6 Print options
●
Create a print job
●
Select print quality
●
Print a draft
●
High-quality printing
●
Select paper size
●
Select margins options
●
Print on loaded paper
●
Rescale a print
●
Preview a print
●
Print 16-bit color images
●
Change the treatment of overlapping lines
●
Print crop lines
●
Rotate an image
●
Print in gray shades
●
Use paper economically
●
Nest jobs to save paper
●
Use ink economically
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Create a print job
In order to print something, you must send it to the printer. This constitutes a print job, which is entered into the printer's print queue. There are two main ways of sending a print job to the printer:
● To print directly from a program, use the program's Print command as usual. When you select your printer, the printer driver is invoked to send your job to the printer.
●
If you have a file that is already in a supported graphical format, you can use the Embedded Web
Server to send it directly to the printer without going through a printer driver (see below).
Using the Embedded Web Server to print files
From the HP Utility or the Embedded Web Server, select Submit Job in the Job Center group. You will see the window below.
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Press the Add files button to choose the files from your computer that you want to print. The files must be in one of the following formats:
● PDF
● PostScript
● TIFF
● JPEG
● CALS/G4
NOTE:
When you print to a file, the file should be in one of the above formats, but its name may have an extension such as .plt or .prn.
If the files are not in one of these formats, they will not be printed successfully.
If the jobs have been generated with the appropriate settings (such as page size, rotation, resizing and number of copies), you can just press the Print button and they will be sent to the printer.
Create a print job
81
If you need to specify printing settings, go to the Job settings section and select the options you need.
Each option has explanatory text on the right, so that you can understand the behavior of each setting.
Remember that, if you leave the setting as Default, the setting saved in the job will be used. If the job contains no setting, the setting in the printer will be used.
Printing stored jobs
When you print a file with the Embedded Web Server, you can mark the job to be stored permanently in the printer.
If you select Stored jobs in printer in the Main tab of the Embedded Web Server, you will see a list of the stored jobs. The information displayed for each job includes:
●
The name of the job
●
The size of the job
●
The date and time when the job was received by the printer
●
The name given by the person who submitted the job
You can click on the title of any column to sort the list by the information in that column.
You can select one or more jobs in the list and perform the following operations on them by using the buttons at the top of the list.
●
Print: The selected jobs are printed with the original settings. You will be able to see the progress of your jobs on the Job queue page.
●
Advanced print: The settings of the selected jobs are displayed, and you can modify them. You can save the new settings by pressing the Save button, and print the jobs by pressing the Print button.
The value of a setting is shown only if it has the same value in all of the selected jobs. Otherwise, a hyphen is shown.
●
Delete: The selected jobs are permanently deleted from the printer.
Select print quality
The printer has various print-quality options because best-quality printing requires some loss of speed, while fast printing implies some reduction in print quality.
Therefore, the standard print-quality selector is a slider that allows you to choose between quality and speed.
Alternatively, you can select from the custom options: Best, Normal and Fast. If you select Fast, you can also select Economode, which uses a lower rendering resolution and consumes less ink. It therefore increases printing speed even further, but reduces print quality. Economode can be selected only from the custom options (not from the slider).
There are also two supplementary custom options that may have an effect on print quality: Max.
resolution and Unidirectional. See
High-quality printing on page 84 .
NOTE:
In the Windows driver dialog, the rendering and printing resolutions for your job are displayed in the Paper/Quality tab. In the Mac OS Print dialog, they are displayed in the
Summary panel.
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You can select print-quality options in the following ways:
●
In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Paper/Quality tab and look at the Print Quality section. If you select Standard Options, you will see a simple slider with which you can select speed or quality. If you select Custom Options, you will see the more specific options described above.
● In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: go to the Image Quality panel. If you select
Standard quality options, you will see a simple slider with which you can select speed or quality. If you select Custom quality options, you will see the more specific options described above.
● In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: go to the Paper/Quality panel and look at the Quality Options section. If you select Standard quality options, you will see a simple slider with which you can select speed or quality. If you select Custom quality options, you will see the more specific options described above.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Basic settings > Print
quality. If you then select Standard options, you can choose between Speed and Quality.
If you select Custom options, you will see the more specific options described above.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon
quality.
, then Printing preferences > Print
NOTE:
If you have set the print quality from your computer, that overrides the print-quality setting in the front panel.
