GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 501718
Print scale entry misleading
Last modified: 2010-02-20 13:01:08 UTC
[ Forwarded from http://bugs.debian.org/453405 by Matijs van Zuijlen ] When the paper size of a pdf file, and evince's paper size setting are not the same, the Scale option on the Page Setup tab in the Print dialog is misleading. Leaving the setting at 100% results in a scaling of the page to the evince's paper size. I would expect the 100% setting to print the page (and more importantly, the objects on it!) at exactly the size prescribed by the file. Scaling to evince's page size should have a separate option.
That may cause cut-off of objects... not sure what the best thing to do is... carlos?
You could display the actual scaling, but setting the default to something like "fit to page", which is 100% when the paper size is the same, but is different in the other case.
Note that with the current behaviour it is basically impossible to print a PDF in the correct size if the size happens not to correspond to the printer page size.
I have the same problem.... I use ubuntu 8.10
I can confirm this one. The standard among other PDF programs I have used (Adobe, FoxIt) is to have smaller documents print at the correct size---e.g. a 3x4" figure print at 3x4" on 8.5x11 paper. I think that if the pages are too large for the print paper, by default they are scaled.
The print dialog should show a preview where you can scale the page exactly and move it around. It should also allow this setting for each page in the document separately (if the user wishes to) since the PDF page size is not a fixed quantity. This also solves the cropping issue because the user will choose which bit to crop.
Created attachment 146073 [details] PDF of a label Here is an example of a PDF file that cannot be usefully printed with Evince.
This is really annoying. I get product label proofs (small paper size with a full bleed) and can't print them usefully from evince. They autoscale to full page irrespoective of 100% scale setting (annoying), but the bleeds run off the page and the last 1/4" or so can't be read (deal-killer) as it is in the printer's unprintable margin area. So you don't even see the full image at all (edges are cut off on 3 sides) when printed. IIRC, Adobe reader, in this situation, has several useful settings. These selections keep their state from one invocation to the next, so you can set them to what you need in you situation and forget them. 1) Scaling method : this pulldown menu has several options, including "none", "scale by percent" (with a separate % box), and "best fit" (which scales up or down as needed to fit the page, but respects margins, set separately). I think "best fit" is the default. 2) Rotate automatically (checkbox). If a landscape image is printed on portrait paper, automatically rotate the image (but don't scale) to correct. Checked by default, I think. 3) Center automatically (checkbox). Center the image in both directions (could be separate, I suppose). Checked by default, I think. 4) Print margins. Can be set to whatever you like. This allows you to position an image on the page as you wish, in a pinch.
This is one the most annoying "features" of Adobe Reader. Scales pages down to fit paper. Does evince has to copy this? In Adobe Reader you can at least set 100% and it works. Not so in evince.
I can confirm similar behaviour. When printing PDF, which objects should have precise dimensions (in my case circuit board to be processed later) the dimensions differs quite a lot.
This has been fixed in 2.29.5. There is a new print tab that allows page scaling to be set to "None", "Shrink to printable area", and "Fit to printable area". There are also options for "autorotate" and "use PDF paper size" instead of the selected paper size for printing PDFs with mixed paper sizes to printers that have all the required paper sizes available.
Thanks, Adrian, I'm marking this FIXED.