PUB: Check Layout Doesn't Warn Objects Are in Unprintable Region (132300)

SYMPTOMS

Publisher for Windows 95 installs a generic printer driver (the Microsoft Publisher Color PostScript driver) for color PostScript printers. When you use this driver, Publisher's Check Layout command may not correctly warn you if you have placed objects too close to the edge of the page to print (in the "unprintable region").

CAUSE

When you use this driver with certain color PostScript printers, the unprintable region information in the driver may not match the actual unprintable region of the printer. The MS Publisher Color PostScript printer driver uses the following values for its unprintable region:

   Left:    .31 inch
   Right:   .42 inch
   Top:     .25 inch
   Bottom:  .76 inch

Many Tektronix and QMS color PostScript printers have different unprintable regions than these.

NOTE: The printer driver does not control a printer's actual unprintable region. A printer's unprintable region is determined by the physical construction of the printer. The layout checker uses the unprintable region information in the printer driver only to warn you if anything in your publication might not print entirely.

RESOLUTION

If you are relying on Publisher's Check Layout command to make sure that all objects on your page will print entirely, you should install a driver for the specific printer that you want to use.

If there is no specific Windows 95 printer driver for your printer, you can change the unprintable region information in the MS Publisher Color PS printer driver to match the actual unprintable region of your printer by doing the following:

Find out what the actual unprintable region of your printer is. You can usually find this out from the printer's documentation. If the documentation does not have this information, or if you do not have the printer's documentation, you can do the following:
1. Create a blank page in Publisher.
2. Draw a rectangle that is larger than the blank page.
3. Fill the rectangle with a color or a pattern.
4. Print the page to the specific printer.
5. Use a ruler to measure how close the color or pattern prints to the edge of the paper on all sides.
Go to the Properties Sheet for the MS Publisher Color PS Printer driver. You can do this from Printer Setup or Page Setup in Publisher, or from the Windows 95 Control Panel.
Click the Paper tab on the Properties Sheet. Click the Unprintable Region button.
Replace the listed values with the correct values.
Click Close.