Expert: Amy - 2/20/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I'm trying to print onto a 3.5x5 card. The design I created has a border. When
I print, it prints really close to the right margin, thus leaving an uneven
amount of space on the left margin, instead of printing equal amounts of
white space all around. Also, I always make my artboard the same size as the
paper I want to print on. Is this a good idea or does it matter? I'm working in
CS2 on a PC.
Thanks for your help.

ANSWER: Hi Elizabeth,

Yes, I'd make the artboard and paper size the same, too.

Does the what comes out of the printer look the same as the position of the gray page outline when you turn on page tiling? (View > Show Page Tiling)

It should.

If it does not look right (maybe it'ss off-center), you can move the page tiling (actual page margin) around by using the Page Tool. That's a tool that hides behind the Hand tool in the palette.

You can either click and drag with that tool to adjust its position or you can double click on the tool in the palette and it will automatically position itself.

Also, you're going to want to make sure that there is no crop area and that when you print you are not scaling. You're probably not.

Let me know how this goes.
-Amy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Amy,

Thanks for your help. Yes, when I look at the Page Tiling, what is printed is
what is represented on screen, but when I try to use the Page tool to readjust,
I don't really know what I'm doing I guess because even on screen, the
margins look off - again the printable area is really close to the right edge
and thus leaving too much white space on the left margin. So, perhaps my
question has more to do with how to operate the Page tool. Thanks for your
help. Elizabeth

ANSWER: Okay, that's good that your page tiling represents what's goin' on.

All you need to do is re-center your page.

To use the page tool to re-center your page, choose the tool (which is hidden behind the hand tool, then click on the page where you want the bottom left corner of the page to be. Most likely, this is at the edge of your artboard. You can also click and drag with that tool.

Does this help?
-Amy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I think I'm being dense, but it's not working. The printable are is not centered within the artboard. I used the page tool and double clicked outside of my artboard and that moved the dotted lines around my art work, but the dotted lines are not centered within my artboard. So when I print (and I can clearly see this in the print preview box) the left margin is bigger than the right margin. Does any of this have to do with not having a Post Script printer (I have an HP) What is PPD? Thanks again for your patience.

Answer
You have to manually center the printable area where you want it. Double clicking it places it where the printer "wants" it.

Choose the page tool, Click once on the spot where you want the LOWER LEFT CORNER of the printable area to be.

If that's not working for you, did you know you can also move the document around on the page on the Print Preview page? Choose print, then choose the "setup" tab on the left. Place your cursor over the image of your artwork page and click down. Your cursor changes to a hand and you can move the page around. Watch the origin values on the right as you do this and see how they change. You can type numbers directly into these origin fields to get the printable area exactly where you want it. Use the little placement icon immediately to the left of the origin fields to choose the point to measure from when entering those numbers.

To answer your other question, printable area works for all printers, PostScript or non. PPD means PostScript Printer Description. Illustrator needs PPDs to be able to setup files to print on PostScript printers. Inkjets don't have PPDs but Illustrator has no problem printing to them.

-Amy