Symptoms:
Underscores are shown correctly on the screen, but are blank on the printer. This typically happens when printing multiple logical pages per physical page, on HP LaserJets.
Workaround
This is probably caused by the printer driver scaling the thickness of underscores down to zero. Selecting a TrueType or OpenType font, that is not defined in the font substitution table for the printer driver, generally fixes this problem. For example, to change the printer font for the Text document class:
1. From the Configure menu, choose Preferences.
2. Click the + next to Document Classes.
3. Click the + next to Text.
4. Select Font.
5. Set Scope to Printer.
6. Select a TrueType font, such as Courier New.
7. Click OK.
Selecting the font as prescribed does indeed solve the problem. However, it is not an HP problem! I had the problem on a Xerox DocuPrint. Other text editors on my system do not have the problem (Wordpad, Notepad), not that I'd use them.
Does this mean it is a bug in Textpad's printing functionality?
Does this mean it is a bug in Textpad's printing functionality?
No. The fastest Windows API for rendering text is ExtTextOut, so that's the one TextPad uses, but that's the one which some printer drivers do not implement correctly for internal fonts. I think they may allow the thickness of underscores to scale down to zero. Headers and footers are printed using the slower TextOut API, for which the errant drivers do print underscores.
I'm having a problem with printing in general. No matter what version of Textpad I install, it is printing so small I can barely read it. Does anyone know what causes this?
Here's my info:
Windows XP Pro Service pack 1
Hewlitt Packard Laserjet 1010
Textpad version 4.7.3
Be sure all documents are closed when making these changes.
For each class of document, do the following:
Configure, Preferences, Document Classes, Default, Font.
Make settings as needed for Printer, Font, Style, Size.
Apply, and OK.
Close TextPad.
Reopen TextPad and confirm settings have been saved.
The following extract is taken from the TextPad Help file FAQ's.
Why is a tiny font used for printing?
This happens if the default font (Courier) is not supported by your printer. To fix it:
1. From the Configure menu, choose Preferences
2. Click the "+" next to Document Classes.
3. Click the "+" next to the Default document class.
4. Select Font.
5. Check "Printer" and choose a suitable font.
6. Click OK.
Does this mean it is a bug in Textpad's printing functionality?
No. The fastest Windows API for rendering text is ExtTextOut, so that's the one TextPad uses, but that's the one which some printer drivers do not implement correctly for internal fonts. I think they may allow the thickness of underscores to scale down to zero. Headers and footers are printed using the slower TextOut API, for which the errant drivers do print underscores.
Keith MacDonald
Helios Software Solutions
Well, whoever's bug it is it's inconvenient to the point of making Textpad unusable. To put this into context, my company has just replaced all printers across perhaps 100 sites (except a few dot matrix jobs for special purposes) with Fuju Xerox printers, on which Textpad exhibits this behaviour but no other application seems to.
Before dismissing this as you have done before, could you consider why you have to use the fastest API for printing? In most cases the bottleneck is the printer, not the computer.
graham_harris wrote:Well, whoever's bug it is it's inconvenient to the point of making Textpad unusable. To put this into context, my company has just replaced all printers across perhaps 100 sites (except a few dot matrix jobs for special purposes) with Fuju Xerox printers, on which Textpad exhibits this behaviour but no other application seems to.
Before dismissing this as you have done before, could you consider why you have to use the fastest API for printing? In most cases the bottleneck is the printer, not the computer.
Thanks
All you have to do is change the font used for printing. I had this issue on my machine, and fixed it by changing the printer font to Courier New. I believe the default is Courier, so it may have something to do with moving to a truetype font.
Just to clarify the issue which I have as well detected. It seems that problem is there for a very large amount of printer types. And furthermore in the same text document some underscores are printed and some not. Is there some reason for this. If the printer driver would allow zero thickness for underscores --- why would it happen for some and not for all of them?
I just tried changing fonts, but that does not solve the problem in Textpad 5.3.1.
Seems like problem depends on the location of underscore in the textfile and also surrounding text. It is easy to check it with print preview command. I can send sample text file for review.
Selecting the font as prescribed does indeed solve the problem. However, it is not an HP problem! I had the problem on a Xerox DocuPrint. Other text editors on my system do not have the problem (Wordpad, Notepad), not that I'd use them.
