I have Word 2007 in Windows 7 and I'm trying to print on an HP Officejet 4500.
I've been asked to print on 6.5" wide x 3.625" envelopes.
I figured out how to add this custom size to my printer in my Windows control panel and I also added the custom size from within Word.


It worked great the first time I printed it, but every time I try printing more, the text and graphic shift farther to the left, getting cut off the edge of the envelope.
Windows and/or Word seem to automatically round the figure up from 3.625" to 4", but I don't understand why that should cause everything to shift to the left (and farther left each time I print).
Finally, I thought maybe I should only have re-set the custom size in Word, instead of both Word and the printer control panel.
So I changed the printer control panel back to letter sized and tried printing from Word again using my custom size.
It worked great! Then I tried printing another (they need 50 copies) and it was shifted back to the left off of the envelope again!
I originally created this document in InDesign, then exported it to a PDF and tried to print from the PDF, and when I had trouble printing from Acrobat, I re-saved the PDF in Word format from Acrobat.
I don't know what else to try!
Has anyone had a similar problem and know how to fix this?
I'm attaching a photo of my failed attempts just to show what I'm trying to describe.

Attached Images

IMG_2087.JPG (131.8 KB, 17 views)

Word relies on the printer driver to determine what it can print. Most drivers are hopeless when it comes to custom page sizes, and if your printer doesn't have a paper size detector, the simplest approach is to use a US Letter size document and make up the difference with margins and fix the envelope address frame position so that when you run the envelope through the printer it will print in the correct place.

See http://www.gmayor.com/changing_envelope_layout.htm

__________________
Graham Mayor - MS MVP (Word) (2002-2019)
Visit my web site for more programming tips and ready made processes www.gmayor.com

Thanks very much, it looks like your link is going to be the solution I need! It's very helpful.
But I would like to ask one clarification;
In your instructions, you say to staple the envelope I need on a letter sized paper.
Is that just to work out the margins, or will I need to do that to print all my envelopes? I mean, will I have to print all my envelopes stapled to letter sized paper?

I see that your instructions specify setting up the page as Portrait, not landscape. My printer seems to be set up so that the normal way to print envelopes is to insert the envelope's front left side, face down into the printer. So that would mean it would normally need to print landscape.
But if I have to print this portrait, that seems to suggest I do have to staple the envelope to the paper to print it, because I don't think the envelope is tall enough for the printer to grab it if it isn't stapled to letter paper.
Do I have this right?

Okay, I recreated the document as letter sized with the necessary margins. I did discover I had to make it landscape for it to work with the way my printer takes envelopes. I found that stapling the envelope to letter sized paper and printing it caused a paper jam, so I'm printing just the envelopes by themselves.
It worked about 3 times, then it started shifting off the envelope again.
So I tried adding the amount that it got cut off to the margins and it worked again, then started shifting.
Then it was haphazard. It would print fine once or twice, then it would shift for the next 3 copies.
I'm printing them one at a time, because I found printing more than that at one time caused paper jams.
I started thinking maybe the guide in the printer tray that holds the envelope in place was getting shaken out of place by the movement of the mechanical parts in the printer, so I started re-setting it every time to be sure it was snug. But again, if started shifting after a couple of prints.
Then I thought, maybe the envelope's flap was getting pulled back somehow inside the printer, so I tried tucking the flap inside the envelope, but it made no difference.
So far I've got only 19 good copies and 24 ruined envelopes.
I really don't know why this isn't working or what else to try? Any ideas?
Maybe it has something to do with friction building up? Maybe I need to take a 5 minute break between prints? Still, I have to print 50 of these! That's going to take forever!