NOTE:
You cannot change the print quality of pages that the printer is already receiving or has already received (even if they have not started to print yet).
Print a draft
You can specify fast draft-quality printing in the following ways:
●
In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Paper/Quality tab and look at the Print Quality section. Move the print-quality slider to the extreme left ('Speed').
●
In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: go to the Image Quality panel and move the printquality slider to the extreme left ('Speed').
●
In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: go to the Paper/Quality panel and move the print-quality slider to the extreme left ('Speed').
● On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Basic settings > Print
quality > Standard options > Speed.
You can specify even faster draft-quality printing by using Economode, as follows. This is intended mainly for documents containing only text and line drawings.
●
In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Paper/Quality tab and look at the Print Quality section. Select Custom Options, then set the quality level to Fast and check the Economode box.
● In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: go to the Image Quality panel and set the quality options to Custom, then set quality to Fast and check the Economode box.
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●
In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: go to the Paper/Quality panel and set the quality options to Custom, then set quality to Fast and check the Economode box.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Basic settings > Print
quality > Custom. Set Quality level to Fast, and Economode to On.
High-quality printing
You can specify high-quality printing in the following ways:
● In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Paper/Quality tab and look at the Print Quality section. Move the print-quality slider to the extreme right ('Quality').
●
In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: go to the Image Quality panel and move the printquality slider to the extreme right ('Quality').
●
In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: go to the Paper/Quality panel and move the print-quality slider to the extreme right ('Quality').
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Basic settings > Print
quality > Standard options > Quality.
Printing is bidirectional by default (the printheads print when travelling in both directions across the paper), but you can choose Unidirectional printing for a further small improvement in quality at the expense of speed. This option is not available if you have chosen Fast print quality.
If you have a high-resolution image
If your image has a resolution greater than the rendering resolution (which you can see in the driver's
Paper/Quality tab under Windows), print sharpness may be improved by selecting the Max.
resolution option. This option is available only if you are printing on glossy paper and you have selected Best print quality.
●
In the driver dialog (Mac OS Print dialog): select custom instead of standard print-quality options, then check the Max. resolution box.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Basic settings > Print
quality > Custom. Set Quality level to Best, and Max. resolution to Yes.
NOTE:
The Max. resolution option results in slower printing with photo papers, but it does not increase the amount of ink used.
Select paper size
The paper size can be specified in the following ways.
NOTE:
The paper size specified here should be the paper size in which the document was created. It
is possible to rescale the document to a different size for printing. See Rescale a print on page 86 .
● In the Windows driver dialog: select the Paper/Quality tab, then select your paper size from the Document Size list.
●
In the Mac OS Page Setup dialog: select your printer in the Format for popup menu, then
Paper Size.
NOTE:
If your application offers no Page Setup dialog, please use the Print dialog.
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●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings >
Paper > Page size > Standard.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon
Paper options > Select paper size.
, then Printing preferences >
NOTE:
If you have set the paper size from your computer, that overrides the paper size setting in the front panel.
NOTE:
If you have disabled skew checking, the paper length is estimated as four times the width.
TIP:
If your document is 330 × 483 mm (13 × 19 in), designed to fit on sheet paper of the same size, select the document size Super B/A3.
Custom paper sizes
To choose a non-standard paper size not shown in the list of paper sizes:
●
Under Windows, there are two different ways:
◦
In the driver dialog, press the Custom button in the Paper/Quality tab, then specify the name and the dimensions of your new paper size, then click Save to save your new paper size. In the PostScript driver, to see your new custom size in the list of custom sizes, you need to exit the printer properties, then reenter them (and use the More button if necessary).
NOTE:
The driver will not allow you to create a paper size whose width exceeds its length.
◦ From the Start menu, select Printers, then from the File menu select Server Properties.
In the Forms tab, check the Create a new form box, specify the name and dimensions of the new form, then click Save Form.
NOTE:
Such forms are not available when using a shared printer that is connected to a different computer.
●
In the Mac OS Page Setup dialog: select Paper Size > Manage Custom Sizes.
NOTE:
If your application offers no Page Setup dialog, please use the Print dialog.
● On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings >
Paper > Page size > Custom.
Select margins options
By default, the printer leaves a 5 mm (0.2 in) margin between the edges of your image and the edges of the paper. However, you can change this behavior in several ways.
● In the Windows driver dialog: select the Paper/Quality tab and then the Margins/
Layout button.
