Hi Huber,

There has been some work done on this issue. 
From the top of my head, I don't know in which version it landed, nor all details, but it will be definitely later then 4.1.x 
Maybe you can try 4.2.x or 4.3.0.alpha installed parallel?
 http://nl.libreoffice.org/download/
 http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/pre-releases/
 http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Installing_in_parallel

Thanks,
Cor

Cor Nouws,

As you suggested, I installed 4.3.0.0alpha1 in parallel, but unfortunately, the behavior is exactly the same as the previous version.  The page size in the Print dialog automatically picks a close, but wrong, page size, and there are no custom page size options in the Print->Properties-Paper size drop down.

Thanks!

Updating version - our version field is the oldest verified version not the latest. We use comments to say that it still exists on a later version

Comment on attachment 99342 [details]
LibreOffice Print Dialog box

correct MIME type

(In reply to comment #0)

> There is no "Custom" paper size available in the LibreOffice "Print" dialog
> box. LibreOffice picks a paper size closest to the actual document page
> size, and uses that. This results in improper placement of the content on
> the page whent printed.

Rethinking... this should be handled by the printer driver, no :) ?!
So the Properties button on your screen print.
IMO this is a NOTOURBUG.

Pls correct me if I'm wrong!
Cheers,
Cor

As mentioned in the description, this problem only occurs in LibreOffice.  LO uses some kind of customized print dialog (at least it does in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS), and this customized print dialog does not present the opportunity to set up a custom page size.  Somehow, the customized LO print dialog is missing the option.  

Applications that use the standard system print dialog (like FireFox, Thunderbird, gnuCash, etc.) are all able to set up a custom paper size, because the the "Paper Size" drop down on the "Page Setup" tab contains a "Manage custom sizes..." choice.  This choice is nowhere to be found in the customized LO print dialog; at least I can't find it.

Chrome also uses a customized print dialog, which only provides a small subset of the printer driver options.  But Chrome also has an option to use the system print dialog, in which one can access all the features of the printer driver.  Is there an option to force LO to use the system print dialog?

I have several custom paper sizes set up through the system print dialog.  Other applications see those custom paper sizes.  LO does not.  Therefore, LO must not be reading the available printer driver options and settings properly from the system.  You are correct in stating that the print driver should handle custom paper size, and it does for applications that use the system print dialog.  Unfortunately, the LO custom print dialog is missing this feature. 

IMO, this is definitely a LO bug (after all, it only occurs in LO!), and it is not appropriate to change the status to RESOLVED NOTOURBUG, at least not for the reason you stated.

Set to NEW again

Hi Huber,

(In reply to huber.joseph from comment #0)

> There is no "Custom" paper size available in the LibreOffice "Print" dialog
> box. LibreOffice picks a paper size closest to the actual document page
> size, and uses that. This results in improper placement of the content on
> the page whent printed.

Click "Use only paper size from printer preferences" checkbox on the File > Print .. Options tab.

See
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61186
and
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/4.1#Other

So I think closing as duplicate of 67576 is appropriate?

(Note: discussion on improving the position of that option is ongoing)

(In reply to Cor Nouws from comment #9)
> Hi Huber,
> 
> (In reply to huber.joseph from comment #0)
> 
> > There is no "Custom" paper size available in the LibreOffice "Print" dialog
> > box. LibreOffice picks a paper size closest to the actual document page
> > size, and uses that. This results in improper placement of the content on
> > the page whent printed.
> 
> Click "Use only paper size from printer preferences" checkbox on the File >
> Print .. Options tab.
> 
> See
> https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61186
> and
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/4.1#Other
> 
> So I think closing as duplicate of 67576 is appropriate?
> 
> (Note: discussion on improving the position of that option is ongoing)

This solution doesn't solve the problem.  LibreOffice ignores whatever paper size is set in the printer preferences and picks whatever size it thinks the document should use.

This bug is still present in 5.4.2 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Version: 5.4.2.2
Build ID: 1:5.4.2~rc2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1~lo1
CPU threads: 4; OS: Linux 4.4; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3; 
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); Calc: group

This bug is also a problem on MacOS version of LibreOffice. Not being able to choose a paper size or orientation is a real problem. Perhaps LibreOffice could switch to using the OS print dialog box as a temporary solution to this issue.

Oh, it gets worse. I have a label printer. The OS page setup / print dialogs (Linux Gnome) display the available label sizes (from the remote printer's PPD, I presume). LO, on the other hand, only shows its standard paper sizes even when I select this printer in File / Printer Settings… . It's simply not reasonable to force the user to manually enter custom page sizes or workaround the problem via PDFs, when the OS affords reasonable page sizes to any program that cares to ask.

Using the OS page setup and print dialog boxes is not a "stopgap measure". It's the only sane way to handle printing. The times where the OS dialog was so unuseable and/or inadequate that you had no choice but invent your own are gone.

