PDFCreator and Word 2002 - margins outside printable area

ulillillia

Distinguished
Jul 10, 2011
551
0
19,010
About 2 years ago, I asked here regarding a PDF printer and was suggested PDFCreator. Now, 2 years later, I'm having problems with it where I get "The margins of section %1d are outside the printable area" in Word 2002 any time I try to use it. My book uses a custom paper size of 6x9 with 1/2-inch margins all around and a 1/8-inch gutter. This is well within the printable area. When I attempt to use PDFCreator, I be sure to set the paper size in there as well. Yet, no matter what I do, I always get that error and the resulting PDF is wrong. It's as if something is converting the paper size to 8.26x11.68 and setting the margins so that it's horizontally centered and top aligned based on that then, for version 1.7.1 of PDFCreator (as opposed to 1.2.3), the paper size gets reset to 6x9 (instead of the 8.26x11.68). This results in the text being cut off a lot on the top and right and a large amount of empty space on the left and bottom. Here's a series of screenshots (1920x1440 each) to explain what I'm doing:

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem01.png - The margins and gutter: nothing special here.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem02.png - The paper size: set to 6x9 as expected.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem03.png - PDFCreator settings: being sure to set the page size properly and other configuration settings. What you see here is the settings I'm using.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem04.png - Starting printing causes errors. How can the margins be outside the print area? They are clearly in bounds. This, I'm suspecting, is the root cause of all my trouble.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem05.png - PDFCreator's document properties. After allowing the continuing of the printing, this is what I see. Again, I be sure to set 6x9 as the paper size. What you see here is what I have set.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem06.png - Saving the file: nothing special here.

http://www.ulillillia.us/temporary/PDFCreatorCustomPageSizeProblem07.png - Previewing the output: incorrect margins and cropping (or, in version 1.2.3 of PDFCreator, a paper size of 8.26x11.68 with the content horizontally centered and top aligned).

Does anyone know how to fix this?
 

ulillillia

Distinguished
Jul 10, 2011
551
0
19,010
I found the solution to this - you have to manually set the paper size via printer settings in the control panel to get it to work. I've since got it working and revision 13 of my book was released more almost a month ago.