Printing two Pages in one Page

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NixName
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Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Hello!

Please look attached files:
In Version 5 two pages can print to one page in correct order (1 is left, 2 is right).
In Version 6 the order is incorrect (2 is left, 1 is right).

What is to do?

Thanks!
Attachments
PDF-XChange6.pdf
In Version 6 the order of two pages is incorrect (2 is left, 1 is right).
(91.95 KiB) Downloaded 126 times
PDF-XChange5.pdf
In Version 5 two pages can print to one page in correct order (1 is left, 2 is right).
(66.84 KiB) Downloaded 126 times
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Nix,

Please click on the "Properties" button next to the printer name, and change the paper to Landscape format. You will then be able to use "Horizontal" and "Horizontal Reversed" to switch between page 2 and page 1 being on the left side.

Regards,
Stefan
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Vasyl-Tracker Dev Team
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Vasyl-Tracker Dev Team »

Hi Nix.

For your case - just use following print-settings:

Image

HTH.
Vasyl Yaremyn
Tracker Software Products
Project Developer

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NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Thank You!!!
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

In Version 5 this works with "Auto-Rotate Page". Why this work not in V6 ???

Normaly I use Printer in Portrait. Link to Spyware/Trojan download necessary to set to Landscape each time?????? :evil:
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi NixName,

Thanks for the post - It's not necessary to do this, so long as you set the following:
Image

HTH!
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Thank you.

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NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

And now Page 2 is left and Page 1 is right, as I aske first :twisted:

In my country reading is usualy from left to right. And in Version 5 it works fine. What is the Problem in Version 6 ????
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

In your document, the pages are in portrait, and you like to print two pages on one sheet while the sheet is also in portrait.

It seems like a lot of combinations are possible in the print dialog box of PDF-XChange Editor V6.320.1, via:
- page setup: print in portrait OR in landscape
- pages per sheet > Custom > 2 by 1 OR 1 by 2
- pages order: horizontal OR horizontal reversed OR vertical OR vertical reversed
- auto-rotate page in cell: checked OR not-checked

When looking at all this, I feel that the problem is in the fact that when printing "Multiple Pages per Sheet" and:
- page setup is set to Portrait
- pages per sheet is set to 1 by 2
- auto-rotate page in cell is checked
the pages order "Horizontal" is NOT correct (it shows pages "2" and "1" instead of pages "1" and "2" in the print preview)

There should be a difference between "Horizontal" and "Horizontal Reversed" and actually there is NOT.

Best regards.
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Thank you Willy!

In Version 5 it works easy and fine:
  • having a large document in portrait
  • one click to select the printer
  • one click to select Duplex printing
  • one click to select half letter printing
and the printer works only one quarter :D

I attached a Screenshot from Version 5.

I wish to have this genius tool back :roll:

Thanks
Attachments
ScanFile.pdf
(85.8 KiB) Downloaded 128 times
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Will there be a solution in next time? :?: :?: :?:

Thank you!
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Paul - Tracker Supp
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,

I am at a loss to understand how Vasyl's example is any different from what you show in your attachment NixName.

The difference between Vasyl's and Will's screen is Vasyl has 2 x 1 and Will 1 x 2. Vasyl changed paper to Landscape in the Page Set up to make it work. Is that the issue? You want to do this portrait? In the end we have a way to produce the same results.

Sorry if I am being obtuse but I honestly do not see what there is to fix here. Am I missing something?

Paul
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NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Hi Paul,

The difference is:
  • In Vasyl's screen the order is correct (page 1 is left)
  • In Will's screens the order is NOT correct (page 2 is left)
  • In my attachment the order is also correct, but it is from Version 5
I want to print in correct order WITHOUT changing to Landscape every time because:
  • I have to do this a lot of time the day (three clicks more on each Printing)
  • Why exist: "Auto-Rotate" and "Horizontal/Vertikal - reversed" when it not work?
  • I am spoiled from Version 5 (it works fine there)
Thank you!
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Is it explained enough?
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Tracker Supp-Stefan
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello NixName,

Yes it is clearly explained now, but the V5 arrangement was causing some other problems and then even switching to Landscape/Portrait more for the paper was not solving the problem - so the current logic is allowing full control in all situations (albeit with a few more clicks for your needs), while the previous one did not. That is what made this change necessary, and it is unlikely we will revert back to the previous behaviour.