As it is now, my printer is unuseable with LO. :-(

I continue to be amazed that new versions of LibreOffice continue to come out, but this issue, which affects many users, remains unresolved.

I ended up obtaining a version of Microsoft Office that is well-supported by Wine, and I pretty much use that for everything but trivial tasks.

It is issues like this that keep LibreOffice mired as a second-rate office suite.  How hard could it possibly be to add an option to use the system print dialog (like most every other Linux app has)?

The inability to print to custom page sizes is still present in
Version: 6.2.2.2
Build ID: 1:6.2.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1~lo1

This is the latest version for my Linux distro.

(In reply to huber.joseph from comment #18)
> The inability to print to custom page sizes is still present in
> Version: 6.2.2.2
> Build ID: 1:6.2.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1~lo1
> 
> This is the latest version for my Linux distro.

That is sad. Since there is a new print dialog now, can you please describe the precise steps/settings that you make? Thanks in advance, Cor

Created attachment 151043 [details]
Write Format>Page screenshot

Created attachment 151044 [details]
Writer Print Screenshot 1

Created attachment 151045 [details]
Writer Print Screenshot 2

Created attachment 151046 [details]
FireFox Print Screenshot

Created attachment 151047 [details]
Writer Print Screenshot 3

Steps:

1. Open a new document
2. Go to Format>Page and set the page size to a custom page size, which is something other than page sizes known by the printer.
3. File>Print... to make the Print dialog appear.  Writer picks the closest page size known by the printer.  There is no place to enter a custom page size.  The page size is greyed out and cannot be changed.  Please see the attached screenshots. L1-L4.png

This is the same for all printers, and this behavior has been the same since this bug was reported 5 years ago.  

See the screenshot from FireFox.  If you need a custom paper size, it is easy to do. Please see FF1.png.

Hi Joseph,

(In reply to huber.joseph from comment #25)
> 3. File>Print... to make the Print dialog appear.  Writer picks the closest
(your screen prints are not the latest dialogs? but that's no problem.)

> page size known by the printer.  There is no place to enter a custom page
> size.  The page size is greyed out and cannot be changed.  Please see the
> attached screenshots. L1-L4.png
Nor is there an option "actual user defined size".
So yes, this definitely is a limitation. On the other hand, the printer (any way mine) does not offer the option to set a free size either..
Set to enhancement. Is here from OOo times.

Maybe UX-advice has an suggestion for a solution?

My version is

Version: 6.2.2.2
Build ID: 1:6.2.2-0ubuntu0.16.04.1~lo1

which is not that far behind the latest release of 6.2.3, but still newer than the LTS version of 6.1.5.

Both my printers allow custom page size, and custom page sizes work fine with other Ubuntu applications (such as the FireFox screenshot I showed), and with Microsoft Office running both in both Windows and on Ubuntu via Wine.

I look forward to this issue being finally addressed.

You can define a page size of 2x2" but the average printer is likely not capable of this paper size. I guess you can pick only those sizes that your printer reports. Daniel/Bubli, please proof me wrong.

proof => prove

For me, this is definitively a bug of LibreOffice. If you set a custom page size ('user') in Format > Page... > Page > Paper Format, then this page format should be available in the print dialog too.

What's the sense of a user-defined page size when you can't print it on a page (no matter on what real paper size you will print this custom page ... or maybe on PDF you can print all what you want without any real-life restrictions)?

That the print preview in the print dialog shows another pre-defined page format from LibreOffice is bad UX and disrupts the user behavior.

And as a side note, I'm with the bug opener that this is one of the countless small 'paper cuts' that makes it hard for practically-minded people to use LibreOffice in a way that makes it a recommended product for everyone 'average user'.

@Heiko: you can never know what the "average printer" for the "average user" means. Maybe s/he is trying to print some custom labels (where 2"x2" can be perfectly valid), or maybe s/he has got some insane custom-sized paper which is only a few mm smaller than the well known A4 but which is really hard to position if it is printed as A4.
And maybe the PDF printing workaround doesn't work either because it has to be printed as a brochure which the "Export as PDF..." function doesn't support. (yes, this is my current problem)

@Cor: lots of printers allow defining custom page sizes on its configuration pages, some drivers even allow this from client side.

The point is that it is OK to use a custom print dialog on such OS's where this adds or brings back some functionality, but if this hides some really useful functionality then it should be considered a bug. Even more if it is an OOo legacy.

So please accept this as a bug, and try to give some priority to it.

PS: I'm using LO v5.2.7.2 on Debian

Okay, sounds reasonable let's fix the bug => User-define page settings have to appear in the print dialog.

(Priority is up for QA but I wouldn't raise given that we have many places with this small paper cuts. And LibreOffice is Open Source so the priority is not necessarily resulting in coding effort unless a developer becomes interested in the topic.)

