Unable to print mixed letter and legal size PDF using a Mac with Brother printer

[besposito]

This appears to be an ongoing issue for the past several years and I am still experiencing what so many others have found. There is a problem printing a LARGE (100+) PDF with mixed legal and letter sized pages using Adobe Reader on a Mac with a Brother laser printer.

I think that Adobe support has not been able to recreate the issue because their test file has only two pages. If they create a 100+ page test file with mixed letter and legal and they should be able to replicate the issue.

Here is what I have:

• I have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016) running Catalina, Brother HL-L6200DWT printer and using Adobe Acrobat Reader DC 2020.009.20063. I have all of the settings set correctly per the Adobe: https://helpx.adobe.com/acrobat/kb/print-mixed-page-sizes-acrobat.html
• I contacted Brother support as well and followed the details found at : https://help.brother-usa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/102267
• This included downloading and using the latest drivers from Brother. As instructed I tried both their CUPS driver and the BR-Script driver. 
• I have printed using both a direct USB cable and over WiFi.

When I print a large (100+) PDF file with mixed legal and letter it initially works for the first 10 or 20 pages but eventually the pages get cut off with legal pages being printed half way down the page and/or cut off. It is as though the data being sent to the printer eventually becomes "corrupted" so that it is unable to print correctly.

The only solution I have found is to run Windows on my Macbook Pro using VMWAre Fusion and printing from Windows to my printer. Doing this it works fine.

Attached is a test.pdf file of multiple mixed size pages that I used to replicate the issue.

Also attached is a result.pdf which is a scanned result from the printing showing the issue with pages being cut-off / misprinted. Note that the A4 pages are scanned as legal size, but you can still size how they actually printed on the actual paper.

Any additional help in solving this would be appreciated!

[Blue5CC4]

I am having the same issue. Paying for something i thought would make my life easier and it just made it harder. The messed up part is i am paying for the grief...Good thing NNA has a page splitter you just have to put the stack together. I am looking for alternatives. It Sucks Adobe is doing nothing about a problem that has plagued their system for years. 

No need for a renewal here. Adobe is worthless if this feature is not working properly..

[besposito]

It looks like Adobe broke the Choose paper source by PDF page size functionality again on a recent update. I finally gave up using Adobe. I am now using Foxit PDF reader from Foxit software. Its a free download. Offers the same fucntionality and just plains works.

[SubratoNamata]

Hi,

Thank you for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience caused.

We have released an update for Acrobat and Reader DC(version 21.001.20138) that contains the fix.

Please try updating the application to the latest version. In the application, go to Help > Check for updates.

For more information about the latest version, please refer to this link: https://www.adobe.com/devnet-docs/acrobatetk/tools/ReleaseNotesDC/continuous/dccontinuousfeb2021qfe.....

Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Subrato

[conne00]

I have downloaded the most recent version of Acrobat and Reader DC and tried printing a 130 page document with legal and letter pages but had the same issues the others posted here. I spent over an hour trying to figure out ways to solve this issue and ended up emailing the document to someone in the office with a PC and had them print for me. Quite frustrating that the software still does not work on a Mac.

[kennedymt]

Subrato,

The link you provided above does not work. Could you please update us on the status of this issue? None of the recent updates have solved it. Thank you!

[SubratoNamata]

Hi,

I notice that there are multiple issues in this thread and some of them are fixed. Can you help me understand the current isues you are facing? Please share your OS, Acrobat version as well? Thanks!

[defaulthlh8nvt2jeep]

When I print a large (100+) PDF file with mixed legal and letter it initially works for the first 10 or 20 pages but eventually the pages get cut off with legal pages being printed half way down the page and/or cut off. It is as though the data being sent to the printer eventually becomes "corrupted" so that it is unable to print correctly.  Using Big Sur on Mac.

[TotalFaith]

For anyone who is using a Mac, and not able to get it to print correctly no matter what you do using Adobe DC etc. I had the same issue and almost went out and bought a PC before I remembered, Macs now have intel processors. Why is that important? Go download Windows 10 Home ISO. You can get it from Microsoft, it's completely legal. Then go online and look up how to setup Bootcamp for Mac. It only takes 50 Gigs of space on your Mac, but you will be able to boot into Mac or PC. Then Download the Brothers drivers and install your printer on the Windows 10 Home and you are all set! I'm a Technical support engineer and almost sold my Mac until I thought of this. Pages print perfectly and only took an hour to configure. Also, you DO NOT have to activate the Windows 10 image. You will be pestered to activate it and limited on some areas of Windows but you CAN install Acrobat and the printer without issue. Hope this helps

[AlishaPag]

Hey Besposito,

Thank you for your advise so far on the matter. I have been pulling my hairs trying everything and nothing works. My last attempt is downloaded Parallels, like VMWAre Fusion it will help me use Windows on my Mac. How did you set it up to print mixed paper? What were your steps? It's been a long time (years) since I have used Windows so I would greatly appreciate your advise. Thanks!

[besposito]

Try using Foxit PDF from Foxit software. It resolved my issues. I dont use Adobe anymore.

Foxit PDF has a free version and has an option to select paper based on print size. They also have a Mac version.

[Brittany W, Notary Public]

I recently had this issue. It took two weeks of being told by Brother representatives that it was an Adobe issue and being reminded by Adobe's answering machine that free users do not have access to support, before I was able to get the help I needed.

Back to the point...

The issue was solved with a few steps:

1. Go to Printer Properties and look at the box that says, "Paper Available."  It should include both letter and legal. If it does not (mine was only reading Letter), check the Device Settings tab and click Auto Detect. If the column labeled Paper Size says "undefined," go to the Ports tab and see if the box checked says "Standard/TCP IP Port."  If not, click "Add Port," select "Standard/TCP IP Port" and click "New Port."  Then, type in your printer's IP address. When the Wizard opens, you should click next and that should detect the port and allow you to then click "Finish."  It will give you a list of things to check if the port is not detected (make sure you are still connected to the internet).

Now, when you go to the Device Settings tab and click Auto Detect, you should see the paper sizes set in your machine load in the Paper Size column. In essence, this fixed a break in communication between your printer and your computer.

If you can print mixed paper sizes at this point, "Hallelujah!"  I had to take a couple more steps. The next being this:

1. Open Adobe and click the Edit tab. Select Preferences all the way at the bottom of the list. Make sure that the checkbox for the first option that reads "Enable Protected Mode at Startup" is UNCHECKED. Then, close and try again to print mixed paper sizes.

If you still cannot print mixed paper sizes (I could not at this point either) go to the last step:

1. Open a browser window and type in your printer's IP address and click Enter. It will open a page with your machine's name and settings (might not look the same as mine if you do not have a brother printer so you may have to interpret things in relation to your device). My page had a Login button that required a password only. The Brother Technician typed in the password (I later got it from him, so hint to you to ask machine support if you do not know it). Then, more settings options appeared. He selected the Firmware Update option. Firmware Update should be Enabled, and you should click the "Check for new firmware" button. When it has finished updating, click the Check for new firmware button again just to be sure it is fully updated (mine took two rounds). Then Click the Print tab and confirm your paper sizes. When that is complete, try again printing mixed paper sizes.

Hopefully, this helped!

[Andre23333156qox8]

Is this solution for Windows or Mac?  I don't think this applies to Mac. Thank you. 

[Felicia27691226yfx3]

So i tried your test.pdf, it worked, page 21 was my only test page and it cut off the borders to the top half.. the same way it cuts off right side up.. What am i doing wrong?? Please assist...