MacOS Notes never prints same size twice

[RedTomato]

Hi, I have a family shopping list in a shared Note in MacOS Notes. The list stays the same, I print it out each week, and family members tick off whatever they want to buy. I've carefully formatted the list so that it fits neatly onto two sides of a single sheet of paper.

Lately all that has changed. Now the identical list prints out in wildly varying sizes. Sometimes it is hugely enlarged and covers 4 sides of paper. Sometimes 6 sheets. Sometimes it is shrunk down into 50% size and covers just over 1 sheet. Sometimes 1.5 sheets. If I print direct from the master list of Notes, it's usually set too big. If I pop out the note into its own window, it's usually set to print too small.

I have no idea whats going on here. Print options are handled directly by MacOS, I have no third party printer drivers or printer apps installed. Scale is always set to 100%. Printer is blocked from receiving internet updates (so that I can continue using cheap third-party ink with it). This all worked fine in the past, but not any more. It *may* have started happening after updating to MacOS Monterey but I can't be sure.

Any help?

 

[usagora]

Does the print preview look ok or are both the print preview and the actual printout the same?

 

[NoBoMac]

No real help, as never hardcopy my lists, but a possible workaround.

I tried to print a list of mine on MacOS and the result was messed up in that the check "boxes" in the list would have extra bubbles and overlapping extras. So can see OP running into issues.

If I try to print from iOS, all appears OK.

So, workaround, Print from iOS directly to printer, or, from Print screen, two-finger expand gesture on the print preview to get a PDF, save to iCloud, print from Mac the PDF.

 

[RedTomato]

Does the print preview look ok or are both the print preview and the actual printout the same?

Print preview always matches the actual printout. So I tend to open the print preview, and if the font size is wrong then I close the print preview and try again. So the MacOS print preview actually shows the page in different font sizes depending on if I choose to print the note from the main MacOS Notes app window, or print the note while it is in its own pop-out window. ?

 

[RedTomato]

No real help, as never hardcopy my lists, but a possible workaround.

I tried to print a list of mine on MacOS and the result was messed up in that the check "boxes" in the list would have extra bubbles and overlapping extras. So can see OP running into issues.

If I try to print from iOS, all appears OK.

So, workaround, Print from iOS directly to printer, or, from Print screen, two-finger expand gesture on the print preview to get a PDF, save to iCloud, print from Mac the PDF.

Thanks, yes, printing lists seems buggy. I just tried to print from Notes on iOS (iPhone XR, fully updated). The print preview blows up the 2 page list to cover 4 pages.

But if it's consistent, then maybe I can just reformat the list to fit on 2 pages when printed via iOS - at the price of tiny text on MacOS. Will test properly when I get back home on Friday.

 

[usagora]

Print preview always matches the actual printout. So I tend to open the print preview, and if the font size is wrong then I close the print preview and try again. So the MacOS print preview actually shows the page in different font sizes depending on if I choose to print the note from the main MacOS Notes app window, or print the note while it is in its own pop-out window. ?

What happens when you adjust the scale while the print preview is displayed? Also, does checking/unchecking "Rewrap contents to fit page" have any useful effect? (if you don't see these options, click "Show Details" under the print preview)

 

[BrianBaughn]

I'm curious to know what steps you took to "carefully format" the list as I don't see any decent formatting settings in macOS Notes.

 

[RedTomato]

I'm curious to know what steps you took to "carefully format" the list as I don't see any decent formatting settings in macOS Notes.

Nothing complicated - I just made text bigger / smaller, and added / subtracted lines until the list fitted exactly onto 2 sides of printout.

 

[RedTomato]

What happens when you adjust the scale while the print preview is displayed? Also, does checking/unchecking "Rewrap contents to fit page" have any useful effect? (if you don't see these options, click "Show Details" under the print preview)

View attachment 2003880

Adjusting scale in the print dialog works as expected, enlarging / reducing the text - both in print preview and final printout. Scale adjustment does not stick between printouts, which is annoying.

Checking 'Rewrap' blows the document up from 1.5 pages to over 3 pages in Print Preview and print. Unchecking it reverts the document back to 1.5 pages.

Adjusting font size (Apple + or Apple -) in the Note itself does nothing to change print size - does not change size in print preview or in final print. If I make one line 200pt and the next line 14pt, both lines still print at the standard size of 12-ish pt.

 

[usagora]

Nothing complicated - I just made text bigger / smaller, and added / subtracted lines until the list fitted exactly onto 2 sides of printout.Nothing complicated - I just made text bigger / smaller, and added / subtracted lines until the list fitted exactly onto 2 sides of printout.

I just made a test note with a 40 item checklist, and the print formatting defaults to a set font size regardless of how small or large I make the font in the actual note (using the command and +/- keys). Even if I double click the note to make it pop out into its own window, the result is the same when I go to print - font size is set in stone. The only way I can change the font size on the printout is to adjust the scale in the print dialog.

 

[RedTomato]

I just made a test note with a 40 item checklist, and the print formatting defaults to a set font size regardless of how small or large I make the font in the actual note (using the command and +/- keys). Even if I double click the note to make it pop out into its own window, the result is the same when I go to print - font size is set in stone. The only way I can change the font size on the printout is to adjust the scale in the print dialog.

Yes, I have the same experience too. I dunno why I mentioned making text bigger or smaller - maybe I was thinking of bolding / capitals at the time. Obviously now that has no impact on the printout.

The main thing is do you get the same length printout no matter where you print it from? On my system I was getting varying results - sometimes very big, sometimes very small. Hence my post.

Actually I just did an macOS restore from the recovery partition for a different (minor) reason. It didn't fix that, but it seems to have fixed the inconsistent printing issue. An unexpected benefit. ?

Will readjust the document to suit the new default & report back if the problem reoccurs.

 

[usagora]

Yes, I have the same experience too. I dunno why I mentioned making text bigger or smaller - maybe I was thinking of bolding / capitals at the time. Obviously now that has no impact on the printout.

The main thing is do you get the same length printout no matter where you print it from? On my system I was getting varying results - sometimes very big, sometimes very small. Hence my post.

Actually I just did an macOS restore from the recovery partition for a different (minor) reason. It didn't fix that, but it seems to have fixed the inconsistent printing issue. An unexpected benefit. ?

Will readjust the document to suit the new default & report back if the problem reoccurs.

My results were consistent, but my testing is limited to just a few times today. It's possible it could change later on. Glad your issue seems to be resolved, though!

 

[Tagbert]

it sounds like you have about 4 things to change to reformat and they may be conflicting or canceling each other out.

Instead of changing font size, I would try to get the print dialog scale factor setup correctly. Instead of manually adding space or line breaks, I would try to get the rewrap contents set and working. Once the content is consistent from print to print, you can verify if the scale settings remain the same from print session to session. At least then you only have one place to change and can see a preview.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I think I'd just copy the contents into some more-editable document format.

 

[NoBoMac]

it sounds like you have about 4 things to change to reformat and they may be conflicting or canceling each other out.

Probably this.

Made a dummy note with tables instead of checklists and was able to adjust size/style of text. Printed correctly vs when checklists are in use.

 

[RedTomato]

Probably this.

Made a dummy note with tables instead of checklists and was able to adjust size/style of text. Printed correctly vs when checklists are in use.

That's really good to know thanks! Will bear it in mind next time I revamp the list.