* Printing charts on HP DesignJet printer

[ColinH]

Some years ago, fed up of sticking together 30 or so pages of A4 to print a Descendent wall chart, I decided to buy an HP DesignJet 111 roll printer. This prints on a paper roll 24 inches high by 150 feet long (610 mm x 45.7 M). It took a while to work out how to print charts but I got it right and documented the process so that I could easily repeat it.

Recently, when I went to print a chart using the same method, I found that I was getting massive margins and using twice as much paper as I should. So, I am hoping that someone has the same or similar printer who can help me work out what I must be doing wrong.

So, if I want to print a Descendant Wall Chart, I open the chart and then go to Diagram> Diagram Statistics and make a note of the Diagram Size which, in this case, is:

Diagram Size (excluding margins):
Width = 8620.1 mm
Height = 290 mm

I then go to File> Print Setup and change the printer from the default printer to the HP DesignJet Roll printer. The default paper size shows A4 so I click on Properties> Size is:> Custom, change the units to metric and set the width to 8620.1 mm and the height to 609.6 mm (that’s the height of the roll – 24 inches). I show Page Boundaries (Diagram> Page Boundaries) so that I can see how it will look and it shows the chart printing on two sheets of paper with a massive margin on both sides and using about twice the amount of paper that it should.

I’ve checked in Page Setup> Print Margins that margins all round are set to 0 mm, that the orientation is Landscape and have changed Position on Page to all sorts of settings, including 0 diagram units. Changing this setting does move the chart around, but does not make it print on one continuous sheet of paper. I have read the printer manual in case I had reached a maximum width but, so far as I can see, the only limit is the length of the paper roll.

I think there must be something else that I have inadvertently changed but I can’t see what it is. I’m hoping that someone else has the same printer and can help me. I have looked for support for the printer but there is nothing there that helps.

Happy new year

[tatewise]

Are you saying there is a large white margin, or that the tree is simply too small so there is a lot of background all round?
If your chosen background is white, you might not be able to tell the difference, so temporarily change the background.

If the latter then adjust the Scale using Diagram > Layout & Scaling > Diagram Scale so the tree is bigger and fills the page.

[ColinH]

Thanks for your quick reply.

I've taken a screenshot:

Descendent Chart.JPG (73.48 KiB) Viewed 1457 times

I did have print background on and have now disabled that. However, it made no difference.

The page boundaries ought to be close to the beginning and end of the chart and there should not be a page boundary in the middle.

[tatewise]

I think you are saying you want the whole tree on one page, instead of spanning two pages.
So grab a corner of any page with the mouse cursor and drag the boundaries until one page surrounds the tree.
The cursor needs to become a cross with arrows on.

The alternative option is to Enable Moving/Resizing, select Tree and drag the tree into the middle of a page.

You may also need to adjust the scale to get the tree to fill the page.

[LornaCraig]

(Edit: Mike's reply beat me to it)

I show Page Boundaries (Diagram> Page Boundaries) so that I can see how it will look and it shows the chart printing on two sheets of paper with a massive margin on both sides and using about twice the amount of paper that it should.

You can move the diagram relative to the page boundaries in FH.
Either use the Movement Control Box, with the Tree or Everything move, or place the mouse over a corner intersection of four pages and drag the corner of the page frame.

[ColinH]

That's interesting. It almost worked when I moved the diagram but it just didn't quite fit within the page size that FH says it is. I found that I could either scale the diagram to 95% or increase the page size a little. So I can print charts with a bit of guesswork I am in a much better situation than I was. Thank you.

But, if I have to make the custom paper size larger than the size that is being reported by FH, does that mean that FH is reporting the chart size incorrectly?

[tatewise]

Have you reviewed ALL the Diagram > Diagram Statistics by scrolling down?
Later details mention Printable Portion of Page and Minimum Margins Supported by Printer.
Taking all those into account and not just Diagram Size does that explain the discrepancies?