Printer settings

Straighten wonky labels, name your printers anything you want, scale documents and print websites perfectly

Print websites flawlessly

There are various technical reasons why some websites refuse to print as you expect, but knowing them won’t necessarily fix the problems. What you do need to know are the workarounds that let you print stubborn websites. In Chrome, for example, once you’ve clicked Print, click ‘More settings’, then untick ‘Background graphics’ (see screenshot below). In Firefox, click Page Setup, the Format & Options tab, then clear the ‘Print Background (colours & images)’ box.

If that doesn’t work, or you use a different browser, then use Printwhatyoulike ( www. printwhatyoulike.com). This can be added as an extension for Chrome ( www.snipca.com/24925) or you can simply use the website’s tool if you use any other browser. Type the address of the website you want to print in the ‘Enter a URL’ box, then click the areas of the page you want to print (they’ll turn orange once selected). When you’re happy, click Print (at the top left).

Stop printing wonky labels

Printing labels is often frustrating, with skewwhiff addresses and misaligned messages being common annoyances. Stationery firm Avery offers a free online (or downloadable) tool called Design & Print that ensures labels always come out perfectly — and you don’t need to buy Avery labels to make use of it. Visit www. snipca.com/24916 for the online version, or www.snipca.com/24918 to download the Windows program.

If you have bought Avery labels, type the product code into the ‘Quick search’ box and hit Enter. If not, visit www. labelplanet.co.uk and use the search tool to find your label type, and then cross-reference the results table for the equivalent Avery code. Return to Avery’s ‘Design & Print’ tool and follow the instructions to choose a style and customise the content. To import an existing database of addresses, click through to the third stage of the instructions (Customise), click the Import Data tab, the Import Data button (see screenshot above), ‘Browse for file’, select your database, then click Open.

Add watermarks to documents

A watermark is faint text or an image that identifies a document as yours (you can also use it to remind yourself that a document is confidential or a draft). To add a watermark in Word 2013 (or later), select the Design tab, then click Watermark (in the Page Background tab). Word 2007 and 2010 users will find the same option in the Page Layout tab. Next, click the desired watermark or click Custom Watermark to add your own phrase, or an image. To add an image, click ‘Picture watermark’ followed by Select Picture. For text, click ‘Text watermark’ then select the text, font style and so on.

Rename your printers

Naming printers is useful if you have different types of printer (inkjet and laser) or have certain printers set up in specific rooms. To change your printers’ names, press Windows key+r, type control printers and press Enter. Now right-click a printer and choose ‘Printer properties’. Select the General tab and, in the top field, type the name you want — Photo printer or Laser printer, for example. Click OK to finish.