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Powerws
Participating Frequently
October 3, 2012
Question

Print image area shifted in illustrator cs6

  • October 3, 2012
  • 6 replies
  • 26604 views

I'm on a Mac working in Illustrator CS6. I went to print out of the print dialog box and after I printed, I noticed that the margins are larger on one side that the other. I re-opened the print dialog box and double clicked in the area that shows the artwork prior to print, to re center the artwork in the window, and noticed that there two dotted lines in thw window. One being the artwork, and the other is the image printable area. Well when I double clicked on the dialog box to re-center the artwork in the prinatble area, the art works centers, but the printer image area is offset, or nudged upward. When I print the margins are larger on one side and not centered. Heres the million dollar question,"How do I re-center the image area for printing so when I print, the artwork is centered?" I'm not printing boarderless. Thanks for your help in advance. I will try to include a pic if needed.

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    6 replies

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    stevesmall
    Participant
    September 26, 2023

    If the prints on either artboard don't align when printed, leave a clipping path as a cut line on artboard one, but remove the background clipping path on artboard 2. Then cut using artboard 1 when printed. It doesn't negate the misalignment, its just a work around.

    O
    Ocho3035
    Participant
    September 12, 2015

    I recently had this same problem, and when all of the above suggestions failed to fix my issue, I remembered that at one point I bypassed the Print dialog when I needed to use a legal size paper.

    (Ignore the placement settings, normally they would be set to 0's.)

    To check if you are set to some other media size you can choose this setup button ( if a pop up displays like the one above, click continue) and then select the drop down in the center of the dialog box that might say Layout. You want to then select paper handling, From there you can select your media size, or return it to us letter.When your done select Print. This will return to the default dialog print box. I hope this helps.

    treedesign
    treedesign
    Participant
    May 16, 2014

    I think that I've figured it out! I've been trying find out a way for years on how to center the image in the print dialog box.

    Under options > Placement: Make sure the x and y axis are both set to 0.

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      4rust
      Participant
      July 9, 2013

      What the OP's screen shot is showing is the printable area, (the margins) of the printer being used (shown by the dotted lines). they show the limit of how close to the edge that printer can print. the margin is bigger on one end because the printer needs to be able to grab the paper to pull it through the printer. caveat: using a print driver specific to the printer may allow a smaller margin on that leading edge.

      bottom line - if you want to print a 'centered' image, center it within those dotted lines and trim the paper, or center them on the page within the dotted lines. to see the dotted lines on the artwork select View menu>Show print tiling.

      Steve Fairbairn
      Steve Fairbairn
      Inspiring
      October 12, 2012

      As well as making use of the Page tool, try printing on one of the Borderless paper sizes.

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      PowerwsAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 16, 2012

      Thanks Steve, but borderless won't work for what I need

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      PowerwsAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 16, 2012

      No reply from Adobe and just the same old run around. What can I say!

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      Anonymous
      October 3, 2012

      Try using the Page Tool to see how the artwork "lands" on the page size ( View > Show Page Tiling ).  There also could be a hidden element causing a shift, although unlikely.  Do a "Select-All" to see if there is anything hidden.  If there is, delete it and try printing again.

      Honeyblonde29
      Honeyblonde29
      Participant
      October 3, 2012

      OMG, I am having this exact same problem (though on Windows).

      No matter what settings I look at or adjust, it keeps printing off-center, with the left margin smaller than the right. 

      I am trying to print a page of business cards (2-across & 5-up --- standard Avery) on 8 1/2" x 11" paper. 

      My illy document is exactly that size as well.  Everything is completely lined up and centered on the artboard and page.  Hit print -- off center.

      I tried your suggestion John, and the dotted line looks perfectly centered.

      Hoping someone else has the answer!  I'm about to pull my hair out!!! 

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      PowerwsAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      October 3, 2012

      Here is the shot, sorry for the quality! As you can notice, you can double click on the area to center the artwork or image, the problem is that the printable guideline area is off center. The question, how do you re-center the printable area to align the art work to it? Here is the shot.

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