Posted by Elizabeth Sanchez on 3/26/12 5:46pm
Msg #416130

mixed printing jobs

i had a sigining company request me to print legal and letter size in one job. so i was sent 4 seperate pdf files with mixed legal and letter in them-each 50 pages. it took me forever to print! so i bought a heavy duty printer that i thought was capable of doing mixed printing in one job without me manually specifying which pages i wanted letter and legal...but appararently, no such printer exists unless i want to spend a HUGE amount of money-at least $1500. Help!

Reply by jba/fl on 3/26/12 5:58pm
Msg #416132

Use the orange search button and search for

dual tray printers. There is so much information on new, used, refurbished, etc. Many here have these type printers and could not live effectively without one.

They range in price from $150 to $1500 and up. Google those 3 words as well. Do some homework.

Reply by Elizabeth Sanchez on 3/26/12 6:03pm
Msg #416134

Re: Use the orange search button and search for

I did research...i have a dual tray printer from konica minolta i just bought. they dont have a driver that allows one to print mixed pages in one job. i called HP and talked to their tech and I was told there are no printers under $1500 that can do this either.

Reply by jba/fl on 3/26/12 6:20pm
Msg #416136

Then I suppose you were thorough. n/m

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 3/26/12 6:21pm
Msg #416137

" I was told there are no printers under $1500 that can do

this either"..

Then you got the HP Dummy of the Month - yes there ARE printers that do that and they cost far less than $1500...search on this site for "dual tray printer" - many notaries have one...or 2 or 3 or more...

Reply by jba/fl on 3/26/12 6:24pm
Msg #416138

Then I suppose you were thorough.

I got my Brother brand new for $350 +/-. There are conversations here all the time, including today.

As for talking to an HP tech person, why don't you just ask at a BigBox store about this issue as well....an HP tech person is interested in HP products - do you think he will refer you to another brand?

Reply by Buddy Young on 3/26/12 6:49pm
Msg #416139

Re: brother HL5370DW n/m

Reply by Saul Leibowitz on 3/26/12 7:31pm
Msg #416142

Re: mixed printing jobs--a caveat

The other responses are right unless you have a Mac. Absolutely cannot be done with a Mac.

Reply by Claudine Osborne on 3/26/12 8:43pm
Msg #416145

Re: mixed printing jobs--a caveat

I have an HP 2430TN that prints legal and letter..Bought it from a Not Rot friend for $100.00..My girlfriend just bought the same one from Ebay for $50..Yes these are a little older..Mine works like a charm! Just have to look around..Plenty of them out there that dont cost $1,500.

Mine has saved me quite a bit of money already..Not buying as much legal paper!

Reply by Susan Fischer on 3/27/12 9:14am
Msg #416172

The old workhorse HP 2430 had been printing both

legal and letter according PDF file scanned/sent paper size for years.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/27/12 1:55pm
Msg #416196

Re: The old workhorse HP 2430 had been printing both

I think I paid $140 plus shipping two years ago for my HP 2430dtn. It's more than paid for itself and is still going strong. This is a heavy duty printer designed for a high-volume office environment and can take the amount of work we need to throw at it. I'd bet there are still a lot of these out there that used to be in offices that closed down during the mortgage meltdown.

You can get newer, faster printers, but if you're looking for a bargain on a good printer, this one is worth including on the list. (BTW, not all come with two trays, so be sure to clarify from the seller.)

Reply by bagger on 3/27/12 2:14pm
Msg #416199

Re: The old workhorse HP 2430 had been printing both

And, how many sheets are you currently printing per month?

Reply by Doris_CO on 3/26/12 9:22pm
Msg #416147

No matter which brand of dual tray printer you have, you have to program the printer in order to print both letter and legal. Go to Printers from your Start Menu and choose the printer you're having problems with and then go to the Properties link for your printer and make sure it recognizes all the drawers and then assign one drawer for letter, and one for legal. When you're ready to print, be sure to check "choose paper by PDF size".

Reply by NJDiva on 3/28/12 10:19am
Msg #416313

Doris and the others are right on...DO NOT return your n/m

Reply by NJDiva on 3/28/12 10:28am
Msg #416319

oops pushed enter by mistake...

Most likely its Adobe X. I uninstalled it and went back to the 9. whatever (this was discussed here a while back and the person that had the issues said that this is how she rectified the situation as well.) and it works just fine.

Try that, as well as checking that your printer is set up for the two trays, and THEN return it if necessary.

Reply by MW/VA on 3/26/12 9:38pm
Msg #416148

I like you, didn't have good info on dual-tray printers

when I was starting out & made some expensive mistakes. If you use the orange search button you will find a lot of info. If the printer you have is a dual tray, it may be capable of printing the size indicated in the pdf file. You will need to go into your printer properties to set up the designations perhaps.
BTW, I ended up with Brother printers, which are cost effective to purchase & maintain & operate.

Reply by Jack/AL on 3/26/12 11:58pm
Msg #416158

Tells us which printer you bought,

and I'll just betcha that some of our members who have the same model will tell you how to seit up to do as you wish. As far as I know, the main purpose of a mutliple-drawer printer is to print in mixed sizes. I am extremely happy with my HP 2055d. I think it cost about $300 new, plus another $125 for the additional tray, 1.5 to two years ago. Cost has declined by $100 or more.

Reply by Elizabeth Sanchez on 3/27/12 4:27pm
Msg #416219

Re: Tells us which printer you bought,

i bought a konica minolta 4650en for $200 (incl. 3 year warranty). it is a dual tray and when i wen to print from adobe reader X, it didnt work. called their tech support and went thru all the troubleshooting issues already suggested by others on this forum. nothing worked. tech told me that the current driver doesnt support mixed printing jobs!! ridiculous, what is the point of having a dual tray then? i dont want to go thru each page in one file and tell the printer what size it is...so looks like i have to ship it back and get one the others in the forum suggested...thanks

Reply by BBuchler/CA on 3/27/12 4:58pm
Msg #416225

Brother 5340D Dual cartridge printer

Love my Brother, have letter in upper and legal in lower. BUT you have to set up the printer drive to "select based on original document size". It took a bit to figure that out but its been working fine for 3 years.

And if I had a dime for every "tech support" unhelpful tech, boy, no more notary work for me! Tech support - oxymoron title if ever there was one.

Reply by SheilaSJCA on 3/27/12 5:19pm
Msg #416226

something similar happened to me using Adobe X very recently

I recently upgraded to Adobe X, and soon after, started to have docs not print correctly, even though my printer is set to the print by PDF size. (pages cut off, not selecting legal size)
I now have to right click, while in the document, and open the document properties and check the box to indicate "page source by page size". I am NOT referring to the check box that appears in the print screen menu. (that has already been checked as default). This is within the PDF document.
It's a PIA, now that I have to remember to do this. No previous versions of Adobe seem to have this issue. I am almost sure that it "just" started happening. Not sure what triggered it.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 3/28/12 1:56am
Msg #416288

Re: something similar happened to me using Adobe X very recently

I remember reading about that problem with Adobe X a while back, so never updated to it. I'm still happily using version 9.4.7. I'd have thought that they'd have that problem fixed by now, though, and I was thinking about upgrading, too. I hope the old version is still available (I haven't checked yet), as I'm going to be switching to my new laptop as soon as I get software for it and get files transferred.

What a bummer!