Weird Picasa bug (only affects Lexmark printers?)

I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

(I just had to tell someone).

In article ,
newshound wrote:

I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

that suggests word is the problem in how it's placing/sizing the jpeg,
not the exported jpeg itself.

what does the jpg show for resolution?
what happens if you use another word processing or page layout app?

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

On 27/10/2017 16:23, nospam wrote:
In article ,
newshound wrote:

I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

that suggests word is the problem in how it's placing/sizing the jpeg,
not the exported jpeg itself.

But it is *only* exported files that have the problem, and *only* on the
Lexmark. They print fine from other apps (including picasa) so I agree
that Word is probably involved in some way. But Word versions 15 years
apart behave the same way.


what does the jpg show for resolution?
what happens if you use another word processing or page layout app?

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

But they behave fine with picasa files that havn't been compressed by
Picasa export. So I think there is something wrong in the file header
which either the Word print engine or the Lexmark is getting confused about.

And the fact that just importing the file into Paint and saving it again
clears the fault points to something in the JPEG.


how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

I don't know how to.

On Fri, 27 Oct 2017 21:11:06 +0100, newshound
wrote:

On 27/10/2017 16:23, nospam wrote:
In article ,
newshound wrote:

I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

that suggests word is the problem in how it's placing/sizing the jpeg,
not the exported jpeg itself.

But it is *only* exported files that have the problem, and *only* on the
Lexmark. They print fine from other apps (including picasa) so I agree
that Word is probably involved in some way. But Word versions 15 years
apart behave the same way.


what does the jpg show for resolution?
what happens if you use another word processing or page layout app?

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

But they behave fine with picasa files that havn't been compressed by
Picasa export. So I think there is something wrong in the file header
which either the Word print engine or the Lexmark is getting confused about.

And the fact that just importing the file into Paint and saving it again
clears the fault points to something in the JPEG.


how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

I don't know how to.

The printer dialogue should be specific to the Lexmark, and there is
probably a setting in there that you are overlooking. If you see the
same printer dialogue for all your printers, you need to find the
correct drivers for the Lexmark and install them.

Another option might be to resize the jpg and save to a new file
before printing.

In article ,
newshound wrote:

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

But they behave fine with picasa files that havn't been compressed by
Picasa export. So I think there is something wrong in the file header
which either the Word print engine or the Lexmark is getting confused about.

And the fact that just importing the file into Paint and saving it again
clears the fault points to something in the JPEG.

different doesn't mean one is wrong.

can you post a sample jpeg exported from each app?

the content of the photos is completely irrelevant, as long as the
sizing issue can be duplicated.

take a photo of something random, or even fill it with black. no need
to share internal photos if you don't want to.

without examining the files, it sounds like the resolution tag, which
is sometimes used for initial image sizing/placement in some apps, is
set differently.

if that's the case, there is probably a default setting which can be
changed.

how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

I don't know how to.

that would be a no.

On Friday, October 27, 2017 at 11:00:20 AM UTC-4, newshound wrote:
I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

(I just had to tell someone).
Picasa has one great advantage that is seldom discussed. It makes new copies of the photos on the hard drive, and so you can ruin the Picasa copy and still have the original untouched image on the hard drive.

Also, it is (was) free. I put a copy onto a CD-R after the program was discontinued.

For sharpening, cropping, color correcting, straightening,and simple retouching, it is just fine. It can also e-mail images,and burn them to CD-R.

Mort Linder

In article ,
wrote:

Picasa has one great advantage that is seldom discussed. It makes new copies
of the photos on the hard drive, and so you can ruin the Picasa copy and
still have the original untouched image on the hard drive.

if you're relying on an image editor to do backups, you have problems
you don't even realize.

you should always have backup copies, no matter what app is used, or
even if no app is used.

In article ,
nospam wrote:

In article ,
wrote:

Picasa has one great advantage that is seldom discussed. It makes new
copies
of the photos on the hard drive, and so you can ruin the Picasa copy and
still have the original untouched image on the hard drive.

if you're relying on an image editor to do backups, you have problems
you don't even realize.

you should always have backup copies, no matter what app is used, or
even if no app is used.

