Weird Printing Issue

johnpd2 · Nov 29, 2023#12023-11-29T11:31+00:00

I want to print a small text file with UltraEdit v2023.1.0.23 on my new Windows 11 system and it does not print the first line of the file. When I look at it in Print Preview, the first line does not display as well. However, if I zoom in using Preview and then zoom back out, the first line magically appears although it still will not print. I can even put a number of blank lines at the top, but it still refuses to show the first data line. I have no issue with my Windows 10 system with the same version and same settings. Not sure what is going on.

JohnD

Mofi · Nov 29, 2023#22023-11-29T18:19+00:00

I suggest first trying another printer like a PDF or XPS writer (pseudo-printer) and see if that makes a difference. That should help to identify if the problem is caused by the printer and not by UltraEdit or the file contents.

Second, open the same file in Windows Notepad and print the file. That should help to identify if the problem is definitely not caused by the printer but by UltraEdit or the file contents.

Third, open a different file in UltraEdit or Windows Notepad, print it, and see if the first line is printed as expected with that file. The cause of the problem is the file if printing a different file works with first line also printed.

Fourth, click in ribbon mode on first tab File in submenu Print in submenu Print setup on the menu item Page setup and check the settings. Make a screen shot of the dialog window Page Setup (with Alt+PrtSc), save the screen shot as PNG image file and upload the PNG file as attachment to your next post.

Fifth, toggle on HEX edit mode by pressing Ctrl+H and view the bytes of the first line with looking also on the ASCII representation on right side. Are there bytes at top which are displayed with a dot (control characters) or non-ASCII characters other than 09 (horizontal tab), 0A (line-feed), 0D (carriage return)? Yes what are their hexadecimal bytes values? Is there 0C (form-feed) in the byte stream of the file? Does the first two lines of the file not contain confidential data? Yes, please create a copy of the file, delete all lines with exception of the first two lines, save the modified copy, test if printing or just print previewing the modified copy still results in first line not printed/displayed, and upload the file as an attachment to your next post.

Do you use a HP All-in-one printer? Yes, the information in the posts of topic HP All-in-one C310 Printer prints first line of text off the top of the page is perhaps helpful.

johnpd2 · Nov 30, 2023#32023-11-30T10:46+00:00

1. Print to PDF works.
2. Print from Notepad works.
3. Different File:
.. UEdit: Print Preview dropped 1st line, however print was correct. Notepad was fine.
4. Screen print enclosed.
5. Cannot see anything strange in Hex mode. Have attached a screen print of top few lines.

UPDATE: This is getting wild. I tried opening another file which was the precursor to the one I was working on. It came up with a basically blank display with several white "frames" in it. I was also having issues with trying to open a second file in UEdit. It would not do it. I surmised that somehow UEdit was corrupted. So I uninstalled it and installed the latest version I had downloaded a few months ago (2023.0.0.50).

1. I was still getting some print preview issues, but the file printed except for one odd thing. Print preview would show the right side of lines truncated. If I zoomed in, everything was fine.

2. I was beginning to think this was a Windows 11 issue as I had heard there were some printer problems with 11. When I tried printing something, I noticed that there were two printer entries for my printer (Brother MFC-J870DW deskjet) in the drop down list. One brought up the generic Windows options which I did not care for as they were sorely lacking, and the second brought up the Brother specific options I was used to. This is what I had been choosing. Well I switched to the generic options, and everything worked fine.

3. I subsequently updated to 30.1.0.23. The missing top line returned with the generic printer setup. So there is some issue with 30.1.0.23.

4. My printer is approximately 10 years old. There are no new driver updates for it and I doubt there will be. I was looking at getting at new Brother laser printer. I will be looking a little harder now since the Windows 11 generic options are worthless.

5. I will sit on v30.0.0.50 until then.

Let me know if you want me to do anything else.

