Paper output size question

[`AMD tower]

Hi,

I'm trying to set up a continuous feed printing system using an Okidata 9
pin printer on an XP system with Excel 2003.
The paper is an odd size. Between the tractor pins it is 9 inches, between
vert perfs its 8 3/8 inches. But its only 4 and a quarter inches between
horizontal perfs. After you tear off the edges, etc., you wind up with a
rectangular piece of paper 4 1/4 long by 8 3/8 wide. (which is exactly what
I want)
The problem is when I go to page setup, I can't find a place to tell it the
paper size. It has 5 pre-defined paper sizes, 8 1/2 by 11, A 5, A4, B5,
and 14 1/2 by 11, none of which are even close to the size of the paper I'm
using.

Can anybody tell me how I might go about setting up the paper size?

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Mike

 

[David McRitchie]

Look at the bottom for Custom, and make your own.
Actually this is your printer driver and not Excel.

 

[`AMD tower]

Thanks David, for the idea, but there is no Custom. I was all over every
screen
in the print page setup menu, every button, every advanced, etc.
All it let me do was the ones I already listed.
I think you are correct in that it is the printer driver, and not excel
causing this. Unfortunately, I can't see how to get around it.
There must be a solution around somewhere because Okidata is
a big outfint and I'm sure I'm not the only guy in the world trying
to set a page to something other then the defaults they gave me
to pick from.
I tried searching their website with no success. But I'm on dial
up so it's tedious sitting and waiting for pages to come up, etc.,
and I quit after about 15 minutes.
Thanks again,
Mike

 

[David McRitchie]

Hi Mike,
Sorry, I think I mislead you on Custom. Outside of Excel I was told that a
certain application could not do landscape, which I had been doing all along
by switching the dimension rather than choosing the paper size since I thought
portrait only applied to how the paper went into the printer..

The indication that the size has been redimensioned would be portrait
is limited to the space that landscape could be overlaid on portrait,
and landscape limited to what could be overlaid from portrait.

Try A4 paper size setting instead of 8 1/2 x 11 see if that will switch between
portrait to landscape okay. A4 is longer and narrower than 8 1/2 x 11
If that does what it is supposed to then try changing the dimensions
on your 8 1/2 x 11 setting. Do this with Excel down, and just using
your web browser to print pages from.

BTW, is the problem only in Excel.

Send me an email so I can suggest a more practical solution for
your other (off-topic) problem. .

HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

 

[`AMD tower]

problem solved.
I called okidata's support people and they deal with this all the time.
They had me straightened out in about 20 minutes. There were two issues,
1: the custom form size that applications show in their page setup, in XP
anyway, is created in XP. Microsoft support doc # 2907 details the process.
Once that was done i could pick my defined form from the drop down menu.
2: the printer has touch switches on the front, and you have to use them to
tell the printer where the top of the form is and where the first line of
print is. Once that was done, it worked fine.

Thanks for you help,

Mike
T

Hi Mike,
Sorry, I think I mislead you on Custom. Outside of Excel I was told
that a
certain application could not do landscape, which I had been doing all
along
by switching the dimension rather than choosing the paper size since I
thought
portrait only applied to how the paper went into the printer..

The indication that the size has been redimensioned would be portrait
is limited to the space that landscape could be overlaid on portrait,
and landscape limited to what could be overlaid from portrait.

Try A4 paper size setting instead of 8 1/2 x 11 see if that will
switch between
portrait to landscape okay. A4 is longer and narrower than 8 1/2 x 11
If that does what it is supposed to then try changing the dimensions
on your 8 1/2 x 11 setting. Do this with Excel down, and just using
your web browser to print pages from.

BTW, is the problem only in Excel.

Send me an email so I can suggest a more practical solution for
your other (off-topic) problem. .

HTH,
David McRitchie, Microsoft MVP - Excel [site changed Nov. 2001]
My Excel Pages: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
Search Page: http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/search.htm

Thanks David, for the idea, but there is no Custom. I was all over every
screen
in the print page setup menu, every button, every advanced, etc.
All it let me do was the ones I already listed.
I think you are correct in that it is the printer driver, and not excel
causing this. Unfortunately, I can't see how to get around it.
There must be a solution around somewhere because Okidata is
a big outfint and I'm sure I'm not the only guy in the world trying
to set a page to something other then the defaults they gave me
to pick from.
I tried searching their website with no success. But I'm on dial
up so it's tedious sitting and waiting for pages to come up, etc.,
and I quit after about 15 minutes.
Thanks again,
Mike