Duplex printing: Editor not as smart as Viewer

[dreal franche comte]

Hi,
After recently switching from the Viewer to the Editor, I came across a slightly different behaviour between both, as regards Duplex mode printing of booklets.
The context: printing a A4 portrait document to a two-sided booklet.

1. With the Viewer.
In the "Properties" dialog box of the printer, I leave the default "Orientation=Portrait, Duplex=Left binding" settings unchanged.
And below this, in the main Viewer printing dialog box, I check the "Duplex mode" box.
The result is OK: a landscape print, both sides right side up when flipped horizontally, and OK once folded as a booklet.

2. With the Editor
Same unchanged settings in the "Properties" dialog box.
If I choose "short edge" in the Duplex scroll menu, the flip pages of the resulting print are upside down, the booklet goes to the paper recycle bin.
To get a correct output, I need to either change the default printer setting to "Landscape" (leaving Duplex=Left binding) and choose "Short Edge" in the Duplex scroll menu, or leave the printer setting unchanged, and choose the irrational "Long Edge" setting in the Duplex scroll menu.

The Viewer behaved better in this regard.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello dreal franche comte,

Please check the build of the Viewer you have (Help -> About) - as it seems you do have an older build. In the latest - the "Duplex" option in the Viewer is also a drop down menu which has three options - None, Long Edge, Short Edge.

The previous simple checkbox sometimes failed to determine the correct way the printer feeds the sheets of paper - resulting in the back being oriented the wrong way relative to the front. That's why we've made the change.

In the Editor there are 4 options - if you select the Auto, and then change the duplex option in the printer's own preferences - doesn't it work the same as in the older Viewer build which it seems you are currently running?

Regards,
Stefan

[dreal franche comte]

In the Editor there are 4 options - if you select the Auto, and then change the duplex option in the printer's own preferences - doesn't it work the same as in the older Viewer build which it seems you are currently running

I've just tried this Auto setting: unlike my current Viewer version, leaving the default printer's own preferences unchanged results in an upside-down back page.
Setting the printer's own preferences to "Landscape", and using Auto results in a correct orientation, but I'd rather not need to change the printer's prefs, since #1 it requires an additionnal step and #2 I frequently switch between "Booklet" and "standard" printing hence the need to change several settings each time, since the software remembers the last settings used.

I will upgrade both the Viewer and Editor to the latest builds and let you know.

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi dreal franche comte,

Please do keep us posted

Cheers,

[dreal franche comte]

Hi Will,
1. Editor
After upgrading to 307.2, the behaviour is slightly different:
- leaving the default printer's own preferences unchanged (Portrait) results in an upside-down back page, whatever the Duplex mode setting (Auto, Short, Long)
- setting the printer's own preferences to Landscape will result in a good print whatever the Duplex mode setting (Auto, Short, Long). OK, but requires to open the printer's own preferences, change the orientation, and close the dialog box (3 additional steps).

2. Viewer
After upgrading to 214.2: regardless of the orientation setting in the printer's own preferences, the behaviour is irrational: Short Edge is upside-down, Long Edge is OK.

Hence a different but non-satisfactory behaviour of both, I by far prefered the "no drop-down menu" behaviour of the former Viewer version, which never failed on me and required no change in the printer's own preferences.

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Hello dreal franche comte,

Is the document you are trying to print portrait or landscape itself? And how is your printer normally taking the sheets of paper - feeding them with the long edge perpendicular to the way the page moves inside the device or the short one?

Regards,
Stefan

[dreal franche comte]

Is the document you are trying to print portrait or landscape itself?

From the initial post: "printing a A4 portrait document to a two-sided booklet".

feeding them with the long edge perpendicular to the way the page moves inside the device or the short one?

Long when using the A4 tray, short for A3 (I suppose the latter is true for all multipurpose copier-printer-scanner units).

I've just carried out a few additional tests, which showed that printing to A4 (fed with long edge perpendicular to the move) doesn't make any difference WRT printing to A3 (fed with short edge perpendicular to the move).

On the other hand:
1. I've edited my yesterday's post after carrying out these new tests: my report on printing with the Editor was mixed up (my mind is also going upside-down after all this* ), the truth is not as bad as I reported. Selecting "Landscape" in the printer's prefs will result in a correct print whatever option is chosen in the drop-down menu.
*and an additional setting (left or top binding) in the printer's prefs seems to have interfered. In today's tests it was set to its default value (left binding)
2. When the page orientation in the printer's pref is unchanged (=portrait), selecting "booklet" as the type in the Editor printing dialog results in swaped dimensions on the preview: the short side is labelled "297 mm" and the long one "210 mm" (see attached file).

Off topic but embarrassing: how come I get a "You do not have the required permissions to read topics within this forum" message when trying to access the Welcome to Tracker Software Support Forums - Forum Rules & Regs section?

[Will - Tracker Supp]

Hi dreal franche comte,

Thanks for the post - the Dev. Team have asked me to create an internal Development ticket for this issue. The ticket is RT-2413.

We appreciate your patience and understandin here!

Cheers,

[dreal franche comte]

Hi Will,

You may want to add the following issue to the same ticket, or create a new one:

After setting the Duplex mode to "Short Edge", any change in the printer's own prefs (even not relevant to the page orientation) automatically changes the Duplex mode back to what seems to be its default value ("Long Edge"), once the printer's pref dialog box is closed.

Cheers,
Hervé

[Tracker Supp-Stefan]

Thanks Hervé,

I've added that to the ticket.

Regards,
Stefan

[Patrick-Tracker Supp]

Setting the printer's own preferences to "Landscape", and using Auto results in a correct orientation, but I'd rather not need to change the printer's prefs, since #1 it requires an additionnal step and #2 I frequently switch between "Booklet" and "standard" printing hence the need to change several settings each time, since the software remembers the last settings used.

Hello dreal franche comte

I have something of a workaround to suggest to you. Rather than going and switching between the setting manually, you can duplicate the printer you are using. Doing so will cause your printer to act like two separate printers, allowing you to rename it and change the settings. As you have said previously, the PDF XChange will remember the previous setting of "both" printers. I am suggesting this to save you some time and headache while we work on the real issue.

-Click on “Devices and printers” in the Start menu

-Click on “Add a printer”*

-Select my “main” printer (shows with an IP address), and click “Next”.*

-Then I get a window “Which version of the driver do you want to use”, and I leave “Use the driver that is currently installed (recommended)” checked, and click “Next”

-Then I get a window to name it. I give it a new name, location and comment, then click “Next”

-I get a window that says “You’ve successfully added <Printer name>”.

-Click “print a test page”

-Unclick “set as default printer” and click Finish.

Going back to the “Devices and printers” page, it now shows up as an additional printer.

Here is the link to the site where I discovered this technique:
http://forum.thewindowsclub.com/windows ... s-7-a.html

I do hope this helps.