Question print scaling like in excel?

[rmulder]

Is there an option in the page setup when printing a form or report to scale the page by a percentage. I found that handy to just bump that percentage down to 80-90% to fit everything i wanted to see on one page but I don't see this option anywhere in access.

 

[HiTechCoach]

AFAIK, that option is not in Access.

 

[georgedwilkinson]

I wish.

But Excel and Access do two different kinds of things.

 

[sxschech]

It is possible to scale reports in Access. I do it with many of my reports. It is not intuitive to find, so hopefully this explanation will make sense. The importing thing is that in order to do scaling, the default or specific printer must be capable of doing PostScript. Many printers, such as HP have drivers for PostScript but often, aren't set as the default. For example we are using an HP 5100. There is a driver called HP5100 PCL and another called HP5100 PS. Check to see if your printer has a driver that has PS or Post Script in its name.

If you don't have a PostScript compatible printer, you can still do the scaling, but will have to either print to Adobe Acrobat Professional or another PDF writer program. (there are free versions of pdf writers)

Once there is a PostScript compatible printer available here is how you get to the scaling option (these steps apply to MS-Access version 2000 thru 2003 using Windows XP) Since I don't have new version of Access or Windows yet, can't say if the steps are the same or not or Windows 7:

Open your report (Preview or Design)...in preview you will see the change in scaling
Click on File, Page Setup
Click on the Page tab (it is the middle tab)
Click on Use Specific Printer (radio button)
Click on Printer
Choose printer (only if not the default printer)
Click on Properties
On Layout Tab...Click on Advanced
Under the Graphic section you will see Scaling
Choose the number that you want to scale to...Example: 85%
Click OK
Click OK
Click OK
Click OK

Your report should now be scaled. If the sizing still isn't right, unfortunately, you have to go through all the steps again in order to change the scaling percentage value.

Notes:

I'm not sure if other printers' menu will look the same once you get to the advanced screen.

Depending on your printer setup, after you go through the steps and are satisfied with the percentage scaled, you may need to change the printer from "Use Specific Printer" to "Default Printer" on the Page tab of Page Setup to lock in the scale value.

Also if you open the report on another computer, the scaling may reset to 100%.

One thing I don't know, but have yet to find out is whether this could be done programmatically, but for now, I have to manually do this each time.

 

[georgedwilkinson]

Nice. Thanks for the info.

 

[HiTechCoach]

It is possible to scale reports in Access. I do it with many of my reports. It is not intuitive to find, so hopefully this explanation will make sense. The importing thing is that in order to do scaling, the default or specific printer must be capable of doing PostScript. Many printers, such as HP have drivers for PostScript but often, aren't set as the default. For example we are using an HP 5100. There is a driver called HP5100 PCL and another called HP5100 PS. Check to see if your printer has a driver that has PS or Post Script in its name.

If you don't have a PostScript compatible printer, you can still do the scaling, but will have to either print to Adobe Acrobat Professional or another PDF writer program. (there are free versions of pdf writers)

Once there is a PostScript compatible printer available here is how you get to the scaling option (these steps apply to MS-Access version 2000 thru 2003 using Windows XP) Since I don't have new version of Access or Windows yet, can't say if the steps are the same or not or Windows 7:

Open your report (Preview or Design)...in preview you will see the change in scaling
Click on File, Page Setup
Click on the Page tab (it is the middle tab)
Click on Use Specific Printer (radio button)
Click on Printer
Choose printer (only if not the default printer)
Click on Properties
On Layout Tab...Click on Advanced
Under the Graphic section you will see Scaling
Choose the number that you want to scale to...Example: 85%
Click OK
Click OK
Click OK
Click OK

Your report should now be scaled. If the sizing still isn't right, unfortunately, you have to go through all the steps again in order to change the scaling percentage value.

Notes:

I'm not sure if other printers' menu will look the same once you get to the advanced screen.

Depending on your printer setup, after you go through the steps and are satisfied with the percentage scaled, you may need to change the printer from "Use Specific Printer" to "Default Printer" on the Page tab of Page Setup to lock in the scale value.

Also if you open the report on another computer, the scaling may reset to 100%.

One thing I don't know, but have yet to find out is whether this could be done programmatically, but for now, I have to manually do this each time.

Good pint.

You are correct that you can do it that way. Your solution is Printer (hardware) specific. It will actually work with any Windows App that can print. It is a solution that is external to Access.

The difference with Excel is that is is actually built into the app and will work will ANY printer.