Formatting printer output

[Former Member]

I'm printing out the database model but is taking too much space.

I can scale it down on the "Print" window - but then I have to move the tables, et al to fit where the new pages are.

I've tried to adjust the "Symbol Format" for the "Columns" to a lower point size - but that doesn't seem to work.

If I try to do it per Table and adjust the "Sub-Objects" for each column - I'm not allowed to select a font below 8.

Is there a way to layout the model so that it prints at 75% but I see the page lines when designing tables ?

Thanks

Mike

[Former Member]

I've managed to achieve what I wanted...

Not sure its the best way.

In Windows I defined a custom page size of A3 + 40%.

In PowerDesigner I set up my page to be this new custom page.

I assigned the objects into the pages and printed to a PDF.

I opened the PDF and printed to a standard A3 - essentially automatically shrinking the document by 28.6% and keeping all my objects aligned.

Hope this helps if anyone else wanting to achieve the same thing

[GeorgeMcGeachie]

Have you tried the 'fit to page' tool on the left-hand end of the Layout toolbar? it does the same job as fitting to page when printing, except it's not just temporary.

You don't have to do that, of course - to maximise the size of printed symbols, make sure the shape of the 'used' area of the diagram has the same aspect ratio as the paper you're printing on. You can experiment with this by using the print preview - select 'fit to pages' and see where the widest empty margin is in the preview.

If, for example, the wide margin is at the top, you can move the top symbols further up the diagram to get more on the page, Alternatively, move some of the symbols that are at one side nearer to the centre, creating a margin to left or right. You'll see the % zoom level each time - the number will get bigger if you're succesful.

Whether or not page boundaries are visible will depend on the 'show page delimiter' setting in the diagram's Display Preferences.

[Former Member]

I've tried 'fit to page' and as soon as the page size is changed then the objects move around.

I've tried moving things round - and guessing where things end up but its pretty awful.

I can't select "Print Preview" - its greyed out.

Is there something I need to do to enable this.

Mike

[GeorgeMcGeachie]

The preview I was referring to is the one you see on the print dialogue - it doesn't actually appear on a menu.

'Fit to page' does sometimes screw up symbols, usually relationships and other links - to sort out the links, you do <CTRL/A> followed by Symbol | Disposition | Arrange Connectors (or one of the other disposition commands).

If you only ever print to a single sheet of paper, you don't actually have to make the symbols fit within the visible page boundaries - how they fit on the printed page only matters when you print.

[Former Member]

I have 16 pages of A3 and am trying to line them up so there isn't too much on the page  splits.

Change the "fit to page" and changing the scaling and difficult to know where the page splits move to.

Its the only thing about ERwin that I'm missing 😉