TIP:
In the Windows PostScript driver, make sure you have made the right choice from the
Document size list. You should select a 'no margins' document size if you intend to use the
Oversize, Clip Contents By Margins or Borderless options.
●
In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: select the Finishing panel and then Layout.
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85
●
In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: select the Margins/Layout panel.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings >
Paper > Layout/Margins.
You will then see at least some of the following options.
NOTE:
Under Mac OS, the available margins options depend on the paper size selected in the Page
Setup dialog. For instance, for borderless printing you must select a paper size name that includes the words “no margins”.
●
Standard. Your image will be printed on a page of the size you have selected, with a narrow margin between the edges of the image and the edges of the paper. The image should be small enough to fit between the margins.
● Oversize. Your image will be printed on a page slightly larger than the size you have selected. If you cut off the margins, you will be left with a page of the size you selected, with no margins remaining between your image and the edges of the paper.
●
Clip Contents By Margins. Use this option when your image has white borders and a size equal to that of the paper you have selected. The printer will use the white border for its margins and you will get a page of size equal to that which is selected in the driver.
●
Borderless. Your image will be printed on a page of the size you have selected, with no margins. The image is slightly enlarged to ensure that no margin is left between the edges of the image and the edges of the paper. If you select Automatically by Printer, this enlargement is done automatically. If you select Manually in Application, you should ensure that the image size in your application is slightly larger than the paper size.
Print on loaded paper
To print a job on whichever paper is loaded in the printer, select Any in the Paper Type option of your printer driver.
●
In the Windows driver dialog: select the Paper/Quality tab, then select Any in the Paper
Type drop-down list.
●
In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: select the Image Quality panel, then select Any in the Paper Type drop-down list.
● In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: select the Paper/Quality panel, then select
Any in the Paper Type drop-down list.
NOTE:
Any is the default Paper Type selection.
Rescale a print
You can send an image to the printer at a certain size but tell the printer to rescale it to a different size
(normally larger). This may be useful if your software does not support large formats.
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You can rescale an image in the following ways:
●
In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Features tab and look at the Resizing Options section.
◦
The Print document on option adjusts the image size to the paper size you have selected.
For example, if you have selected ISO A2 as the paper size and you print an A3-sized image, it is enlarged to fit the A2 paper. If the ISO A4 paper size is selected, the printer reduces a larger image to fit the A4 size.
◦ The % of actual size option enlarges the printable area of the original paper size (the page minus the margins) by the percentage indicated, then adds the margins to create the output paper size.
●
In the Mac OS Print dialog: select the Finishing panel, then Print document on to adjust the image size to the paper size you have selected. For example, if you have selected ISO A2 as the paper size and you print an A3-sized image, it is enlarged to fit the A2 paper. If the ISO A4 paper size is selected, the printer reduces a larger image to fit the A4 size.
● On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings >
Resizing.
◦ The Standard and Custom options adjust the image size to the standard or custom paper size you have selected. For example, if you have selected ISO A2 as the paper size and you print an A3-sized image, it is enlarged to fit the A2 paper. If the ISO A4 paper size is selected, the printer reduces a larger image to fit the A4 size.
◦ The % of actual size option enlarges the printable area of the original paper size (the page minus the margins) by the percentage indicated, then adds the margins to create the output paper size.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon
Paper options > Resize.
, then Printing preferences >
If you are printing to a single sheet, you must ensure that the image can actually fit onto the sheet, otherwise the image will be clipped.
Preview a print
Previewing a print on the screen allows you to check the layout of the print before printing, which may help you to avoid wasting paper and ink on a bad print.
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87
NOTE:
If you load sheet paper with skew checking disabled, the printer does not measure the length of the sheet, so the print preview will not be a reliable guide to the final printout.
● To preview a print under Windows, you have the following options:
◦ Use your application's print preview option.
◦ Check the Show preview before printing option, which you can find in the driver's
Paper/Quality tab and Features tab. The preview may be provided in different ways, depending on your printer and printer driver.
●
To preview a print under Mac OS, you have the following options:
◦
Use your application's print preview option.
◦
Click the Preview button at the bottom of the Print dialog box. This is the basic print preview provided by Mac OS.
◦
Check the Show print preview option, which you can find in the driver's Printing dialog, in the Finishing panel.
●
To preview a print using the Embedded Web Server, select Basic settings > Hold for
preview.
