BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: Printing Digital Pictures

Borderless Printing

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November 30, 2003

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November 30, 2003

First of all, the image itself should be the size of the paper you want to print on, using a combination of cropping and the menu choice Image/Image Size. (This is a whole separate issue, let me know if you need more on that!)

To print:
1. From the File menu, select Print with Preview (CTRL+P)
2. Click on the Page Setup button to the right
- from that dialog box first click on the Printer button and choose Epson Stylus Photo 1280 from the drop-down box
3. Click on the Properties button.
- On the tab called Main of that dialog box, select the paper type (many of the choices, such as photo or premium photo paper will automatically choose the settings for ink=color and mode=quality)
- Then click on the tab Paper, choose the paper source Sheet Feeder, and just below that check the box called No Margins
- Select your paper size (since you’ve already checked ‘no margins’ the only choices you’ll see are the ones the printer is capable of)
- Select Portrait or Landscape, then hit OK, then OK again to close the smaller dialog box
4. You’re then left with the Page Setup dialog box, which should now show the choices that you’ve just made. (for example, size: Photo Paper 4x6 in No Perforations; source: Sheet Feeder-No Margins; orientation: Landscape)
5. Click OK, and you’re back to the Print dialog box.
- you SHOULD see your borderless print in the preview pane
- IF NOT, but the image is the correct ratio and just slightly smaller or larger, all you need to do is check the box to the right called Scale to Fit Media.
6. Click the Print button (here you have another chance to confirm or change the Properties settings) and then click OK

An important note: these settings do not stay with the individual image file, but they remain in effect until changed. For that reason, I usually try to print all the same sizes at once, and all the portrait ones first, then the landscape, and so on.

It does seem more complicated than Film Factory, which I have also used. But Photoshop is clearly superior for all your corrections, cropping, etc. and you shouldn’t have to switch to a second program for printing. Also, I found that importing pictures into Film Factory created new copies of all the files, which can start to clutter your hard drive unless you go to the trouble of finding and deleting them.

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December 06, 2003

Joe Harper

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December 06, 2003

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December 13, 2003

Prior versions did not allow borderless printing.

Alternatively, you can try using the Gimp=print drivers that came with Mac OS X (assuming you're running Panther -- and if you're not, you should be ;-).

I've printed borderless off the 1280 using the latest drivers. What you'll see is actually multiple printers to choose from. When you select the "borderless" printer, the papers are listed for you.

-brad

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March 30, 2004