Hello,

I am new to Inkscape / graphic design. I am using version .48 with Windows 10 and have an Epson WF7620 printer. I also have Adobe Pro XI and Word 2013 installed.

Can someone point me in the direction of beginners tutorials to learn how to print? Every time I print, my document is either cut off or off-center (even though it looks ok on screen).

I have tried printing directly from Inkscape (both default settings and trying to change my rendering settings), and exporting as a PNG. I do not know how to export as a JPEG (or if I'd even want to do this).

Thanks in advance!

Hi flygirl,

If export to png also cuts off things, then it may be that you didn't put everything on the 'page' area or selected an ill-fitting export area (or that you hit a bug, but we'd better check for the first thing first ).

So a few things you could check for:
- check that everything is on the 'page' in Inkscape (the area that has a 'frame' on the canvas).
- check the document size (Shift+Ctrl+D to open the document properties dialog) and make sure it matches your paper size
- when exporting to png (Shift+Ctrl + E), make sure you export the 'page' area (first tab), and use a high enough dpi value for printing (usually around 600dpi)
- (try with the current Inkscape version 0.91 (there were many bugs fixed since the last one, 0.48.5 - but it is known to have some quirks on certain Windows systems, esp. with printing, and to have difficulties with certaing graphics cards affecting speed - still, it is usually quite a lot faster than 0.48.5, so I'd recommend to try it out)) You can also install both versions side by side on Win, as far as know.
- If printing directly from Inkscape still doesn't work too well (the dialog is quite sparse), then consider to export to png and print from another program (I always use the Gimp (gimp.org) for this, because its printing dialog has far more options - at least for me, on Linux).

If none of these work, then please upload your svg image, a photo of the printing result, and an exported pdf and png here. You may have to zip them before they may be uploaded.

(jpg export is not included in the program, as it's not a recommended file format for the kind of images Inkscape produces)

Kind regards,
Moini

Thank you so much Moini! I did eventually get it to print, but I had to reduce the size of my graphic on my page to much smaller than I thought I would have to.

Are there any "rules" or tips for sizing your graphic so that it always prints correctly? For example, if I am printing to 8.5 X 11, does my graphic need to be no larger than 7.5 X 10? (My printer handles borderless printing)

Mmh. That sounds strange - it's probably a bug then.
You might really consider using some other program for printing, if a whole inch is cut off on each side... :/ (and all the options in the dialog are set correctly).

As I wrote, I usually don't print from Inkscape, as that other dialog is just a lot more detailed, and I'm on Linux, too... And in most cases, I don't print at all, but create graphics for the web, or that I will then use in Scribus or some other program.

Maybe a Windows user can fill in the gaps? Brynn?

You might need to consult the documentation for your printer. Moini covered everything I can think of, from the Inkscape side. So if your printer handles borderless printing, there probably are certain options you need to set. I'm guessing....anyway that's where I would go at this point. Because if it handles borderless printing, then it seems like an 8.5 x 11 image should be able to print on that size paper/stock. Although that's just my own logic, and not because I know much about printing. Maybe in the printing business "borderless printing" doesn't mean what it sounds like, to a lay person.

There is an Inkscape extension for making printing marks, which as I understand, is what professional printers (well probably hobbyists too) use to line up their image on the page. Extensions menu > Render > Layout > Printing Marks. It seems like you would not need printing marks for borderless printing. But just to let you know about it. And another extension, which I'm not sure exactly what it does, but sounds like might be helpful: Extensions menu > Export > Win32 Vector Print.

Those extensions are in version 0.91. I'm not sure if both are in 0.48.

Also, Inkscape's printing capability isn't one of its strong points. I've heard a lot of people recommending either to export the image to PDF, and print from some Adobe product; or use Print to PDF. I'm actually not sure what the difference is there, but just sharing what I've learned from reading the forum, over the years.

Moini wrote:Maybe a Windows user can fill in the gaps? Brynn?

No, I don't print from Inkscape either. I don't even have a printer connected to my computer.