Photo printing problem.. What am I doing wrong???

[Kermit power]

My printer is driving me absolutely nuts!!!

I am trying to print a series of photos. They are sized at 12.7cm x 12.7cm, and I'm trying to print them onto 13cm x 18cm HP photo paper on an HP Envy 5640 printer.

I've tried printing both natively from Windows 10 and from Photoshop Elements 11. In both cases, the preview looks absolutely fine, but when I actually print, it's cutting an inch or so off the photo. I've tried both full page and crop to fit, and it makes no difference.

Any thoughts as to what I'm doing wrong, or exactly what printer settings I need?

[Big_Dog]

Is there a "fit to page" checkbox you may have left checked? Make sure the paper size is correct too.

[Kermit power]

Big_Dog said:

Is there a "fit to page" checkbox you may have left checked? Make sure the paper size is correct too.

Paper size is definitely correct, and fit is set to "shrink to fit". The other option, "fill page" makes it look obviously too big in the preview.

[RobDickinson]

What are you printing from?

[Kermit power]

RobDickinson said:

What are you printing from?

A Windows 10 laptop. Tried both direct print and from Photoshop Elements 11.

I've even tried printing directly from a memory card on the printer, but there doesn't seem to be any way to do anything less than print across the full extent of the paper doing that, so it insists on putting a 13x18 profile crop across my 12.7x12.7 image.

[Simpo Two]

This may strike you as a too-simple too-old answer (which may be why it works).

Whenever size is critical I use MS Word, make a text box set to the exact size with no margins, insert image, print. It's millimetrically accurate.

[sgrimshaw]

This sounds a similar problem, with a similar printer.

Maybe the resolution will help you ....

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Inkjet-Printing/HP-EN...

[MysteryLemon]

Some printers simply wont print so close to the edge of the paper. You may be able to adjust margins but even with them set to zero, most printers just wont go that close to the edge.

Does your printer have a borderless setting?

[Kermit power]

MysteryLemon said:

Some printers simply wont print so close to the edge of the paper. You may be able to adjust margins but even with them set to zero, most printers just wont go that close to the edge.

Does your printer have a borderless setting?

It does, and it was selected.

The really, really annoying thing is that I managed to get it to work properly by accident one night last week, but it didn't keep the print settings, and I can't remember what they were!

I have, however, just made the discovery that it's actually cheaper, even including P&P, to get them printed online at Photobox than it is to buy the paper from Staples, and that's before the cost of the ink!

[LongQ]

Kermit power said:

I have, however, just made the discovery that it's actually cheaper, even including P&P, to get them printed online at Photobox than it is to buy the paper from Staples, and that's before the cost of the ink!

There you go - that's what you were doing wrong .....

Not sure that Staples is the least cost place to buy the paper though, is it?

I tend to use 7dayshop. Still the same issue with overall cost of course but oh the fun of doing your own prints. (When the printer does what it is told of course - which is not always with my Canon printer, especially with one of the editor applications I use. The other seems to work fine.)

There might be a printer driver issue for Win 10 - have you looked into that possibility already?

[Kermit power]

LongQ said:

There you go - that's what you were doing wrong .....

Not sure that Staples is the least cost place to buy the paper though, is it?

I tend to use 7dayshop. Still the same issue with overall cost of course but oh the fun of doing your own prints. (When the printer does what it is told of course - which is not always with my Canon printer, especially with one of the editor applications I use. The other seems to work fine.)

There might be a printer driver issue for Win 10 - have you looked into that possibility already?

You're quite right about Staples, I'm sure! I only went there because I was trying to get it done in a hurry.

It's not something I'll ever do on a regular basis anyway, to be honest. If I want to stick something up on the walls, I usually get them printed onto A2 canvas and then mount them onto frames myself. It's surprisingly cheap to do.