Printers and A4 size
 

This might be a silly question, but I've heard that they don't use A4 size here. I'm getting pdfs in A4 - will there be any issues printing these on the Canadian non-A4 paper? It's quite important that everything remains as is, especially the margins.
Thank you.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

We use letter size, 8.5 x 11. You can set the pdf and printer to scale the printout to letter or get the sender to set their pdf print to letter size which would likely retain full integrity of the document and be a huge amount easier.

http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1006158

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Thank you so much. You're always so helpful. Hopefully the designers will be able to do this for me.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

@ foreigngirl
Don't forget to have the sheets ironed. ;)

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Well, of course! Couldn't have it any other way.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Every time someone sends me an A4 document and I print it out without thinking, I have to walk to the printer and remember which magic combination of buttons tell it to print out A4 on letter-sized paper. Often I press a button wrong and it comes out at whatever the local variant of A3 is instead.

This is such a common problem you'd think that printer manufacturers would have figured it out years ago. But I guess they'd sell less toner if we didn't have to print it multiple times to get the right output.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Your post has actually reminded me that the pdfs that I'll be getting are A3. So will there be issues printing this to the letter size paper?

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

When you choose print in Adobe Acrobat choose "Fit" in the "Paper Size and File Handling" The document will be shrunk to fit an 8.5x11 page.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

+1

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Thanks guys, but this won't make it to scale. So if I want to check that a 2cm line is 2cm, I won't be able to do that, right? The same applies to font sizes, weights, etc.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

No you be able to do any of that.

If you want your documents actual size for A3 (11.7" x 16.5") then you need a printer capable of handling 12" x 18" paper.

Then you will be able to print A3 sized documents on 12" x 18" paper actual size.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

OK, thanks. That's what I thought.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

If your Canadian printer can take 11 x 17 (double page letter size, sometimes known as Tabloid) paper, you can usually force Acrobat to print an A3 image without scaling, centering the image on the page. So long as the graphics don't go right to the very edge of the A3 sheet (which, if you're looking at drawings where you'd need to scale lines, sounds quite likely) this shouldn't be a problem.

But why are you measuring lines on a paper copy anyway? Why not take measurements from screen using the measuring tools built into Acrobat Pro X or whatever it's called today? Far easier and more accurate, I'd have thought, than scaling with a ruler on a printed copy.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Well, that's what I've been doing. Checking everything on screen. But the company I work for now wants a hard copy mark-up (yes, very 19th century, I know). So now it looks like I will have to transfer all my mark-up from the electronic file to the hard copy, which is almost like doing the work twice. So I thought that I would maybe be able to avoid doing the electronic mark-up altogether and just stick to the hard copy (which is what I did when I wasn't freelance), but looks unlikely.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

You can buy A4 paper from Staples. You might have to order it online as I have not seen it in the stores.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

http://www8.hp.com/ca/en/products/pr...927#!tab=specs Will print A3/A4 + There are also Brother and Canon multi-function printers that will do the same, cheaper.

A3 is known as "Ledger" paper in Canada.

Staples sell it. http://www.staples.ca/Ledger+printin...20051_1_20001?

:)

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

That's not quite A3, though. That's 11x17, which is a double-page spread of letter size (8.5 x 11). True A3 paper is 11.7 x 16.5 inches, slightly shorter and fatter than ledger (or tabloid). To take dimensions from a printed drawing on this paper you need to be very careful of your printer settings to make sure it's not automatically scaling the artwork to 94% of full size, by deliberately turning the scaling function off in the printer settings. A3 paper is quite hard to come by except through specialist distributors: if you really need to print a full-size A3 artwork the best option is probably to find a printer - or a print bureau - that can work on 12 x 18 (sometimes called oversize tabloid, used to print 11 x 17 artwork with a bleed allowance)

To the OP, though: if you're currently scaling the drawings on screen, why not mark-up on screen and just print out a hard copy of the marked-up drawing? That way all your dimensions will already be on it, you don't have to do anything by hand, and you don't have to worry about absolute scale on the printed copy so it will all fit on the paper. Acrobat will normally allow you to save dimensioning mark-up as you go.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

I need to use special mark-up codes, which Adobe doesn't have (let me use). I know this is so backward, but I'm hoping they will change this hard copy requirement soon, as other companies seem to have already done that.

Thank you for all the advice!

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Ah, thanks for the info!

In that case, you can get it on Amazon.ca and several other places.

I suppose a lot will depend on whether the OP's printer can print that size though.

:)

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

If you have problems, just find a local printing company, I'm sure they would be happy to cut you some paper to the correct size.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

A4 paper is available from the states. www.empireimports.com have a selection of different weights. They also carry A3 and A5. Prices start at $11.00 per ream. Epson printers have an A4 setting and the printers will accept A4 paper. HP also have a settings for A4 and A5. Epson does sell a high quality ink jet paper in A4 format but is considerably more expensive that the source in the USA.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

It's easy to get A4 if you want it, just call an office supply company and get them to cut it to the right size. I always used letter size in Europe because so much of the stuff I wanted to print off was American. Also because it is slightly wider I found it fed more reliably through the printer and the rollers got a better grip on it. A4 sometimes goes askew.

As mentioned you can usually print A3 on ledger size 11x17 paper (which is slightly narrower than A3). Just get a "wide format" printer, they'll do it. The problem I've found is that ledger size paper is less common than A3 in Europe, but you can get it. If you do a lot of it, just special order A3.

Re: Printers and A4 size
 

Have you tried Bluebeam PDF Revu for the mark ups ? I pretty much use that for all my PDF stuff as it seems a lot more flexible and user friendly than a lot of the others .
I think you can try it free for a month