Hello!

I have free access to a Canon 6000s and I'm trying to print book pages with Entrada Rag Bright. The paper profile is creating a zebra stripe border to prevent borderless printing. However, it's uneven on the short edges of the paper. So even "centering" the print, it's still too far up on each side, putting them out of alignment on both sides of the page.

How can I defeat this border? Nothing goes remotely to the edge of the page.

I'm printing out of Photoshop 2020 on a PC.

I'd post screenshots but I do not see the option to do so.

Thank you.

Robbin,
The Canon wide format printers will only print borderless on roll paper. On sheets, they require a 1" leading margin to insure the paper lays flat, which is why you can't center your print. For printing sheets, I would recommend using a smaller desktop photo printer, or using larger sheets in the 6000S which you can cut down after printing to the size required.

Unfortunately this maker space does not have smaller printers.

I do not want borderless prints.

My images are 6x12 in the middle of 13x19 sheets.

There is no way for a human to defeat the margins when they know its not a problem? Or at least make the margins EVEN so the image is on the same spot on both sides?

is there any way to know what these margins are so I can adjust my layout?

For details on the margin dimensions you’ll have to check the printer manual or other documentation.

You can work around the asymmetrical margins to create a centered print: photoshop’s ‘center image’ option places your image centered within the margins, not on the sheet. To override this, you will have to figure out the large margin dimension and manually adjust the top or left margin. For example:

If the 3 smaller margins are 0.2 inches, and the large margin is 1 inch, you would have to move your image 0.8 inches (1-0.2) toward the large margin to center it.

Robbin, I print on a Pro-4000, and I believe it has the same print area restrictions as the 6000S. If you do a Google search for Canon 6000S paper margins and choose the result from support.usa.canon dealing with print area, you will see the margins for both roll and sheet media. For sheet media, the top and side margins are given as 3mm, or 0.2 inches. Since 3 mm is really 0.118 inches, I use that value (not 0.2) in my position calculations. I print from the current Windows 10 Photoshop using the Canon driver. In the Position and Size section of the print dialog one can uncheck the Center option and specify a Top and Bottom value. If you supply 0 inches for each of these, the image will be printed 0.118 (3 mm) from the left edge of the paper and 0.118 (3 mm) from the top of the paper. Your post said a 6x12 image centered on a 13x19 sheet. Such a centered 6x12 image would have 3.5 inches of whitespace all around. If you allow the print dialog to Center the image, it will be centered WITHIN THE PRINTABLE AREA. As you have observed, this is not the result you want. Instead, uncheck the Center box and supply 3.382 (3.5 - 0.118 = 3.382) inches for the Top and Left positions. To generalize this, the position values one supplies in the driver are relative to the PRINTABLE AREA on the sheet, not the edges of the sheet. Since the printable area is offset 0.118 inches from the left and top edges, you must subtract this amount from the position values you really want. I've successfully printed ganged double-sided greeting cards on 17x22 inch paper on my PRO-4000. This was wordy, but I hope it helps.

@John

Thank you, I think my head is going to explode, but thanks. :-)

As support says, I have a larger margin on the leading edge so that is what's making me scratch my head on the math. I wish I could post screen shots!

Robbin, I just read your original post more carefully. I'm assuming the 'zebra stripe border' you mention is what you see in the print dialog box. This is the driver's mechanism for showing you the printable area on the paper. Since you say it's uneven on the short edges of the paper, I assume you are loading the 13x19 sheets along the 13 inch side. The zebra stripe at the top and sides is 0.118 (3 mm) wide, and the larger zebra stripe area at the bottom is 0.787.inches (20 mm) wide. The printer will not print within 0.118 inches of the leading edge (the edge that comes out first from the printer), nor will it print on the trailing 0.787 inches.

As the support person says, if you check Center in the print dialog, the driver will center the image within that asymmetrical print area. That choice is of no use to anyone.

Instead you must uncheck the Center box, and instruct the driver exactly where to place your image on the page. The key is to realize that whatever Top and Left values you specify to the print driver are relatIve to the edge of the printable area, not relative to the edge of the paper. For example, if you specify 0 for the Top and Left values, the printed image will be positioned 0.118 inches from the top (leading) edge and left edge of the paper.

To obtain a print with top and left margins of the 3.5 inches I understand you to want, you must subtract the 'zebra stripe' width of 0.118 inches and specify the calculated 3.382 inches for the driver's Top and Left position values. The driver will position your print 3.382 inches from the 'zebra stripe' area that is 0.118 inches wide, with the desired result that the print is 3.5 inches from the top (and left) edge. The wide 'zebra stripe' area is irrelevant to your calculations, since it is on the trailing edge of the paper.

You're certainly right about a visual being the easiest way to present both the problem and the solution. Alas...

The above problem is why RIPs exist. Raster Image Programs such as Image Print will do all these calculations for you and truly center the page with one click. Or place your image wherever you want it. Way easier but expensive.