Plotting Word Files on the DesignJet

Nadine Leenders (nadine.leenders@ualberta.ca)
Computing and Network Services

Computing and Network Services operates two Hewlett-Packard 2500CP DesignJet plotters that output large-format, photo-quality teaching aids and posters with brilliant colors at a resolution of 600 dots per inch on heavyweight paper.

This article provides instructions on how to plot both Windows and Macintosh Microsoft Word documents on the DesignJet plotters. Before you jump right in to a plotting project, however, please note that a user must first download, install and configure the appropriate HP DesignJet driver software for their desktop machine. Also note that while you create your plot files on your desktop machine (by printing your application file to a PostScript file), you must ultimately file transfer the PostScript file to your GPU account from where you can send it to the DesignJet plotter.

Information on downloading/configuring the HP printer drivers, creating PostScript files, and file transferring plot files to GPU, is available at:

http://www.ualberta.ca/CNS/PLOTTER/hp2500.html

MS Word for Windows 95

Generic Poster

To make a landscape letter-size Word document into a 34-inch by 44-inch DesignJet poster:

1. Go to Start, Settings, then Printers.
2. Right-click on the HP DesignJet 2500CP PS3 icon. In the resulting pop-up menu, choose Properties.
3. In the Properties screen that comes up, click on the Paper tab and make sure the paper size is US Letter.
4. Click on the Graphics tab, choose "Enable scaling," and click on the "Scaling options" button. The Scaling options screen appears.
5. Under Settings, activate the radio button beside "Scale with this scaling factor."
6. To get a 34-inch by 44-inch poster, set the scale in the scale box to 450 percent. Click OK.
7. Click OK to close the printer Properties screen.
8. Open a Word file that you want to plot on the DesignJet.
9. Go to the File menu and choose Print. If the HP DesignJet is not selected as the printer, select it and click Close. Otherwise, click Cancel.
10. Go to the File menu and choose Page Setup.
11. Click on the Paper Size tab and make sure US Letter and the appropriate paper orientation are selected.
12. Click on the Margins tab. Set the top and bottom margins to .75-inches and the left and right margins to 1.1-inches. If the poster is in portrait orientation, reverse these numbers.
13. Click on OK to leave the Page Setup screen.
14. Finish the Word document if it is not complete and save the document.
15. You are now ready to print your Word document to a PostScript file, after which you can transfer the file to GPU and then send it to the HP DesignJet plotter.

Custom Plot Sizes

While Word limits the size of document you can produce to 21-inches in any dimension, the HP DesignJet driver will let you scale up the document to a custom poster or banner size.

1. Go to Start, Settings, then Printers. Right-click on the HP2500 driver icon. Select Properties in the resulting pop-up menu. Click on the Paper tab. Select Custom Page 1 for the paper.
2. Click on the Custom button at the bottom middle of the Properties window and fill in the desired final dimensions of the plot. Note that there is a peculiar incompatibility between the HP DesignJet driver and the MS Word Page Setup command, so in the DesignJet driver dialog you must reverse the values for length and width that you use in the Word document. That is, the width you enter in the DesignJet driver is the length you used in MS Word Page Setup, and vice versa. All dimension values must be less than or equal to 21-inches, or Word will not accept the page size.
3. Use the Graphics scaling option to scale the document up to get a poster-size result. To do this, click on the Graphics tab, click the "Enable Scaling" button, then click on the "Scaling options" button. The Scaling Options screen appears. Activate the radio button beside "Scale with this scaling factor." Set the scale in the scale box to an appropriate factor and click the OKs to close up the Properties.
4. Open a new Word document that you want to plot on the DesignJet.
5. Go to File, then Print. Make sure the HP2500 driver is selected. Close the Print dialog box.
6. Go to File, then Page Setup. Click on the Paper Size tab. Select Custom Page 1 for the page size. Click on the Margins tab. Set the top and bottom margins to .75-inches and the left and right margins to 1.1-inches. Click OK.
7. Add the textual and/or graphic content of your poster or banner to the Word document and save the document. Afterwards, go back and make sure all of the settings you made above are still in effect. If not, fix them and resave the Word document.
8. Go to the File menu and choose Print Preview. Check the print preview to be sure the poster edges are not clipped.
9. You are now ready to print your Word document to a PostScript file, after which you can transfer the file to GPU and then send it to the HP DesignJet plotter.

MS Word for Macintosh

Follow these instructions to create a 36-inch by 46-inch DesignJet poster from a Mac Word document:

1. Under the Apple Menu, select the Chooser, then select Adobe PS.
2. Open a new Word document. Under the File menu, select Page Setup. Change the scale to 400 percent. If you want a landscape poster, click the landscape icon. Under Paper, select Custom (at the bottom of the list).
3. Use the top-left pull-down menu to choose Custom Page Default.
4. Make sure the top-right pull-down menu has Custom selected.
5. Set the Paper Size Width to 36 and the Length to 46. Set all the margins to 1.1-inches. Click OK.
6. Add the textual and/or graphic content of your poster.
7. Now you can save your Word document as a PostScript file. Under the File menu, select Print. For the Destination, select File. In the pull-down menu General, select Save as File. Choose PS Level 3 and set the Data Format to ASCII. Click Save to save your Word document as a PostScript file.
8. You are now ready to transfer the PostScript file to GPU and send it to the HP DesignJet plotter.