Printing in Apple preview scaling issue

Question

Level 1

8 points

Printing in Apple preview scaling issue

Hello,

I'm having trouble printing from preview, when I print from preview the 'scale' box is automatically set to 12% this results in all of my prints being slightly smaller than I need them (100%). I have no issues when printing in Acrobat but I need to print these jpgs in preview.

How can I set the scale to print at 100%? When type in 100% it becomes very enlarged and won't actually print on my plotter due to the size being wrong!

I'm running Sonoma 14.5

Thanks for your help!

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.5

Posted on May 21, 2025 09:00 AM

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Answer 1

MartinR

Level 7

23,511 points

May 21, 2025 02:29 PM in response to h_hollz

Have you tried Scale to Fit - Print Entire Image? It works for me.

I suspect what's leading to the 12% scaling is that Preview is making a calculation using the embedded image metadata for pixel count & dpi in an attempt to print the image on letter sized paper, including margins. I just did this calculation manually on one of my own images (5712x4284 pixels, 72 dpi, 8.5x11 paper) and lo & behold I got 12%! Scale to Fit/Print Entire Image appears to override that calculation.

I think the key factor is the embedded metadata value for dpi.

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Answer 2

MartinR

Level 7

23,511 points

May 22, 2025 06:37 AM in response to h_hollz

Then try Scale to Fit - Fill Entire Paper. It usually bumps up the size slightly.

I get the impression you are trying to print the images to an exact dimension on the paper (not a percentage, but an exact measurement). AFAIK Preview cannot do that. If you want to specify the exact printed image size then you probably need to use Photoshop or similar app where you can specify the printed size of the image.

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Answer 3

h_hollz Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2025 07:11 AM in response to MartinR

Thanks for your help - basically I have a selection of images on an A1 page created in illustrator, I've then exported the jpg and want it to print to the exact dimensions of the A1 page to retain the correct sizes of each image. Is the only way of doing this printing from photoshop?

I have photoshop so that's not a problem, I've just never thought to print directly from the programme

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Answer 4

MartinR

Level 7

23,511 points

May 22, 2025 09:47 AM in response to h_hollz

If A1 is not one of the standard paper sizes in Preview, you could try creating a custom size and test that. (File > Print > Paper Size > Manage Custom Sizes)

Is Illustrator not capable of printing this directly?

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Answer 5

h_hollz Author

Level 1

8 points

May 22, 2025 01:44 AM in response to MartinR

Thanks for your reply!

When I choose the scale to fit - print entire image I still get a print out that's about 5mm to small on the width and height

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