Bug 111911 - Printed text is compressed (overlapping characters) if opened in versions after 5.2.5 but only with Epson printer LX-350
Summary: Printed text is compressed (overlapping characters) if opened in versions aft...
Status: UNCONFIRMED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
5.3.0.3 release
Hardware: All Windows (All)
: medium normal
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2017-08-19 15:16 UTC by Erich
Modified: 2022-07-11 14:52 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
file to reproduce bug (11.35 KB, application/vnd.oasis.opendocument.spreadsheet)
2017-08-19 15:27 UTC, Erich
Details
Hardcopy where you see the compressed text (119.38 KB, image/jpeg)
2017-08-19 15:34 UTC, Erich
Details
It looks this way with OpenOffice 6.0.2.1 (50.35 KB, image/jpeg)
2018-04-05 15:47 UTC, Erich
Details
Print preview in LO v7.1.4.2 240x144 dpi (229.06 KB, image/png)
2021-07-27 14:09 UTC, Erich
Details
Print preview in LO v7.2.4.1 with Epson LX-300+II (137.70 KB, image/png)
2021-12-23 07:43 UTC, Proj
Details

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Description Erich 2017-08-19 15:16:46 UTC
Description:
When I first upgraded after 5.2.5 (I use the portableapps.cm version but I have verified it happens also using the standalone version)this started happenning :
On printing, the characters where overlapping and barely readable.
I have tried every next update on portableapps.com which were 5.2.7 and 5.3.5 hoping this had been resolved but without success.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Open document
2. Print or print preview to see it
3.

Actual Results:  
Compressed text with overlapping characters

Expected Results:
Print out normally as it did until after v5.2.5


Reproducible: Always

User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:


User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; Win64; x64; rv:54.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/54.0
Comment 1 Erich 2017-08-19 15:27:34 UTC
Created attachment 135659 [details]
file to reproduce bug

This is the file to reproduce the bug
Comment 2 Erich 2017-08-19 15:33:21 UTC
If have noticed that this only happens when the Epson printer LX-350 is selected for printing (the printer I need for this file). In v5.2.5 this did not happen, it printed fine
Comment 3 Erich 2017-08-19 15:34:55 UTC
Created attachment 135660 [details]
Hardcopy where you see the compressed text
Comment 4 m_a_riosv 2017-08-19 17:13:59 UTC
I can't reproduce.

Please try resetting the user profile, sometimes solves strange issues.
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile
Usually it's enough renaming/deleting the file "user/registrymodifications.xcu",  it affects all the options in Menu/Tools/Options, and the files "user/basic/dialog.xlc" and "scrip.xlc" are overwritten, additionally custom colors in "user/config/standard.soc" are lost.
Comment 5 Erich 2017-08-19 18:05:59 UTC
@ m.a.riosv

Thank you for your feedback. I did as you advised and then renamed the user profile - it still does the same.

As I said in comment # 2, the issue only happens when printing with Epson LX-350 ... Other printers show fine results - even PDF printers.
Comment 6 Erich 2017-10-02 15:07:14 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 7 m_a_riosv 2017-10-02 15:36:34 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 8 QA Administrators 2018-04-04 13:09:09 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 9 Erich 2018-04-05 15:42:34 UTC
(In reply to m.a.riosv from comment #7)
> Please test changing the option Menu/Tools/Options/LibreOffice Calc/General
> - Use printer metrics for test formatting.

I just tried as described with LO 6.0.2 and the result is even worse (see attached jpg)
Comment 10 Erich 2018-04-05 15:47:07 UTC
Created attachment 141143 [details]
It looks this way with OpenOffice 6.0.2.1
Comment 11 m_a_riosv 2018-04-05 20:37:38 UTC
Does it happen with a different font?
Comment 12 QA Administrators 2018-10-09 11:27:38 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 13 QA Administrators 2018-11-05 16:12:52 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 14 Erich 2021-05-27 13:40:30 UTC
Was able to find a mediocre workaround : I lowered the printers DPI setting form 240x144 (which is just right, less is really low quality) to 120x144 but text is now horizontally stretched by about 30% to 50 % (still kind of usable but not nice).

As I stated back then, this happened after version 5.2.5
To reproduce the error you have to have the driver for the Epson LX-350 installed and print out with that printer (240x144DPI setting).

I can imagine there are still a lot of folks who use matrix printers for invoices  with carbon copies and such.

By the way, this error happens even with a fresh install of Libreoffice on a different machine, so it's not a user profile thing.

