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Cannot set default paper size to A4

  • 6 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by pmcoz

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My printer uses A4 paper (normal for Australia). Printing from Firefox, Office, etc default to A4, but printing any email from TB defaults to Letter. This necessitates messing with the printer to pretend to change the paper size to Letter, and back to A4 again for the next 'normal' job.

I have changed all measurements in prefs.js (about:config) from 11 and 8.5 to 11.692 and 8.267, and also to 11.69 and 8.27 - no improvement.

I have added "print.postscript.paper_size A4" to prefs.js - no improvement.

Obviously I restarted TB after making changes.

My workaround is to remember to bring up printer properties in the TB Print dialog and click Restore Defaults. A permanent solution would be much appreciated, plus some instructions added to the Help pages.

My printer uses A4 paper (normal for Australia). Printing from Firefox, Office, etc default to A4, but printing any email from TB defaults to Letter. This necessitates messing with the printer to pretend to change the paper size to Letter, and back to A4 again for the next 'normal' job. I have changed all measurements in prefs.js (about:config) from 11 and 8.5 to 11.692 and 8.267, and also to 11.69 and 8.27 - no improvement. I have added "print.postscript.paper_size A4" to prefs.js - no improvement. Obviously I restarted TB after making changes. My workaround is to remember to bring up printer properties in the TB Print dialog and click Restore Defaults. A permanent solution would be much appreciated, plus some instructions added to the Help pages.

All Replies (6)

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What language version of Thunderbird are you using? en-US or en-GB ?

When you go to File > Page Setup > Margins & Header/Footer tab At the top does it say 'Margins (millimeters)' or 'Margins (inches)' ?

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Thanks for quick reply!

I'm not sure where to find TB locale, but in Tools / Options / Start page the Location URL string contains "?locale=en-GB". In prefs.js there are 6 instances of "en-AU", all relating to dictionaries, but no instances of "en-GB" or "en-US".

Page setup margins are specified in inches.

Modified by pmcoz

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I'm using English (British) downloaded from here:

English (British) is auto setup to use millimeters in File > Page Setup. it is also auto using A4 instead of Letter when printing.

The English (US) version is auto setup to use inches and Letter.

Options: Suggest you first try to change the size type then inches to millimeters if desired

Tools > Options > Advanced > General tab click on 'Config Editor' button

In top search type: size look for this line: print.printer_namexx.print_paper_size_type; Value = 0 Value 0 = A4 Value 1 = Letter

print.printer_namexx.print_paper_size_unit; Value = 1 Value 0 = inches Value 1 = millimeters

Note that although I'm using A4 and millimeters with these margin settings in Page Setup: Top, Left, right on 12.7 Bottom on 20.0

In the Config Editor this is the settings shown: print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_left; Value = 0.5 print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_bottom; Value = 0.787500023841858 print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_height; Value = 11.00 print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_width; Value = 8.50

I expected the height and width to change when the chnage of 'size_type', but it didn't and does not seem to effect the outcome as the printer uses A4. I have tried leaving the default as above and also changing the Values to what you would expect to be correct for A4: eg: print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_height; Value = 11.69 print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_width; Value = 8.27

however, this does not seem to produce anything any different.

The real difference is in choosing the size_type

re: I have added "print.postscript.paper_size A4" to prefs.js - no improvement. I believe linux systems use the postscript options.

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Thanks again for your reply.

At first I did not realize 'namexx' was a placeholder. I could not add new statements in about:config, so I edited prefs.js, placing the two new 'namexx' lines in correct alpha position. The lines did not even appear in about:config, so TB obviously knows an unofficial statement when it sees one.

The statements for my printer already had the correct values, eg print.printer_DocuPrint_CM205_fw.print_paper_size_type;0 print.printer_DocuPrint_CM205_fw.print_paper_size_unit;1 Still prints to Letter, although I recently found the Margins dialog for the printer, which is in mm.

Interestingly the statements for my other 'printer', PDF999, are of shorter format, despite having been system-generated presumably when it was installed years ago:eg printer_PDF995.print_paper_size_type;0

My next step was to download and install the UK version of TB 31. Problem remains the same. The new installation obviously inherited a lot of config, but it did remove my 'namexx' lines from prefs.js.

Maybe I have to uninstall TB (and backup prefs.js somewhere else), then do a clean install of the UK version. A pain as I have a number of identities, although I see they are in prefs.js (searching on identity), so maybe I can paste them in after.

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re: namexx' where this was written, this refers to the name of your printer. For example in my case 'namexx' = EPSON_SX510W_Series: eg: print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_size_type;0 and printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_size_type;0

which means both the command from Thunderbird and the printer itself are set to use A4.

I also have an older printer which i used to use, but do not use now and there is an entry: printer_EPSON_Stylus_CX6400.print_paper_size_type;0 but this printer does NOT have this next line - because it is not set up as default printer; so not used: print.printer_EPSON_Stylus_CX6400.print_paper_size_type;0 So only the default used printer will have a line like the above.

The following lines are all the entries for my current default printer. You should have probably the same except that the printer name will be: DocuPrint_CM205_fw and not what I have: EPSON_SX510W_Series

So you could work through each of your entries and make sure you have the same as me.

     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_colorspace:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_command:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_duplex: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_footercenter:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_headercenter:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_in_color: true
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_bottom: 0.787500023841858
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_data: 9
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_height: 11.00
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_name:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_size_unit: 1
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_width: 8.50
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_plex_name:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_resolution: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_reversed: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_scaling: 1.00
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_shrink_to_fit: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_to_file: false
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0
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Hi Toad-Hall,

A few differences, most of them trivial, I think:

print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_margin_bottom: 0.5, not 0.787...

print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_data: 1, not 9. (In my config, my two current printers are set to 1, and all my old disused printers were set to 9. I;m surprised to see your setting of 9 for this item.)

print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_paper_height: 11.69, not 11.00

print.printer_EPSON_SX510W_Series.print_shrink_to_fit: true, not false (I think mine may be wrong, since scaling is set to 1.00, and shrinking doesn't make sense).

And finally I have an extra line not in your config: print.printer_DocuPrint_CM205_fw.print_to_filename; This is redundant given print_to_file is false, but it appears for every printer, past and present.

But apart from print_paper_data, pehaps, I can't see anything which would cause my problem.