Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

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delaing
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Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Another difference of Editor vs Viewer functionality that I'm trying to discern how to replicate in Editor.

In this image, you can see Viewer's layout for a 2 on 1 printout. I know it's hard to see which end is up, so I've added an orange highlight to the text which is the top of the page.
Viewer's 2 on 1 layout.png
You can also see that the basic page rotation in the Preview pane of the Print dialog is opposing from one application to the other, which I don't so much care about; it simply makes this question a bit more difficult to explain.

Now, when I go to print the same document, Editor is taking the lower(?) half of the page and positioning it on the left-most half of the page (see orange highlight again)
editor 2 on 1 layout.png
Is there a setting that I have in Viewer, which I've forgotten about, that I need to mimc in Editor?

How can I set Editor so that the bottom-half of the page will appear on the right-most half of the page?


Thanks in advance,
Delain
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Will - Tracker Supp
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi Delain,

Thanks for the post - This subject is covered in quite some detail here:
https://forum.pdf-xchange.com/ ... 5&p=110225

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
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Willy Van Nuffel »

Hello,

By re-reading the topic, I understand that there will be no way that the Print behavior in PDF-XChange Editor (for printing two pages per sheet) will be changed (and so, would be made different) in comparison with Adobe Reader/Acrobat DC.

So, following the leader, can we still hope for the "Orientation" setting (portrait / landscape) being incorporated directly in the Print dialog box, like it is in the Adobe applications?

Thanks for taking this (at new) in consideration.

Best regards.
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delaing
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Will,

Thank you for the reference to the other thread.
Without adding fuel to the embers, I do have to say that this is a frustrating issue and makes no sense to me, either, as to why this functionality was acceptable for several versions ( or at least is functioning just fine in XChange Viewer), yet now moves into a non-intuitive mode of operation because of how other Reader/PDF type programs may behave.
I've switched off of Acrobat for that simple reason - its inherent functionality or non-versatility.

To your team:
I suggest not rationalizing a feature or an explanation of why something doesn't work more conveniently by saying "that's the way it is in most other readers". Or, your users are going to switch over to those other PDF programs since apparently(?) there is no advantage of going with Editor/Viewer and/or they aren't going to lose any functionality based upon what your team is telling them.

Best Regards,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Will - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,

It has been discussed in great detail in various forum posts over the years, so to offer a brief explanation - the Viewer's implementation was restrictive and caused issues when printing certain combinations. This is why Adobe and most other readers (now including the Editor) behave the way that they do.

With the best will in the world, this is not going to change - We are not going revert to an incorrect behaviour, irrespective of resistance. It is very rare that both the Support and Development staff here at Tracker will 'put their foot down' so to speak, especially when it comes to feature implementations as we understand that user suggestions are what help us to improve the product. This is one of those rare instances where we have to say no.

One improvement that is coming that will make this less inconvenient, is the ability to switch page orientation via radio buttons instead of them being buried in a separate drop-down menu.

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
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delaing
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

One improvement that is coming that will make this less inconvenient, is the ability to switch page orientation via radio buttons instead of them being buried in a separate drop-down menu.
When is this planned to be implemented; seems like a long time coming.

Thanks in advance,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Timur Born »

I know it's inconvenient, but until an easier solution is available I post my workaround here again:

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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delaing
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

I was not asking how to make this happen; I know the proper steps.

I was directing my post to Will, or someone else on the Tracker Dev team, to simply give us an indication of when the enhancement that he posted about is going to be implemented.

Thanks in advance,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Delain,

I am afraid that for the moment you still need to switch the paper orientation from the "Page Setup..." button.
The space in the print preview window is quite limited - so adding an option for landscape/portrait in the main window directly might be tricky to implement.

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Timur Born »

delaing wrote:I was not asking how to make this happen; I know the proper steps.
Well, two clicks can be more convenient than going to the page setup dialog first, so someone else reading here might find is useful. The answer to your question seems to be: some time, maybe.
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hi All,

Thanks for the activity in this topic.

Indeed - for the moment the paper orientation will have to be changed with two clicks through the Printer Properties... button, and I can't tell if or when an alternative solution will be provided.

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Timur Born »

One possible solution would be to have Editor change paper orientation by itself depending on the multiple page option chosen. One can always change it back later if need be (usually not).

There seems to be lots of free space around the current "Auto-Rotate...", "Auto-Center..." etc. options to accommodate for another "Auto-orientate" option.
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

My two cents suggestion for a location of radio buttons to toggle the page orientation. Where to put them? Why not with the preview of the layout itself!
orientation radios.png
Thank you,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

Hi guys,

we have V7 coming out in a few weeks. This is definitely not going to be a part of that, or likely the immediately following releases. If we do it (and this is not a promise to deliver) then it would be some builds away at best.

With the best will in the world, at some point we have to draw a line with feature requests, we simply cannot accommodate all user's needs all the time.

I don't see this as a high priority and expect the development team to see it the same way I'm afraid.

I suggest we revisit the idea in the new year.

hth
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Paul O'Rorke
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Paul - Tracker Supp »

OK - perhaps I spoke too soon.

The dev team have said they can do this, the only question is when and where to put it. That print dialogue is already very full and we are getting feedback that it is already too big for many users.

Having said that, the guys have agreed they will do it, we just do not have a commitment to when.

hth
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Paul O'Rorke
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delaing
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Ohhhh excellent! I'm already anticipating relief in the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome!!
old man approves.gif
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Thank you,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Lovely gif delaing!
Caused quite a few smiles in the office! :D

Cheers,
Stefan
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delaing
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Was wondering where this feature request is in the update/modification queue?
(see post #13 above)

Thanks in advance,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Hello Delain,

Currently the page orientation can be changed with two clicks - one on "Page Setup" and the second one on the Portrait/Landscape radio button. There will be a third click to close that window as well.

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Stefan
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Yes, I know and see #15.

Thank you,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Tracker Supp-Stefan »

Thanks Delain,

I did see that - but Paul's statement is still true - we are just not sure when this will be available directly in the dialogue rather than through the Page Setup button.

Regards,
Stefan
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by Timur Born »

Two clicks to get the correct order: Reverse Order + Reverse
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

We understand and already know the "two-click" method. Please review this post from the beginning to see how it was started and to know that we've reviewed the other comments on other posts.
Our latest inquiry is simply a question of when a feature that was already confirmed by Will Travaglini, above with
#5 - One improvement that is coming that will make this less inconvenient, is the ability to switch page orientation via radio buttons instead of them being buried in a separate drop-down menu.
might be implemented - making it more on par with the functionality already available in Acrobat and perhaps other PDF'ers.
And our suggestion for where to locate the feature in #13 seemed to move the idea from "nope, not gonna do it" to
#15 - the guys have agreed they will do it, we just do not have a commitment to when.
.

We did not intend to stir this up into another dead horse topic. If it isn't going to be implemented, fine.

Best Regards,
Delain
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

Hello Everyone,

Fret not, As Paul had promised, it is something that we intend to implement, I am prodding the devs as we speak to see about the progress on this item, but to sate your curiosity, we do have a development ticket for the matter:
#3877: FR: Page orientation setting on main print screen
As usual, no timeline can be promised, but we are working on it :)
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by delaing »

Beautiful !!!
That's all I was looking for.
What! You say you want another reward? Okay
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Re: Editor vs Viewer - Printing 2 on 1 Page Orientation

Post by TrackerSupp-Daniel »

:lol:
Dan McIntyre - Support Technician
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