Thank you for your time and efforts.

Kind regards from Peru
Comment 15 Dmitriy Siushkin 2021-07-27 08:11:34 UTC
can you update to version 7.1?

no repro in (installed epson drivers, print preview, everythng is ok)

Version: 7.3.0.0.alpha0+ (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: c5ca46e75e28ba4245d8544ca53c71fea87d1bbd
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19043; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (ru_RU); UI: en-US
Calc: CL
Comment 16 Erich 2021-07-27 14:07:10 UTC
(In reply to Dmitriy Siushkin from comment #15)
> can you update to version 7.1?
> 
> no repro in (installed epson drivers, print preview, everythng is ok)
> 
> Version: 7.3.0.0.alpha0+ (x64) / LibreOffice Community
> Build ID: c5ca46e75e28ba4245d8544ca53c71fea87d1bbd
> CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19043; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL:
> win
> Locale: en-US (ru_RU); UI: en-US
> Calc: CL

Hello Dimitry.

I have version 7.1.4.2 installed. Same thing still.
Have you adjusted the printers DPI in the preferences to 240x144 ?

Spasiva for your help

Erich
Comment 17 Erich 2021-07-27 14:09:21 UTC
Created attachment 173885 [details]
Print preview in LO v7.1.4.2    240x144 dpi
Comment 18 QA Administrators 2021-07-28 04:06:43 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 19 Proj 2021-12-23 07:43:56 UTC
Created attachment 177104 [details]
Print preview in LO v7.2.4.1 with Epson LX-300+II

I have the same problem using LibreOffice 7.2.4.1 trying to print on an Epson LX-300+II which is also Dot Matrix printer.

I used the file to reproduce to take the attached screenshot of the bug.

I also tested it on other Dot Matrix printers;
Epson LX-310, bug
Epson LQ-310, no bug

Inclunding the original report's Epson LX-350, the problem might have something to do with Epson's LX series of printers.
So, I suggest to start looking into that.

Version: 7.2.4.1 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 27d75539669ac387bb498e35313b970b7fe9c4f9
CPU threads: 2; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL
Comment 20 Xisco Faulí 2022-05-02 11:59:16 UTC
Thanks for reporting this issue.
Could you please try to reproduce it with the latest version of LibreOffice from https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-fresh/ ?
I have set the bug's status to 'NEEDINFO'. Please change it back to 'UNCONFIRMED' if the bug is still present in the latest version.
Comment 21 Proj 2022-05-05 05:29:41 UTC
I tried it again on the latest version (7.3.2.2) like you asked and the bug is still there when trying to print a spreadsheet on Libre Office Calc using an Epson LX series dot matrix printer. 

Epson LX-300+II, bug
Epson LX-310, bug
Epson LQ-310, no bug

The results are the same as when I tested it previously on version 7.2.4.1

Version: 7.3.2.2 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 49f2b1bff42cfccbd8f788c8dc32c1c309559be0
CPU threads: 2; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL
Comment 22 Proj 2022-05-18 01:58:40 UTC
I've made an accidental discovery. It's the printer drivers!

I had to reset a Windows 10 machine that had an Epson LX-310 dot matrix printer.

I installed LO v7.3.3.2 and noticed that it didn't compress the text when printing a spreadsheet. I thought that the bug got fixed with the latest release.

That was until I needed to install the official driver that was uploaded in 2015/10/19 to an official Epson website (https://www.epson-biz.com/modules/dot/index.php?page=single_soft&cid=215&pcat=1&pid=38) for the LX-310. You can only print in Letter and A4 size without the driver.

After I installed the driver the compressed text was back when printing spreadsheets.

Hope that information helps.

Version: 7.3.3.2 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: d1d0ea68f081ee2800a922cac8f79445e4603348
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19044; UI render: Skia/Vulkan; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: CL
Comment 23 Proj 2022-05-18 17:26:50 UTC
I'm not really familiar with how this works. 

You changed it to "NOTOURBUG", but the bug doesn't show up on Microsoft Office even with the drivers installed.

Is it still not a bug on LibreOffice's side? Like with how LibreOffice interacts with the driver of the 9 pin dot matrix printers.
Comment 24 Erich 2022-07-11 14:52:48 UTC
I looked at the output again today and it is still compressed.

And as "Proj" said, I too must say, I do not understand how the driver worked with LO 5.2.5 and stopped working afterwards ...
Anyway - my workaround has been printing in low-res since I reported the problem nearly 5 years ago ... 

I figure it will not be solved