Oki... I hear duplicates, not backups... What's a Picasa. Is it a Goog
thang... I liked Picasso, the painter... A tad miss understood dude but
he made a living...
--
teleportation kills

On 27/10/2017 21:39, Bill W wrote:
On Fri, 27 Oct 2017 21:11:06 +0100, newshound
wrote:

On 27/10/2017 16:23, nospam wrote:
In article ,
newshound wrote:

I guess the serious posters here don't use Picasa, but thought it might
interest some lurkers or future searchers.

I use Picasa as a cheap and cheerful filing system that provides simple
basic editing (mostly I only need cropping and straightening).

I also write technical reports containing photographs of broken bits of
industrial plant, using Word. To keep the final file size down I tend to
use the Picasa "export" function to downsize the images to 1024 pixels.
(I know I could downsize further without affecting the printed report,
but this lets people pull reasonable images out of the Word file later
if they want to).

My reports look fine on screen (including print preview) and print
perfectly on a mono Laserjet and a Brother inkjet. But I use a Lexmark
(CS410dn) if I want hard copies. And these exported JPEGs, when inserted
into Word, don't then print correctly on the Lexmark, they print in the
correct sized frame on the paper but the image part is enlarged, showing
only the top left hand corner of the image, and cropping the rest.

that suggests word is the problem in how it's placing/sizing the jpeg,
not the exported jpeg itself.

But it is *only* exported files that have the problem, and *only* on the
Lexmark. They print fine from other apps (including picasa) so I agree
that Word is probably involved in some way. But Word versions 15 years
apart behave the same way.


what does the jpg show for resolution?
what happens if you use another word processing or page layout app?

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

But they behave fine with picasa files that havn't been compressed by
Picasa export. So I think there is something wrong in the file header
which either the Word print engine or the Lexmark is getting confused about.

And the fact that just importing the file into Paint and saving it again
clears the fault points to something in the JPEG.


how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

I don't know how to.

The printer dialogue should be specific to the Lexmark, and there is
probably a setting in there that you are overlooking. If you see the
same printer dialogue for all your printers, you need to find the
correct drivers for the Lexmark and install them.

Drivers was the first think I looked at. I'm just printing a word file.
The print preview is fine. The lexmark output fails, other printers are OK.

Another option might be to resize the jpg and save to a new file
before printing.

That's what I am doing. I was using Picasa to do the resize because
that's what I use for cropping and straightening (and maybe occasionally
a tweak on fill, contrast, or colour). My point is that the resized
picasa file fails to print *to one specific printer* when put into the
word document. But if I import the file into paint and re-save it before
the insert then everything is fine.

On 27/10/2017 21:48, nospam wrote:
In article ,
newshound wrote:

After much trial and error, I've found it is the Picasa Export which
causes the problem. If you open and then save the JPEG in Paint
(overwriting the original file) the problem goes away.

that doesn't mean it's a bug in picasa.

if the jpeg from picasa is valid, then it's word and/or lexmark.

But they behave fine with picasa files that havn't been compressed by
Picasa export. So I think there is something wrong in the file header
which either the Word print engine or the Lexmark is getting confused about.

And the fact that just importing the file into Paint and saving it again
clears the fault points to something in the JPEG.

different doesn't mean one is wrong.

can you post a sample jpeg exported from each app?

Well I could, but as far as I am concerned I have a fix. I can certainly
do that if anyone confirms they would like to do some investigation. I
was partly posting this in case anyone already knew about it, or so that
someone Googling the same problem in the future would find it.


the content of the photos is completely irrelevant, as long as the
sizing issue can be duplicated.

take a photo of something random, or even fill it with black. no need
to share internal photos if you don't want to.

Happy to share something. With a solid black image I wouldn't be able to
see that the process had failed.


without examining the files, it sounds like the resolution tag, which
is sometimes used for initial image sizing/placement in some apps, is
set differently.

Yes, that was one of my guesses but I am not all that familiar with this
stuff.


if that's the case, there is probably a default setting which can be
changed.

Yes but what setting? In Word, you check page layout via print preview.
And you expect the printer to give you the same thing (although
occasionally a line of text spills on to the next page).

how did you validate the jpeg? or did you?

I don't know how to.

that would be a no.

Indeed. Suggestions would be useful. The export files look fine in
several different viewers.