How to solve that Powerpoint A4 portrait size is not filling the page when printing?

Dear Anna_KML,

Good days, thanks for querying in this forum. We’re happy to help you.

From your description, when you printed PowerPoint file with A4 and portrait, it doesn’t fill the page entirely.

If my understanding is right, given this situation, to better understand your situation and do more tests on our side, could you also provide the information below?

1. Could you provide the product information and version of Office? You can go to PowerPoint > File > Account and provide the screenshot of Account page.

2. Could you provide the screenshot of “hen printing it size down and is not filling the page entirely”?

3. Does the problem happen on all the files?

4. If you save the files as PDFs, then print, will the same problem happen?

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Sincerely,

Jazlyn | Microsoft Community Moderator

Are you sure you have a printer that supports printing to the edge of the paper? Many do not.

There are two things going on here.

First, PPT scales the printout down on the page by default. You can change this in the print dialog with this setting ... remove the checkmark next to "Scale to Fit Paper" before printing.

PPT will now send the full slide, at A4 size, or whatever slide size you've chosen, to the printer.

Second factor: As John's pointed out, not all printers can print clear to the edge of the paper; those that can may need a special setup in the printer properties dialog box. If your printer can't print to the edge, there'll be a white border and, if you've told PPT not to scale to fit paper, a bit of the slide will be cropped off.

When you choose A4, you are choosing the print page size, not the presentation size. The presentation size of the A4 size is 27.52cm x 19.05cm.

To create a presentation with an A4 slide size, choose Custom from the Slides sized for dropdown and set the dimensions to 29.7cm x 21cm.

When you choose A4, you are choosing the print page size, not the presentation size. The presentation size of the A4 size is 27.52cm x 19.05cm.

To create a presentation with an A4 slide size, choose Custom from the Slides sized for dropdown and set the dimensions to 29.7cm x 21cm.

I wonder if this varies from version to version ... when I choose to create an A4 presentation in PPT 2021/Windows, it comes up 210x297mm ... the same as your suggested custom size, aka the actual/correct size for A4.

Letter-size still comes up in the old smaller-than-necessary size, which I'm convinced is a legacy from the WayWayBack Machine; back in the day of the first Apple Laserwriter (1985-ish, when PPT was a Mac-only program), the printer could print to a max area of 10x7.5" on letter-size paper. And since changing the size would probably screw all sorts of compatibility-things up, it's stayed that odd size ever since. Legacy can be a heavy burden!

With PowerPoint 2019, 2021 and 365, I'm seeing several sizes (Design>Slides Sizes) that are different than the nominal paper size. Most include paper in the name, though, so that's a hint:

Ledger Paper (11x17 in) = 13.319"x9.99" slide size

A3 Paper (297x420 mm) = 14"x10.5" or 35.56x26.67cm slide size

A4 Paper (210x297 mm) = 10.8333"x7.5" or 27.52x19.05cm

B4 (ISO) Paper (250x253mm) = 11.84"x8.88" or 30.07x22.56cm

B5 (ISO) Paper (176x250mm) = 7.84"x5.88" or 19.91x14.94cm

35mm Slides = 11.25"x7.5" or 28.58x19.05cm

Ah, I see what you mean. Thanks for the clarification.

Hi Jazlyn,

Thanks for your quick reply.

1. I have Microsoft 365 Apps for business.

2. Pls see two screen shots of how it looks like in PP and how the printing preview looks like.

The printout looks the same as the preview, so there is no issue with the actual printer.

3. Yes, it happens on all the files.

4. When I save as PDF, the size actually comes out correct.

I would be supergrateful for help, if there is any solution to this. f not, then I have to PDF everything before printing out.

Thanks Anna

Please post the make and model of your printer. Thanks!