This article provides an outline of paper tray usage with the LaserWriter 8.x printer driver and Apple LaserWriter printers. There are many possible settings, all of which are interdependent, so paper tray behavior is not as straightforward as it appears. Most of the examples given are with the LaserWriter Pro 630 or LaserWriter 16/600 PS printers since they have the most paper tray options. With respect to localized printers and/or drivers, you would substitute references to the "Letter" page size in this article with your country's default such as "A4".
* PAGE SETUP - To use a specific paper tray, the paper size selected in Page Setup must match the paper size in the tray you want to use.
Note:
The only way to change the paper size for the Multipurpose tray is through the Apple Printer Utility. The paper sizes for other trays are either set automatically (such as specific Letter size cassette), or by setting paper guides within the tray.
* MANUAL SELECTION - If you choose a specific paper source in the Print dialog, such as Cassette (500 Sheets), that specific tray is used -- given that the above condition on PAGE SETUP has been met.
* AUTO SELECT - If Auto Select is chosen (as the Paper Source in the Print dialog), you are NOT GUARANTEED that your print job will print from any specific paper tray (except with use of the "Installed and Preferred" option outlined below). You are telling the driver to print your job on any paper tray that has the same page size as you've selected in Page Setup. Usually, Auto Select prints your job from the 250 sheet cassette. Here is the typical order of paper tray priority when Auto Select is chosen as the Paper Source:
1. Cassette (250 Sheets)
2. Multipurpose Tray
3. Cassette (500 Sheets)
4. Envelope Feeder
* INSTALLED AND PREFERRED - If "Installed and Preferred" is chosen for the 500 sheet cassette (in the Chooser-Setup-Configure dialog), this makes the 500 sheet cassette the very first paper tray choice. Auto Select MUST be chosen as the Paper Source in the Print dialog for this to work. The typical order of paper tray priority changes to:
1. Cassette (500 Sheets)
2. Cassette (250 Sheets)
3. Multipurpose Tray
4. Envelope Feeder
This ONLY affects the computer that the change is made on. There is no way to make the change affect all computers that print to the printer, except for:
- Changing every computer to have the "Installed and Preferred" setting,
or
- Downloading PostScript code to the printer (as outlined below).
* AUTOMATIC TRAY SWITCHING - When Automatic Tray Switching is enabled, the paper source switches automatically to another tray with the same paper size if the paper source you selected in the Print dialog runs out of paper. The typical order of paper tray priority for Automatic Tray Switching will follow the priority list in either AUTO SELECT or INSTALLED AND PREFERRED above.
Prior to LaserWriter driver 8.4, Automatic Tray Switching was enabled by simply switching it ON using the LaserWriter Utility or the Apple Printer Utility. Starting with LaserWriter 8.4, an extra step is now required: You also need to select the "Error Handling" pane in the Print dialog and click on "Switch to another cassette with same paper size."
* POSTSCRIPT - There are PostScript code fragments in the TIL that when downloaded, allow you to manually set a "default" paper tray. That paper tray is used if Auto Select is chosen as the Paper Source in the Print dialog. It is STRONGLY ADVISED NOT to use this method unless absolutely necessary, as it may confuse others using the printer.
There have been many unnecessary and costly service calls to customers thinking that their printer was defective when the problem was merely the default paper tray had been changed. A very good example of this is changing the default tray to the Multipurpose Tray. If the tray has no paper, the paper out LED illuminates and unknowing users will check the 250 sheet cassette instead (since it's usually default). Seeing that there is paper in the 250 sheet cassette, they report the printer as a malfunction.
* ENVELOPE FEEDER - If your LaserWriter has an envelope feeder, you must select an envelope page size in Page Setup AND have "Envelope Feeder" chosen as the paper source in the Print dialog. If both of these conditions are NOT met, then paper will be pulled from the default paper tray (such as the Cassette (250 Sheets).
NOTE:
There is an issue with the LaserWriter 16/600 PS that even without having an envelope page size selected in Page Setup, "Envelope Feeder" can be chosen as a paper source.