Created attachment 153447 [details]
Two differently sized/dimensioned pages

(In reply to Cor Nouws from comment #9)
> Hi Huber,
> 
> (In reply to huber.joseph from comment #0)
> 
> > There is no "Custom" paper size available in the LibreOffice "Print" dialog
> > box. LibreOffice picks a paper size closest to the actual document page
> > size, and uses that. This results in improper placement of the content on
> > the page whent printed.
> 
> Click "Use only paper size from printer preferences" checkbox on the File >
> Print .. Options tab.
> 
> See
> https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=61186
> and
> https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/4.1#Other
> 
> So I think closing as duplicate of 67576 is appropriate?
> 
> (Note: discussion on improving the position of that option is ongoing)

The "Use only paper size from printer preferences" checkbox seems to have disappeared from the new print dialogue form in recent versions of LO.

I have also uploaded a document with 2 pages using different dimensions, which causes some related weird behavior.
Switching between the pages in the print dialogue somehow mixes the page dimensions up in the v6.3 print dialogue / preview.

Furthermore, the width and height of landscape-oriented pages are reported to the printer driver in portrait-oriented mode. LO ignores the fact that most printers print landscape-oriented pages in 90 degrees rotation compared to portrait-orientation.

Trying to still keep this bug report alive.

I'm trying to print on 3x5 cards, using LibreOffice Write 6.3.2.2. I've defined the page size in the Format menu to be 3x5, but there's no 3x5 in the print dialog box to choose. It prints on 8-1/2x11 paper.

Projects like Chrome seem to address this problem by having a "Print using System Dialog (Ctrl-Shift-P)..." choice under "More settings" in their custom print dialog.

Thanks for looking into fixing this issue.

-Kevin

Build ID: 1:6.4.6-0ubuntu0.20.04.1

1. I can use "File" > "New" > "Labels" to create a new label.
2. In "Format" > "Page Style" the values under "Paper Format" change properly to fit my label type.
3. But afterwards, I *cannot* print the labels, because "File" > "Print..." does not let me specify custom paper size values anywhere in the dialogue.

I've been also coping with this bug since 2012 - first noticed in LibO 3.5.4.2 on Ubuntu 12.04. LibO 7.2.3.2 (on Ubuntu 20.04) is the latest version I work with and it also has the bug.

I regularly need custom page sizes when printing from Writer to envelopes as the printer driver on Ubuntu provides just a couple of envelope sizes.

An ugly workaround for this problem which I used so far is to edit the PPD file for the connected printer (located in /etc/cups/ppd/) and add definitions for the page sizes I need most. For example, here are the lines for ISO B6 (125x176 mm) and Italian envelope (23x11 cm):

(The sizes must be given in the 1/72 inch, e.g.: 312 * 1/72 = 4.33 in = 11 cm)

...
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsDuplex: " *Duplex *PageSize EnvISOB6"
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsDuplex: " *Duplex *PageSize EnvItalian"
...
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsInputSlot: " *InputSlot Tray2 *PageSize EnvISOB6"
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsInputSlot: " *InputSlot Tray2 *PageSize EnvItalian"
...
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsInputSlot: " *InputSlot Tray3 *PageSize EnvISOB6"
*cupsUIConstraints PageSizeVsInputSlot: " *InputSlot Tray3 *PageSize EnvItalian"
...
*PageSize EnvISOB6/Envelope B6: "<</PageSize[354 499]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice"
*PageSize EnvItalian/Envelope 23x11cm: "<</PageSize[312 652]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice"
...
*PageRegion EnvISOB6/Envelope B6: "<</PageSize[354 499]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice"
*PageRegion EnvItalian/Envelope 23x11cm: "<</PageSize[312 652]/ImagingBBox null>>setpagedevice"
...
*ImageableArea EnvISOB6/Envelope B6: "12 12 342 487"
*ImageableArea EnvItalian/Envelope 23x11cm: "12 12 300 640"
...
*PaperDimension EnvISOB6/Envelope B6: "354 499"
*PaperDimension EnvItalian/Envelope 23x11cm: "312 652"
...
*de.PageSize EnvISOB6/Umschlag ISO B6: ""
*de.PageSize EnvItalian/Umschlag 23x11cm: ""
...
*es.PageSize EnvISOB6/Sobre ISO B6: ""
*es.PageSize EnvItalian/Sobre 23x11cm: ""
...
*fr.PageSize EnvISOB6/Enveloppe ISO B6: ""
*fr.PageSize EnvItalian/Enveloppe 23x11cm: ""
...
*it.PageSize EnvISOB6/Busta ISO B6: ""
*it.PageSize EnvItalian/Busta 23x11cm: ""
...
*pt.PageSize EnvISOB6/Envelope B6: ""
*pt.PageSize EnvItalian/Envelope 23x11cm: ""

After changing the PPD file you should test it with the following command:
cupstestppd /etc/cups/ppd/file_name.ppd

*** Bug 146783 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***