Regards,
Stefan
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: the current logic is allowing full control in all situations
Ok, only the button "Auto-Rotate" do not work when selected "Multiple-Page per Sheet"
Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: it is unlikely we will revert back to the previous behaviour
So is it possible to get the button Landscape/Portrait direktly and not in the sub-window?

Or the No-Working-button "Auto-Rotate" changing to "Rotate Orientation" (when selected "Multiple-Page per Sheet") ?

Thank you!
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello NixName,

We will look at the AutoRotate,

As for having a portrait/landscape button directly in the Print Preview - it is also unlikely - but you can try to e.g. create two instances of your printer - one with landscape and the other with portrait setting so switching between the two will be one click to select the correct printer from the drop down list of devices.

Regards,
Stefan
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

It seems like PDF-XChange Editor is acting the same way as Adobe Reader DC.

And, somehow, there is still something that bothers me:

I have two pages in portrait mode and I would like them to print on paper, also in portrait mode.
When the page is printed, and I turn it 90° to the right, I would like to have "Page 1" at the left, and "Page 2" at the right.

So, in the Print menu, I select:
> Type = "Multiple pages per sheet"
> Pages per sheet = Custom > 1 by 2
> Pages order = Horizontal
> Auto-rotate page in cell = ON

At this moment, there is no way to get the pages reversed (see attached screen shots).
Attachments
Print multiple pages per sheet.zip
(406.06 KiB) Downloaded 118 times
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Patrick-Tracker Supp
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Patrick-Tracker Supp »

Hello Willy,

The "... Reversed" options do not appear to do anything when the pages per sheet are only 2. Please try creating a 24 page document, and add e.g. 6X2 pages per sheet.

Image
Image
Image
Image

You should see these options changing.

I hope this helps!
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Cheers,

Patrick Charest
Tracker Support North America
Willy Van Nuffel
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Hello,

I completely agree that "Multiple Pages per Sheet" in combination with "Pages order" works perfectly when you have to print 4 pages (or more) on one single sheet of paper.

But when you only have two pages to print on a sheet, and you like to keep the print preview in portrait style, then - in my opinion - the "Pages order"-settings are not working like it should. There should be a way to switch the two pages, just like NixName was asking in his very first post in this topic. I do not see an immediate disadvantage in this.

May I please ask what Tracker Support and Tracker Development are thinking about this?
Do you agree, or not?

Many thanks in advance.
NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: create two instances of your printer - one with landscape and the other with portrait setting so switching between the two will be one click to select the correct printer from the drop down list of devices.
Good Idea, this works for me fine :!: :D

Willy Van Nuffel wrote: There should be a way to switch the two pages, just like NixName was asking in his very first post in this topic. I do not see an immediate disadvantage in this.
Thank you Willy.

@Tracker Support and Tracker Development:
When solved the problem, is it possible to announce it here? Than I can erease my double printers.


Thank you, great support here :!: :!: :!: :D :D :D :!: :!: :!:
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,

As mentioned before, this had to be changed for the Editor because of the issues with the way that this worked in the Viewer. The way that we do this is entirely in keeping with other Readers (namely Adobe). This is the proper behaviour and isn't something that we will change, as it will cause issues for other users.

Something that we may consider to make this slightly more convenient is to add the option to set a portrait or landscape orientation directly in the Editor's print dialog, instead of forcing this to be done via the printer's settings and relying on the printer. I realize that this isn't what you want and that this is a very slight convenience, but the Dev's stance on this is firm.

Thanks,
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
http://www.tracker-software.com
Timur Born
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Timur Born »

Some things to add from here:

Editor's behavior does fit Acrobat's behavior for specifically setting 1:2 layout in combination with auto-rotation. But Acrobat offers an option to change page orientation directly from its print dialog.

Even more important, Acrobat offers a preset option of "2" pages per sheet of paper. This preset fits 2 pages in correct page order and changes the page orientation automatically (setting option for orientation does nothing then). This also is where in Acrobat the Horizontal/Vertical "Reversed" options work, even with 2 pages per sheet. So Acrobat does offer more options to print 2 pages per sheet in the correct order without diving into any sub-settings.

