Feature requests - printing...

Dorico
1

I’m very much appreciating the version 3 upgrade… much to learn about for sure! Noticed there were no additional printing updates in this version.

Are the following items possible in a future update?

  1. Custom paper size printing.
    Some users would like to print directly from Dorico to custom paper sizes in Mac OS - i.e. 9x12, choral size, etc… At present, the Dorico print functions do not permit this - the custom sizes created in installed print drivers are not accessed by Dorico and do not appear in the popup list. This is something other apps have had for decades…?

Printing directly to custom sizes saves a huge amount of time - eliminating PDF and marking up in a page layout program.

  1. A progress bar once “PRINT” button has been pressed.
    This would confirm the print job has been sent. It would eliminate users clicking again on the Print button when they observe nothing happening, then getting multiple copies due to the additional clicking on the print button.

  2. Save the PAGE WIDTH/WHOLE PAGE selection with the document.
    Many users prefer one or the other and don’t toggle between them - allow user to set a program or document specific default to these two options.

  3. Remove the “System Dialogs:” for printing (lower left corner)
    Or fix them so the margins are exactly what appears in the print preview window? Currently Dorico reduces it’s score/part page size to fit within the printable area of the currently selected printer and only outputs “Fit to paper” printouts when using the lower left buttons. (Why are those buttons there if the word on the street is to not use them?)

Users having direct access to high-end printers are left with letter, tabloid, possibly tabloid extra (12x18) and a bunch of unusable envelope/postcard sizes. No high-end printer features are accessible from the right side print options - i.e. using multiple paper trays, custom folding, binding, stitching, creep adjustment, collating, 3-hole punching, etc.

Thoughts?

2

There is some limited support for custom paper sizes. From the Dorico 2 Version History (page 13):

Custom paper sizes. > For layouts using unusual page sizes, such as 9”x12” for parts, if this paper size is not supported by default on the selected printer, but the printer supports paper of this or larger dimensions, as long as the chosen page size matches a standard paper size, it will appear in the list of sizes shown in Print mode. Whether or not it will actually print successfully depends on the capabilities of your printer.

We haven’t added a progress bar for printing because the spooling happens right away and Dorico is then finished with the print job: it’s up to your printer at that point. We didn’t think it was a good idea to unnecessarily lock Dorico’s UI if it’s already “done” the printing by that stage.

The problem with the margins changing when you print from the system print dialog is not Dorico-specific, though the problem may well be that when the system Print dialogs are invoked from within Dorico, they do not always read the defaults defined in your printer’s own driver correctly.

I am sympathetic to your request for support for high-end printer features in Dorico’s own print options, and I hope that in the fullness of time we’ll be able to provide them, though it will mean reimplementing support for printing ourselves instead of relying on the support provided by the Qt framework, which makes it a more distant prospect.

In the meantime, although it’s obviously annoying not to be able to do this in one step, for projects that require access to your printer’s high-end features, I suggest exporting PDFs using the options on the right-hand side in Print mode, which will produce press-quality PDFs with embedded fonts of the correct page dimensions, and then print them using Preview or another application you have that does provide access to your printer’s advanced features.