Print 16-bit color images
In a 16-bit RGB image, each of the three primary colors is encoded by a 16-bit value, so that each pixel takes up 48 bits.
If you print your 16-bit color images through a printer driver, they will be reduced to 8-bit colors before they reach the printer.
In order to send a 16-bit color image to the printer, you must save it as a 16-bit color TIFF or JPEG file,
then send the file directly to the printer without using a printer driver (see Using the Embedded Web
Server to print files on page 81 ). In this case, color management is done on the 16-bit color image,
and is therefore done more accurately. The image is still reduced to 8-bit colors for final printing.
TIP:
Some applications refuse to save a 16-bit color image in JPEG format; others automatically reduce it to 8-bit colors. A TIFF file generally gives a higher-quality result, and is recommended.
Change the treatment of overlapping lines
NOTE:
This topic applies only when printing an HP-GL/2 job.
The merge option controls the overlapping lines in an image. There are two settings:
●
Off: where the lines cross, only the color of the top line is printed. This is the default setting.
●
On: where the lines cross, the colors of the two lines merge.
To turn merge on, go to the front panel and select the Setup menu icon , then Printing
preferences > HP-GL/2 options > Enable merge. You can set the merge option from your software in some applications. Settings in your software override the front-panel settings.
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Print crop lines
Crop lines indicate where the paper should be cut to reduce it to your selected page size. You can print crop lines automatically with individual jobs in the following ways:
● In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab, then Enable crop lines.
●
In the Mac OS Print dialog: go to the Finishing panel and select Enable crop lines.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings > Roll
options > Enable crop lines.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon
Paper options > Enable crop lines > On.
, then Printing preferences >
To print crop lines with nested jobs (see Nest jobs to save paper on page 92 ), you must select a
different option:
●
In the Embedded Web Server: select Job management > Use crop lines when nest
is enabled > On.
●
Using the front panel: select the Setup menu icon
options > Enable crop lines > On.
, then Job management > Nest
Rotate an image
By default, images are printed with their shorter sides parallel to the leading edge of the paper, like this:
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You may wish to rotate your images by 90 degrees in order to save paper, like this:
Print crop lines
89
You can do this in the following ways:
●
In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab, then Rotate by 90 degrees.
● In the Mac OS Print dialog: go to the Finishing panel and select Rotate by 90 degrees.
● On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings > Roll
options > Rotate.
●
In the front panel: select the Setup menu icon , then Printing preferences > Paper
options > Rotate.
NOTE:
If rotation is set from your computer, it overrides the setting in the front panel.
NOTE:
When you rotate a job, the page length may be increased to avoid clipping, because the top and bottom margins are usually larger than the side margins.
NOTE:
If you rotate an image to landscape whose original orientation was portrait, the paper may not be wide enough for the image. For example, rotating a portrait D/A1-size image on D/A1-size paper by 90 degrees will probably exceed the width of the paper. If you are using the Embedded
Web Server, the preview screen will confirm this with a warning triangle.
Autorotate
The Autorotate option automatically rotates jobs by 90 degrees if doing so will save paper.
Autorotation allows you to defer the decision of rotating a page until printing time. This may be useful if you routinely work with different roll sizes and want to ensure that plots will not get clipped or waste unnecessary paper width if and when roll conditions change.
To enable autorotation:
● In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab, then Autorotate.
●
In the Mac OS Print dialog: go to the Finishing panel and select Autorotate.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings > Roll
options > Autorotate.
●
In the front panel: select the Setup menu icon , then Job management > Autorotate.
NOTE:
If autorotation is set from your computer, it overrides the setting in the front panel.
NOTE:
If autorotation is enabled, the Rotate option is ignored.
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NOTE:
The autorotate decision requires known page dimensions. Therefore, the job must have
When to Start Printing set to After Processing (see
Select when to print a job in the queue on page 114
) and cannot have variable dimensions, which happens when Fit to roll or Remove
top/bottom blank areas is used.
TIP:
Once the job is rendered and ready for reprints, autorotation may take a few minutes, depending on job dimensions and resolution. To speed up autorotated reprints, send the job to render when the roll configuration meets your planned scenario, and leave last-minute autorotation only to correct unexpected changes in roll conditions. This applies to TIFF/JPEG/PS/PDF jobs only.
Print in gray shades
You can convert all colors in your image to shades of gray in the following ways:
●
In your application program: many programs provide this option.