All that being said, there is a way to more easily make Editor print 2 pages in the correct order. You just need to set both "Reverse" (order) option in the driver dialog, the one right to "Subset" and the one below the print preview.

Image

There are two caveats:

- The "Reverse Order" option is reset every time you leave the print dialog, so you need to set it again every time you print. The "Reverse" option is not reset, though. Once Editor allows to select page ranges in reverse (like "4-1")order via its text-field this option wouldn't be needed any longer. Then again, the option to select a range of pages is reset, too, except for the value field. So the extra click is needed either way.

- Documents with an uneven total number of pages will print with a "cover page". To get around this you need to make sure your document has an even number of pages, like by inserting a blank page at the end. This is a problem with security locked documents, though. A workaround for locked documents is to just print an even number of pages and then print the last (uneven) page on its own.
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Timur,

Thanks for your comments.
Under Page Setup you can change the page orientation without having to go through the Printer Drivers' menu.
The "preset" option you mention in Adobe would effectively switch to portrait mode, but then lock some of your settings, so we've decided to not limit the settings in such a way. Yes you need to specify e.g. 2 x 1 instead of 1 by 2, or change the paper to Landscape - but then you still have full control over the page arrangement.

All settings should be remembered if you print using them, so they stey the same for the next use. Is it that Reverse does not stick even when you use it to print with it?

For me an even order of pages prints with the last one being on it's own, and pages 1 and 2 being on the first sheet of paper. Did the "cover page" effect ocur for you with the Reverse checkbox on?

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Timur Born »

Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote:Under Page Setup you can change the page orientation without having to go through the Printer Drivers' menu.
Yes, I know. But it was worth mentioning that in Acrobat's print dialog you get these options right on the main page. No idea if users need this often, I usually rely on auto-orientation (which also is the default in Acrobat).
The "preset" option you mention in Adobe would effectively switch to portrait mode, but then lock some of your settings, so we've decided to not limit the settings in such a way. Yes you need to specify e.g. 2 x 1 instead of 1 by 2, or change the paper to Landscape - but then you still have full control over the page arrangement.
Yes, but in Acrobat you get both options! Conveniently half-locked into a preset that does most things right - including page order - or manual setting of 2 x 1 or 1 x 2. I write "half-"locked, because you can still change paper orientation and you even can change page order per page (reverse or normal).
All settings should be remembered if you print using them, so they stey the same for the next use. Is it that Reverse does not stick even when you use it to print with it?
My experience is that the "Page Range" setting resets to "All" and the "Reverse Order" setting resets to not being set, even after printing. The values in the "Pages" text-box are remembered, but you have to click on the "Pages" option to reactivate it, same goes for "Current Page" and "Current View". Once you leave the print dialog you lose these settings.
For me an even order of pages prints with the last one being on it's own, and pages 1 and 2 being on the first sheet of paper. Did the "cover page" effect ocur for you with the Reverse checkbox on?
Hm, how can an even number of pages put one page alone on a sheet when you print 2 pages per sheet? Are you sure that your document had physical even pages, not logical ones that maybe fooled you? The Editor Plus manual has an uneven number of pages, I used that for testing.

If I set both Reverse boxes (which is needed for my little trick) then I get 1 page alone (right/top side) for uneven total number of pages and pages 1 + 2 for even numbers. In my screenshot I specifically added an empty page at the end of the Editor Plus manual to get pages 1 + 2 on the first sheet.

The reason seems logical: Using "Reverse Order" makes the first page appear on the last sheet, alone if it's an uneven number of pages. Then "Reverse" put it back to front, but still on its own on the sheet. That is unless "Reverse" is meant to rearrange pages on the sheet like "Reverse Order" does, then "Reverse" would be bugged. ;)
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by antmills »

This is bizzare. NixName makes a very clear and valid point in that it is surely obvious that what is required is that when one wishes to print 2 pages on a sheet, that the first page is on the left & the second is on the right. The assertion that "people asked for this" an that "having the pages in the order 1 followed by 2 would cause other problems" as the explanations for why thingas are as they are in version 6, simply does not make sense.

