I am using Gramps 6.0.5 on MacOS Sequoia 15.7.2
I would like print graphical Family descendants tree on multiple pages, but I can’t find a way to do this.
Any ideas how to solve this, please ?.
Thanks.
I’m on windows but I suspect the same thing will work on MacOS. This works for me for the graphical report called 'descendant lines:
- In the ‘paper options’ specify a very large page size, e.g. ‘A0’
- Set the ‘output format’ to ‘PDF’
- Open the PDF file and in the print dialog:
a) Set the ‘print handling’ option to ‘tile large pages’
b) Adjust the ‘zoom’ to reduce the number of pages required, but don’t reduce it so far that the actual print becomes too small to read
c) Check the printer properties match the paper size in your printer
d) Print
e) Cut and stick the output
f) Find a wall big enough on which to hang your collage of your tree
I have already tried output as pdf from Gramps on V large paper size and then print on multiple sheets but no joy.
On my Mac the PDF viewer is Adobe DS and the only printer I have setup is a Lexmark M2200 - the only way to print PDFs is ‘as an Image’ and print handling ‘tile large pages’ is greyed out, I suspect this is a Lexmark driver issue (but it is the latest driver version).
AFAIK on Windows there is a built-in pdf writer (as in print to pdf file), this is not the case on a Mac, at least not on my Mac.
Maybe I should look for an App that will allow print to pdf file.
In the PDF readers I’ve used (Adobe and Foxit) the option to ‘print as an image’ is a tick box within the PDF reader’s print dialog, i.e. it is independent of the printer that is selected. You say your PDF reader is ‘Adobe DS’ but you probably mean ‘Adobe DC’. Are you sure there isn’t an option for ‘print as image’ that you can untick in Adobe DC’s print dialog?
Try opening with the pdf with Preview app (that came with the macOS). Perhaps Adobe is being brain-dead (again).
Craig
(And the Mac does have built-in pdf writing. Every standard Print dialog has a ‘Save as PDF…’ option.)
There is but I don’t know if that is what the Gramps report uses to create a PDF file when PDF is selected as the file output type when generating the report.
Yes it is Adobe DC, sorry. Adobe DC won’t print or ‘save as pdf’ anything from Gramps unless the ‘print as image’ is ticked. It is like this with many other pdf files from many sources. Adobe DC will not ‘save as pdf’ when you click on print an error box pops up saying ‘save to file not available’.
Apples Preview App won’t ‘print’ or ‘save as pdf’ onto on multiple pages, only to single page. Changing the scale % still only on one page.
However I have found a solution. Using ‘Print to PDF’ app (by Flyingbee) from the App store. This installs itself as another printer. Saving to mutiple pages no problem, and the preview window shows how many pages it will be on so you can adjust it to number of pages you want it on.
Interesting, on Windows when I set ‘PDF’ as the output type within the report options and generate the report I don’t get any intervention from the MS print to PDF virtual printer. I simply get a PDF file in the specified folder.
Also, when I open that PDF file in my PDF reader (Foxit), it doesn’t matter if I do or do not tick the ‘print as image’ box, I can still use the ‘tile large pages’ feature to print the PDF file across many pages.
I must remember this the next time I find myself in a Mac vs Win argument where Mac fanboys like to ridicule Windows because it’s so hard to get things done while the Mac world, “it just works”. Clearly not in this case 
It is only Adobe DC that has a porblem priniting all other Apps are fine. To be honest I don’t know if this Adobe DC or the Lexmark printer driver, as the the print dialogue box is part of the Lexmark printer driver. Even though I want to choose export as pdf file when I click the print icon it opens the default printers dialogue box. I also tried a pdf that is from a A3 scan (so not Gramps created) and it is the same, however I have printed this same A3 scan file to HP printer and multipage no problem. Now that I have installed a pdf writer driver then I can choose the pdf writer as a printer.
On your Windows machine, when you click the print icon and it opens the default printer driver dialogue box, do you then change the printer to pdf writer output, or do you chose output to pdf from within the default printer’s driver ?.
Update: So I downloaded Foxit from the App store and it works fine, either print multipage or save tp pdf multipage. Seems it is an Adobe DC issue.
I’m not sure were talking about the same workflow. For me:
In Gramps if I select Reports | Graphical reports | Family descendant tree i get the report options dialog. The ‘tree options’ tab is where I set the output format:
Note that I’ve also the ticked ‘open with default viewer’ box
When I OK that dialog the PDF opens in Foxit, and in there when I click the print icon I get Foxit’s print options dialog:
In there I set the paper size and print quality via the Properties button and having OK’d out of that to get back to Foxit’s print dialog I select the ‘tile large pages’ option and adjust the zoom to taste.
Then I click OK and collect the pages from my printer. Finally, I can trim the pages and stick them together to give me a (giant) collage.
There’s a free app for macOS on Apple cpu (not Intel) as well on iPad called Docuslice, that slices up a PDF or image into multiple PDFs. You can then print each PDF and glue them together into one large sheet.
It’s the same workflow.
When you clicked on print from within Foxit it opens up a print dialog box for your default printer, in your case this is the ‘XP-900 Series/Networking’ printer. The print options you see are defind in the print driver for your XP-900, albeit in a window format defind by the OS and with some functions provided by the OS.
In my case if I use Adobe DC as the pdf viewer with my default printer ‘Lexmark M2200’ it will only print ‘as image’ nothing else works for pdf files generated by Gramps, nor will it print multiple pages (when I click the print button an error pops up), likewise it won’t save as pdf either - another error box pops up.
However, with the print dialogue box open, if I change the printer to ‘Print to PDF’, this is now using the print driver from the Print to PDF app (by Flyingbee) and no longer using the Lexmark M2200 print driver, multiple page printing works fine. Nor does it need print ‘as image’ ticked.
Likewise, if I use Foxit as the pdf viewer the Lexmark M-2200 print driver works fine for multiple sheet printing, and doesn’t need print ‘as image’ ticked either.
The Lexmark M-2200 printer driver works fine in all other appllications, it’s only Adobe DC that has a problem.
I often comme across other PDFs (as-in not created by Gramps) that have a problem prining in Adobe DC and need print ‘as image’ ticked.
So, there is some issue wrt to Adobe DC, and maybe the Lexmark print driver, how they integrate / do the rendering etc.. And perhaps Adobe DC dosen’t like playing with PDFs not created using Adobe tools…
Anyway, I think i’ll try sticking with Foxit as prefferd pdf viewer, so thanks for mentionning it.
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Ok, noted, thanks. Mine’s Intel CPU though.