How to adjust paper type in Illustrator for printing?

Question

Hi,I have a pretty cheap printer, but I can adjust it's quality by changing the paper type used. When I print from any other program besides Ai, I have the option to set the paper type from plain to photopaper, which produces a much higher quality print. However, I cannot find this option in the Ai print dialog box.I went so far as saving my Ai file to PDF, then printed from Acrobat, which allows be to change paper type, but things would be much easier if I can just find the option in Ai.I've been using a template in Ai for labels, and when I save the the file to PDF, then print from Acrobat, it doesn't print correctly on my labels. They are pretty off centered. When printing straight from Ai, they are perfectcly centered.  If I could just figure out how to set the paper type in Ai itself, it would solve all my problems. Thanks.I'm attaching the Acrobat print dialog box so you ca see what I'm looking for. Appreciate your help.

Mike_Gondek10189183 · Accepted Answer

Every printer is different but followw my arrows for the clickstream.

If that does not help, go to the printer manufacturers website, and install the printer driver, so you are not using a generic printer driver and can get to the extra options.

Brad @ Roaring Mouse · Answer

When you are printing from Acrobat, make sure that you have selected "Actual Size" when you print, otherwise your print will be reduced to fit inside the PRINTABLE area of a Standard Plain Letter size paper. For your printer the margins are probably not equal on each side (common for many inkjets), causing it also to appear off center. You can see this in the preview on the Print dialog box, and the size it will be reduced. When you select "Actual size", the preview will still show you the margins, but your inage is no longer reduced and will fit the page as expected.

However, when you print with Photo Paper, using the borderless option, the margins are assumed to be "0", so even if you've accidentally checked "Fit" instead of "Actual size", your print will be 100% centered. I suspect this is what you are experiencing.

As far as Illustrator, you just need to click into the "Setup" at bottom left of the print dialog (ignore the warning and continue) to open your Printer settings > Click Preferences to access paper size and print quality, etc.

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