Considering the cost of the machine, you would think the Pixma MP960 would come with automatic settings for printing greeting cards, but it doesn’t. And the problem is nobody else seems to know how to make it work either, until now…
For a 5×7 greeting card using regular 5×7 cardstock:
- Photoshop
The Photoshop file size should be 10×7 if landscape oriented or 7X10 if portrait oriented.
Resolution can be 300 dpi. Put the back and the front of the card design in your file.
As a final step before saving your card design, do file/page setup/custom and make the size 7×10. Save the Photoshop file.
- Printing
When you get to the final print screen where there is a preferences button, click the preferences button. Go to the Page Setup Tab. Select Custom. Type in your paper size. Hit Ok. Go to the Main tab. Select your paper type. For greeting card stock, use Plain Paper and print quality set to High. Go to the Profiles Tab. Click the Add to profiles button. Call it 5×7 Greeting Card and save the settings. (Next time all you have to do is go to profiles tab to select your settings and make sure the print quality under the main tab is on High before hitting the print button.)
DO NOT turn on the borderless printing feature. It forces the machine to print at default settings and can never be adjusted for any custom settings you create. Click Ok. Load your card stock in your Pixma MP960 just like you would for regular 8 ½ x 11 paper. Paper will be aligned with the right side paper guide. Slide the left paper guide into place. Click the print button.
Note: You should not have to resort to “trial and error” to get your card to run through the printer correctly. If any tweaks are needed, it may be to allow for the cropping that the printer does for the 1/8 inch border by adjusting the image in the original Photoshop file. DO NOT adjust the file size. Just change the image size using Edit/Transform/Scale so that it will crop where you want it to.
Note 2: Some greeting card stock is not heavy enough to take the ink. If you are reading this, maybe you could recommend some decent paper that is reasonably priced. I tried the stock that Walmart sells. It could not take the ink coverage without curling. On the plus side, the card stock came with blank envelopes, which is why I bought it.
I hope someone will benefit from my two days of frustration and wasted ink cartridges. For the Canon people, I would like to see you add a greeting card print setting to ALL of your ink jet printers and ALL of your all-in-one machines from now on. Oh, and Mom, I hope you liked the card I made for you.
Thanks.
loading...
loading...