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Author Topic: iCal printing  (Read 4882 times)

Offline Xairbusdriver

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iCal printing
« on: September 21, 2007, 09:18:19 AM »
My wife asked if I had an app that could print out a calendar for January 2008 through December 2010. I thought for a minute and opened iCal. Should be a simple task for a 'calendar' program, right? Especially one designed by the world's best hardware/software/interface developer in the World!

Not so fast pseudo-geek! The first print test showed that the calendar was chopped of on both the left and right sides, including the name of the month! eek2.gif

OK, simply use the "Page Setup..." menu to define the printer and the margins...oops, "We don't need no stinkin' Page Setup menu!" Well, I know several hundred other apps that do and iCal obviously has a list in it's preview page showing them. I'll just create a new custom page in one of those apps. Which I did. Which made no difference! mad.gif

Searching the Apple forums revealed that many others are 'bothered' by iCal's inability to print easily on specific page layouts, especially 'standard' sizes! I finally found a post suggesting that one Quit iCal, use Safari to create a new custom size (since it does have access to the [formerly] ubiquitous "Page Setup..." menu. Of course, using one app to tell another what to do is not extremely efficient, especially when one must Quit the second app between adjustments! wallbash.gif But it seemed to work.

Thinking about the 'solution' left me wondering if Safari was really needed, surely Apple wouldn't use the "tell-Safari-which-browser-you-really-want-to-use" trick! rolleyes.gif And my tests had not yet printed a satisfactory page; the top of the month's name was being chopped off, just a few pixels but enough to be obvious.

So, this morning, I just used Firefox to access the "Page Setup..." menu. But I made the final, crucial discovery that fixed the cut off text problem: iCal considers the page dimensions as more important than any margin settings! I was finally able to print a complete calendar page by reducing the 'standard' letter page to 8.25 x 10.75 inches! clap.gif

Apparently iCal 'gathers' printer info when it opens. It is, therefore, a waste of time to create a new group of settings while iCal is still running/open (unless there is a 'refresh' setting somewhere that I haven't found). Those with newer, full-page printers may never have my problem but my laser has 0.17 minimum margins on three sides of any paper, enough to cause it to chop off part of the month name text.
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Offline Gregg

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« Reply #1 on: September 22, 2007, 04:52:11 PM »
I can print calendars from Dave's Remember?, but that's an OS9 application. If you still have a "Classic" partition, you could download it. Dave stopped developing it, but it goes to 2018.
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Offline zampom

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« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2007, 05:17:59 PM »
I have been waiting for someone to give a definitive answer here, but ....

Not sure what xABD's problem is.  I can print just fine in any of the predefined paper sizes listed (A4, US Letter, US Legal, 8x10, etc).  It could be, however, this is because I am using one of those newer printers to which xABD referred.  While I can't offer an answer .... I might be able to offer a relatively easy solution to the problem.  Just print the calendar to a .pdf file.  Then, printing the .pdf file from preview will give you the option to scale the output to better match your printer capabilities.  While it's one extra step .... it beats getting another calendar program.
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2007, 03:15:48 PM »
Once I 'fooled' iCal into thinking the paper was smaller than it actually was, the calendars printed just fine. my newest printer is an Epson R220, not really the latest generation. It may have worked better with some more tinkering, I just didn't need the color and wanted water proof prints.

And the failure (don't know what else to call it) to use the standard Apple interface in iCal makes me wonder if it is an attempt to bring more 'integration' into their apps or if it's really a program they bought from someone who had already had it pretty well fleshed out. Thinking.gif dntknw.gif All I know for sure is that I'm glad I don't need to use iCal often! mostly for little reminders about some trivial, reoccurring task. I already have a neat calendar app (PandoCalendar) running 24/7 and there are two different wall models in the room! laugh.gif
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Offline Gregg

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« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2007, 04:53:26 PM »
Jim, I have Pando Calendar for OS9 as well. I haven't switched over to it yet, since the one I'm using still has 10 years of useful life left. Maybe I'll be a "Generation Xer" before then, and it's good to know that Pando will be an option. Do you find it to be more flexible, adaptable, etc. than iCal?
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2007, 09:31:40 AM »
QUOTE
Do you find it to be more flexible, adaptable, etc. than iCal?
It's not an either or thing with me. Their simply two different programs designed for two different sets of needs. iCal is really designed for sharing calendars/schedules between groups of people, IMHO. Way more complicated than I need, being retired. Pando is a much simpler app and lets me do what I need with less 'fuss'. But it certainly can't match iCal in its capabilities. There is no method of printing any kind of calendar, AFAIK, for instance.
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Offline Gregg

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« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2007, 01:03:55 PM »
Ok, that begs another question...

I use Dave's Remember? for its "reminder" capability. Before that, I used a less robust app called Auspice. Both are set up for you to enter an event, such as a birthday, a bill coming due, etc. and will "pop up" a reminder on the date specified. I assume that Pando Calendar does the same thing. Now, will iCal do that also???
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2007, 03:31:22 PM »
Yes. But that is definitely not its main purpose. Think electronic DayPlanner. smile.gif Others can give you a much better description of its features than I. Or check <Apple's Support page>. But it's not much good on OS 9. sad.gif
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Offline Gregg

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« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2007, 07:36:22 AM »
QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Sep 24 2007, 03:31 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
But it's not much good on OS 9. sad.gif


True... But, as they say; curiosity kills the Mac.  ... or something. wink2.gif
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Offline Mayo

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« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2007, 03:08:48 PM »
Is there a way to change the iCal alarms?  I have one alarm choice that reads "display a message 1425 minutes after" the event... Now that's helpful!!! Another alarm was installed when I was reading the Metro newspapers automatically and apparently a script was installed.
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2007, 09:44:22 AM »
Have you tried double-clicking on the 'time' portion? And my version has double-arrows that provide a short list of alternatives: minutes/hours/days before and minutes/hours/days after. Plus a generic 'on date' choice.

Of course, the non-standard GUI in iCal doesn't make these 'text boxes' easy to see. One must try double-clicking various pieces to see if anything happens. And even then, they don't appear as 'normal' text boxes. I think this is called 'progress.' smile.gif
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Offline jepinto

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« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2007, 10:36:31 PM »
[attachment=702:Picture_1.png]
[attachment=703:Picture_2.png]
[attachment=704:Picture_3.png]
[attachment=705:Picture_4.png]

Do the above pictures describe what you are asking Mayo?  If so, you can change the unit of measurement by the pull down and the number of measurement by clicking on the number.

Or are you not seeing the Info pane at all?
« Last Edit: September 26, 2007, 10:39:57 PM by jepinto »
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Offline Xairbusdriver

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« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2007, 04:07:48 PM »
QUOTE
are you not seeing the Info pane at all?
At least that part of the interface is 'standard'. Select a day in the calendar and click the "info" icon as seen in the attached image or use the keyboard 'command-I'.
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