper size is under "Paper handling". That option says "legal" and the option to change it is grayed out unless I select "Scale to fit paper size." I can then pick "A4," and It will then print on 8.5X11 paper, but all of the document has been reduced in size and is unuable. Moreover, it still thinks it is printing on legal paper, so half of the pages are off the end of the paper. So I need to be able to print my document on letter-size paper in its actual size. I'm also going to try a copy on a Windows version of OpenOffice and see if there is a difference (I'll update after that.)

UPDATE: I am afraid I have found my answer: you can't do this on a Mac. Fortunately, I have access to a Windows laptop, where it prints out just fine. I'd really love to have somebody come up with a solution that would allow this to work on a Mac, though.

[RoryOF]

I can't help about Mac details. What printer are you using?

[RoryOF]

This posting of mine, in an earlier booklet thread, gives some information on scaling sizes for US brochure size.

viewtopic.php?p=370148#p370148

Normally if a printer takes "legal" that input tray can also be adjusted to take A4 and US Letter.

[johasco]

My printer is a Brother MFC-J805DW, but since I can get the document to print properly if I move the document to a Windows computer, I doubt that the printer is the issue. It seems that the Mac version of OpenOffice simply does not have the proper settings for brochure printing.

[Hagar Delest]

You can try with LibreOffice.

[keme]

Strange. With the setup you describe, the page size should not be altered at all.
Note that the print driver may also provide a booklet/brochure option. If it does, make sure you use eitherthe printer option or the OpenOffice provided option. Do not use both in conjunction.

LibreOffice is more up to date, as Hagar also suggested. You may have better results with that. It is easy to change. The everyday user experience is almost identical.

If you would rather continue using OpenOffice ...

First I'd check with Brother to see whether they have updated printer drivers for MacOS. If you have 8.5x11" paper in your printer, this should be communicated automatically to the MacOS print system. This reporting depends on correct drivers being installed.

Failing that I can see two possible workarounds:

• Print the booklet output to file, and use your PDF viewer to print that file.
  Make sure you select "turn the pages over short edge". Otherwise you will get out-of-sequence upside-down pages.
• Save as PDF, or print plainly as PDF. Use the booklet printing of your PDF reader.
  I am not sure that the MacOS "Preview" app supports booklet printing. You may need to install Adobe Reader or some other PDF software.

[Greengiant224]

My printer is a Brother MFC-J805DW,

The drivers/software for MacOS 10.14 were last updated in Mar 2019.
it appears that the Windows version was updated in 2023.

Maybe the problem lies with the Mac version.

Jim

[MrProgrammer]

I am trying to print a booklet, where the final product will be 8.5X5.5 pages printed on 8.5X11 paper.

I have never used the Brochure feature. This type of printing may be experiencing the problem which was reported in Weird page size, Writer insists upon rotating it to print. Issue 121080 Printing on PDF format or Preview by print panel ignores page orientation is marked Confirmed on MacOS but is not resolved. The same issue affects LibreOffice on MacOS. These issues suggest to me that OpenOffice and LibreOffice need updates to match the print drivers used on later versions of MacOS.

I'd really love to have somebody come up with a solution that would allow this to work on a Mac, though.

Instead of using the Brochure feature perhaps you can use the 2 pages per sheet feature of your printer driver. This doesn't re-order page printing the way the Brochure feature does, but if you only have a few sheets you can easily create the pages in the proper order for the brochure before printing.
Page numbering for 2-up print of document

Or use this idea: Export as PDF and print from PDF Reader or Acrobat as a booklet.

If you need any additional assistance attach a document demonstrating the situation (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply, and don't attach a picture instead of the document itself). I will not help further unless you attach.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit ☐ button and add [Solved] to the start of the Subject field. Select the green checkmark icon at the same time.

[RoryOF]

This looks like a printer driver problem, specific to Macs. Ideally the Print Properties should show the paper size the printer thinks it is using.

When you print a standard portrait letter page (single sided), what does the Printer Properties button tell about the paper size? If it says "legal", then you may need to set up your printer from its built in settings menu by going through the printer setup routine, to tell it to use US Letter.

Pressing the actual printer buttons should allow you to print a Status Page, which should give total page count printed, ink levels, and page configuration set in the printer, along with other printer information.

[Nick N,]

I am trying to print a booklet, where the final product will be 8.5X5.5 pages printed on 8.5X11 paper. I have composed the document using the page format to set the page size as width 5.5 and height 8.5. When I try to print the document, selecting the "brochure" option, it shows that the "destination size" of the paper is "legal," and that is what is shown in the printing preview: two 5.5X8.5 text pages on legal size paper. I have checked the printer itself, and it is set to "letter." I don't see any option to change the size of the paper used for printing. I am using OpenOffice 4 on a Mac.
(If it is useful information, if I save the document as a .pdf, it comes out for 8X11 paper, but the pages are greatly reduced in size.)
Thanks for any suggestions on fixing this.

Hello Sir,

Experience made with a Deskjet 3720 HP, the only thing I had to do was to cut an A4 sheet into 2 A5. Provided the correct printer driver, i adjusted my page from the format menu of writer, and on the print preview too. Did you try this way?

Regards

Nick

[keme]

... the only thing I had to do was to cut an A4 sheet into 2 A5. Provided the correct printer driver, i adjusted my page from the format menu of writer, and on the print preview too. Did you try this way?

The point of brochure/booklet printing is specifically to avoid this cutting and subsequent sideways stapling/clamping or glue ("perfect") binding, which is messier, usually less durable, often less attractive, and consumes more of the sheet for binding purposes than folio print and saddle stitch/stapling.

[RoryOF]

The booklet printing option does two important things: It automatically scales the page of text to fit on the "half -sized" sheet of the finished booklet and then also gives the correct layout of the pages front and back for the printer to print on the uncut sheets of paper.

In a folded booklet the pages are printed on the sheets in what appears to be a strange order, (for simplicity I won't explain here, but please believe me!) so that when the booklet is folded and stapled, all the pages read in sequential order.

Also, from experience - I have four duplex printers on my network - many duplex printers can only print duplex on full sheets, usually Letter/A4 or larger. That varies from printer model to printer model.

The problem in this thread is the printer drivers for a Mac; do these offer the necessary options - perhaps some Mac user can tell us, and if so, is the OP missing some setting?

[MrProgrammer]

It seems that the Mac version of OpenOffice simply does not have the proper settings for brochure printing.

On MacOS 13.6.3 I can use File → Printer Settings → Options → ✓ Brochure then File → Print and send it to a PDF printer. This attachment shows that the result is fine and the half-size pages are in the correct, but strange, order. Here is the first sheet, which contains the last and first pages.

Sheet preview

202403211056.gif (44.1 KiB) Viewed 597 times

202403210933.pdf

Brochure printing example on Letter paper

(90.41 KiB) Downloaded 12 times

The problem in this thread is the printer drivers for a Mac; do these offer the necessary options - perhaps some Mac user can tell us, and if so, is the OP missing some setting?

There is a known issue, 121080, with printing on MacOS. Topic 109159, link above, also noted the difficulty with setting the paper size in the MacOS print dialog. Perhaps that will also be corrected with the fix for 121080.

I previously told johasco that I would not provide further assistance without an attachment. This has not appeared. But perhaps johasco is not really interested in a solution and just wanted to rant, now having two workarounds: use Windows or even their own advice in topic 94966, linked previously. Their topic 95704 also shows quite a bit of impatience and unwillingness to follow advice, thus I am unlikely to provide assistance to future johasco topics. I am done contributing to this one. Moderators can contact me privately, of course.