Thanks,
JohnD

Mofi · Nov 30, 2023#42023-11-30T18:25+00:00

I suggest reporting as good as possible as done above the issue by email to UltraEdit support. If printing of same file works with same printer with UltraEdit v30.0.0.50 (= v2023.0.0.50) and does not wok as expected with v30.1.0.23 (= v2023.1.0.23), an UltraEdit developer can better find out the cause by comparing the source code files and looking on the changes and find a solution. There should be added the exact Windows 11 version as shown in the graphical window displayed on running winver.exe.

It looks like there is an incompatibility of the printer driver of Brother MFC-J870DW Deskjet with either Windows 11 in the used version or a code change in UltraEdit.

I have one more suggestion: Rename the directory %APPDATA%\IDMComp\UltraEdit to UltraEditBackup and start UE v30.1.0.23 which creates this directory new with all settings set to default, open the file and print it. Is the print now okay? Yes, there is a configuration setting in one of the files in UltraEditBackup the cause of the problem. You could find out which one or you configure the default configuration to your requirements by taking over the settings from the backup one after the other. See also the topic: How to set just the print settings to default?

johnpd2 · Dec 01, 2023#52023-12-01T16:00+00:00

Bought the new laser printer (Brother MFC-L3770CDW), installed all the drivers and software, updated those and did a firmware update. Still messed up. Standard print preview shows lines truncated. If I click "Zoom In", it appears ok. If I print it, the last word of the second line is on a line by itself. This is with 2023.0.0.50. I tried Notepad++ and that works fine as well as the regular Notepad. Here is what I have found.

1. This appears to be font size and style related. I am using Courier New as the display and print font type (I tried it with some others and got the same results), and the display font style as "Regular"and size of "14".

2. If I set the print font size to 10, it is fine. If I up it to 12, things start going wrong. The initial print preview (no zoom) is messed up, with characters missing at the end of lines and data from a line now on a second line. If I zoom in, the preview looks fine, but the print out is somewhat of a hybrid between the two. This is with the font style set to "Regular".

3. If I set the font style to "Bold", the initial print preview (no zoom) is again messed up with the right side of lines truncated. If I zoom in, things are fine. I have attached screen prints of the Print Previews.

My version of Windows 11 is the latest (23H2, Build 22631.2715). I will submit this to Support.

JohnD

Mofi · Dec 01, 2023#62023-12-01T17:11+00:00

Well, I must agree to your topic title. The printing is indeed weird with UltraEdit according to your reports. That should be really reported to the UltraEdit support as those issues must be analyzed by an UltraEdit developer.

The computer currently used by me does not have any printer installed. I will test on another computer with Windows 11 23H2 OS Build 22631.2715 (as your PC) which has installed printers and where I can test also with UltraEdit v2023.2.0.18 (Beta 2 of next UltraEdit). There is nothing written about fixing printing problems in the email to the beta testers.

The last information about a fix regarding to printing was in email to beta testers of UltraEdit 2023.1 Beta 2 some months ago:

Print & Print Preview are incorrect with tab stops

In text file changes.txt in program files directory of UltraEdit can be read for v2023.0:

Enhanced live preview: Select/Capture/Print
- Select command from live preview context menu
- Capture as text
- Capture as image
- Print rendered page to printer or PDF

It looks like some of these enhancements cause weird printing issues on printing the files itself and on using the print preview.

Update: I cannot reproduce any printing problem with 32-bit UltraEdit 2023.1.0.23 running on 64-bit Windows 11 23H2 OS Build 22631.2715 using Courier New regular and bold and Tahoma regular with the printers Microsoft Print to PDF, Microsoft XPS Document Writer and a Canon printer. I used mainly the print preview with the file changes.txt in the UltraEdit program files directory opened in UltraEdit. I printed the file also with Microsoft Print to PDF and Microsoft XPS Document Writer several times with various printer font settings and the resulting PDF / XPS files looked always right. I could not print to the Canon printer as that printer is in the office and I was at home.