● In the Windows driver dialog: go to the Color tab and look at the Color Options section.
Select Print in Grayscale.
● In the Mac OS X 10.4 Print dialog: go to the Color Options panel and select Print In
Grayscale.
● In the Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 Print dialog: go to the Color Options panel and select
Grayscale from the Mode drop-down list.
●
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Color > Color/Grayscale >
Print in grayscale.
Use paper economically
Here are some recommendations for making economical use of paper:
●
If you are printing relatively small images or document pages, you can use nesting to print them side by side instead of one after another. See
Nest jobs to save paper on page 92
.
●
If you are printing multipage documents with relatively small pages, you can print up to 16 of them on one sheet of paper. Use the Pages per sheet option in the Features tab (Windows driver) or the Layout panel (Mac OS driver).
●
You may be able to save some roll paper by using the following options:
◦
In the Windows driver dialog: select the Features tab and then Remove Top/
Bottom Blank Areas and/or Rotate by 90 degrees or Autorotate.
◦
In the Mac OS Print dialog: select the Finishing panel, then Remove Top/Bottom
Blank Areas and/or Rotate by 90 degrees or Autorotate.
◦
On the Embedded Web Server's Submit Job page: select Advanced settings >
Roll options > Remove top/bottom blank areas and/or Rotate.
●
If you check the print preview on your computer before printing, you can sometimes avoid wasting
paper on prints containing obvious mistakes. See Preview a print on page 87
.
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91
Nest jobs to save paper
Nesting means automatically printing images or document pages side by side on the paper, rather than one after the other. This is done to avoid wasting paper.
1.
Direction of paper flow
2.
Nesting off
3.
Nesting on
4.
Paper saved by nesting
When does the printer try to nest pages?
When Nest is On in the front panel's Job Management menu and the Embedded Web Server's Job
Management page.
What pages can be nested?
All pages can be nested, unless they are so large that two of them cannot fit side by side on the roll, or unless there are too many of them to fit into the remaining length of the roll. A single group of nested pages cannot be split between two rolls.
Which pages qualify for nesting?
In order to be in the same nest, the individual pages must be compatible in all of the following ways:
●
All pages must have the same print quality setting (Economode, Fast, Normal or Best).
●
The Max. resolution and Unidirectional setting must be the same on all pages.
● The Margins setting must be the same for all pages.
●
The Mirror Image setting must be the same for all pages.
●
The Cutter setting must be the same for all pages.
●
The color adjustment settings must be the same for all pages. See Color-adjustment options on page 105 .
●
Pages must be all color, or all grayscale: not some in color and some in grayscale.
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●
All pages must be in one or other of the following two groups (the two groups cannot be mixed in the same nest):
◦ CALS/G4
◦ PostScript, PDF, TIFF, JPEG
● JPEG, TIFF and CALS/G4 pages with resolutions greater than 300 dpi may not nest with other pages in some cases.
How long does the printer wait for another file?
So that the printer can make the best nest possible, it waits after a file has been received to check whether a subsequent page will nest with it or with pages already in the queue. This waiting period is the nest wait time; the factory default nest wait time is two minutes. This means that the printer waits for up to two minutes after the last file is received before printing the final nest. You can change this waiting time from the printer's front panel: select the Setup menu icon , then Job management
options > Nest options > Select wait time. The available range is 1 to 99 minutes.
While the printer is waiting for nesting to time out, it displays the remaining time on the front panel.
You can print the nest (cancel the nest wait) by pressing the Form feed and cut key.
Use ink economically
Here are some recommendations for making economical use of ink.
●
For draft prints, use plain paper and move the print-quality slider to the left end of the scale
('Speed'). For further economy, select custom print quality options, then select Fast and
Economode.
●
Clean the printheads only when needed, and clean only those printheads that need cleaning.
Cleaning the printheads can be useful, but it uses ink.
●
Leave the printer permanently turned on so that it can maintain the printheads in good condition automatically. This regular printhead maintenance uses a small amount of ink. However, if it is not done, the printer may need to use much more ink later to restore the health of the printheads.
●
Wide prints make more efficient use of ink than narrow prints, because printhead maintenance uses some ink, and its frequency is related to the number of passes made by the printheads.
Therefore, nesting jobs can save ink as well as saving paper (see
Nest jobs to save paper on page 92
).
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