What fool would ask for page 2 to be on the left? .. and if the correct layout was possible in version 4 (and version 5 apparently) then why can it not be achieved in version 6?

I have reverted to the version 4 driver with my software because I cannot be doing with all the multi-clicking that is required to print 2 pages on a sheet. Please, please can you add options to enable exactly what is possible in version 4 re this. It surely cannot be beyond possibility.

Also, while I'm on this ... can you please give us back the "file save box" as it was in version 4. The version 6 box is far to big and also when one types a file name BUT without typing the file type ending, the computer sometimes fails to assume that it should have .pdf as the filer type and although you think it is generating a file it IS NOT and so (especially annoying with numerous pages added) you get no file when you look for it.

Somehow, someone has lost sight of the great features in version 4 (and 5 apparently) and they do not seem to understand what everyday users love about your software.

Please don't tell me that this is not going to happen. That is just ducking the issues and likely to discourage users from staying with this software. Please listen to these suggestions and try to incorporate them.

I live in hope!
Anthony
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi Anthony,

As mentioned above, this is done by most PDF readers so there is obviously good reason for it and it's not an arbitrary decision on our part. Here's a screen-shot of printing the Adobe JS API Reference from Adobe Reader:
Image

Solution, same as in Editor:
Image

As you can see, they do exactly the same as we do here.
Also, while I'm on this ... can you please give us back the "file save box" as it was in version 4. The version 6 box is far to big
The Version 4 dialog did not offer the quick navigation pane and reverting back to this would annoy a lot of users, as it's much more of a pain to navigate. It can be resized to make it smaller and should remember the size and position for next use.
also when one types a file name BUT without typing the file type ending, the computer sometimes fails to assume that it should have .pdf as the filer type and although you think it is generating a file it IS NOT and so (especially annoying with numerous pages added) you get no file when you look for it.
This would be a separate problem and it's best to create a new topic for us to address that there, so that the original topic is not overtaken. I would first recommend that you ensure that you are using the latest release (Version 6 Build 321).

Thanks,
If posting files to this forum, you must archive the files to a ZIP, RAR or 7z file or they will not be uploaded.
Thank you.

Best regards

Will Travaglini
Tracker Support (Europe)
Tracker Software Products Ltd.
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NixName
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by NixName »

V7 works like V6, not like the bettere way of V5 :roll:
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Nixname,
As was mentioned by my colleagues earlier in the thread,
Tracker Supp-Stefan wrote: Mon Feb 20, 2017 11:41 amthe V5 arrangement was causing some other problems and then even switching to Landscape/Portrait more for the paper was not solving the problem - so the current logic is allowing full control in all situations (albeit with a few more clicks for your needs), while the previous one did not. That is what made this change necessary, and it is unlikely we will revert back to the previous behaviour.
This option will be staying as it is for the discernable future.
Will - Tracker Supp wrote: Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:22 am Something that we may consider to make this slightly more convenient is to add the option to set a portrait or landscape orientation directly in the Editor's print dialog, instead of forcing this to be done via the printer's settings and relying on the printer. I realize that this isn't what you want and that this is a very slight convenience, but the Dev's stance on this is firm.
While we have not brought this in yet, as adding more options to the dialog would simply add more "feature bloat" to this already very large dialog, we have not completely dashed this idea, and it may still make a resurgence in the future.

Kind Regards,
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
Tracker Software Products (Canada) LTD

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Timur Born
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Timur Born »

Timur Born wrote: Fri Feb 24, 2017 5:55 pmYes, but in Acrobat you get both options! Conveniently half-locked into a preset that does most things right - including page order - or manual setting of 2 x 1 or 1 x 2. I write "half-"locked, because you can still change paper orientation and you even can change page order per page (reverse or normal).
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Re: Printing two Pages in one Page

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Timur,

Yes - Adobe does have this half automated feature - but as has been mentioned int he past - our attempts to get this right were not successful for 100% of all print scenarios, and as such we've switched to the way things are now. As far as I am aware - there are no current plans to introduce settings similar to the automatic ones in Adobe for now.

Regards,
Stefan
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