# (Resolved) IE/OE - setting default paper size to A4



## lynneinjapan (Oct 17, 2001)

I am in the UK, using a PC running Windows XP Home Edition with IE6.

Like the rest of the world outside North America (as far as I know), we in Europe don't use Letter size paper, so I want to set my default page size to A4. I've made sure that all my regional settings are on UK, and that my printer settings in Control Panel are on A4. I've succeeded in changing the defaults in Office (well, Word at least - haven't tried the others yet) but can't find a way to do it in Internet Explorer / Outlook Express.

I know how to change the page size for a single session by opening IE and going into File > Page Setup, but the problem is that I have to do this EVERY TIME I OPEN INTERNET EXPLORER - it always defaults back to Letter size. (Sorry for shouting, but I've posted this question in a couple of other places and people just keep telling me to do what I've already done, so I want to make it clear that this isn't working for me!)

I can't find anything about this problem on the Microsoft Knowledge Base, and my PC supplier seems to be stumped by it too.

Thanks to anyone who can help.


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## jbcalg (Oct 29, 2001)

i couldn't find anything specific to your situation

tried it on my system (W98SE) and the change to the default printer properties for paper size carried over to IE6 no problem

i'm assuming there's a registry entry that controls this, but couldn't find it.

does your printer rescale from 8.5x11 to A4 automatically, that's about the only idea i saw

your XP install would be new (obviously):

did you have to update your printer drivers or are they supported for XP?
did you try the repair option for IE6 through the add/remove in control panel - (assuming XP works this way as previous versions do)


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Hiya

I have found this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnie55/html/beyondprintpreview.asp

Its a bit lengthy, but reading it myself, and it says:



> I'd like to introduce you to the new printing architecture for Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.5. The new architecture is very cool for a couple of reasons. The most visible reason is that the new architecture is the foundation for the new Internet Explorer print preview facility. Print preview in itself is an exciting new feature (relatively speaking, of course; I'd give it up in a minute for time travelwhich I'd give up for world peace reluctantly well, maybe not). However, print preview is only one part of a bigger story. The new printing architecture offers much more than a single new feature. The new architecture has been designed to be highly flexible and extensible, and it is exposed here for your use. In other words, you can use the Internet Explorer 5.5 printing architecture to customize how Internet Explorer and the WebBrowser control handle printing.
> 
> In this article, you'll learn how to write a print template, which is the mechanism Internet Explorer 5.5 uses to control print/preview behavior and page layout for printing/previewing. You'll learn what you need to do to use a print template you've written. You'll also see some ideas and applications that could exploit print templates. A future article will explore the possibilities for creating a custom print preview user interface and customizing the Page Setup and Print dialog boxes


Might be worth a look.

Regards

eddie


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## lynneinjapan (Oct 17, 2001)

Thanks for your suggestions. I have made sure that I'm using the right printer driver - I have an HP Deskjet 710C and the HP site says to use the standard one that comes with Windows XP. I wondered whether the problem might be a bug in the driver, but since my printer is out of warranty, HP aren't being very helpful about either confirming or refuting this.

I haven't tried the Repair option yet - will give it a go (if it's there - I'm at work at the moment so can't look).

Eddie5659 - I've had a look at the site you mention, but I'm afraid that since I'm not a programmer it just goes right over my head. Surely there must be simpler fix!

Incidentally, I'm sure it's unrelated but my PC has now started telling me every time I start up and log in with Administrator privileges that "The system has recovered from a serious error", and asking me to tell Microsoft about it. It doesn't seem to happen when I use a login with limited privileges. I've tried doing a System Restore back to before it started happening (it started at about the same time as I installed ZoneAlarm), but I'm still getting the message. Any suggestions as to the cause?


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Hiya

I may have another solution. You may want to back up your registry first. Here goes:

now, this only controls page headers/footers and margins. Settings affect all browser instances.

Go to Run and type REGEDIT. go to the following:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\PageSetup

The WebBrowser uses these settings when displaying the Page Setup dialog box and when printing. 

For instance, this is mine:

(Default) (value not set)
footer &u&b&d
header &w&bPage &p of &P
margin_bottom 0.750000
margin_left 0.750000
margin_right 0.750000
margin_top 0.750000


Now, I'm assuming that if you change the values of the margin_ 's, then this will increase or decrease the default size when printing. But as it says at the beginning, this will be DEFAULT, so if you were wanting to print in normal A4, you will have to change the keys again.

The best way, is to make a copy of the entries that are there, so that if you were to do this and at a later date wished to change it back, you could.

If you want to try it, just rightclick on say, margin_top and choose Modify. There will be your number, 0.750000, and just decrease or increase it.

Let us know how you get on. As I have no printer on here, I wish I could check for you.

Regards

eddie


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## lynneinjapan (Oct 17, 2001)

Feel a bit daft posting this, but removing the printer completely and reinstalling it seems to have done the trick. I thought I'd already tried this once but maybe I just reinstalled the driver over the existing one. Thanks for your help, folks!


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## eddie5659 (Mar 19, 2001)

Hiya

Glad to hear its working now. 

eddie


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