# Please help--cannot select paper when printing



## Maria (Aug 5, 2011)

Hi everyone,

I am new to this forum, so nothing like starting it off with a big fat question!

I have downloaded the ICC profile for Epson's Velvet Fine Art paper (I know this works because I have printed on this out of Photoshop CS5). I recently went to print from Lightroom and was able to properly select my paper in the Color Management section of the Print Module. However, when I opened up Print Settings in the print dialogue box and went to Media Type, I selected "Fine Art", but then "Velvet Fine Art" was greyed out....and I was unable to choose it. Any idea why I cannot select this paper???

Thanks, and nice to be a part of this forum--
Maria


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## LouieSherwin (Aug 5, 2011)

Hi Maria, 

Welcome to the forum. 

Which black ink do you have installed? The Epson driver is ever so helpful and won't let you select certain paper/ink combination that they deem incompatible. I have Photo Black installed and the "Velvet Fine Art" paper is also grayed out. 

You may need to switch to Matt Black for the driver to allow you to select that paper. 

-louie


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## Maria (Aug 10, 2011)

Thanks Louie. I do have the matte black cartridge installed, so that's why I'm confused. I was able to select Velvet Fine Art paper when I printed from Photoshop, but it is greyed out when I try to print from Lightroom. If you have any other ideas, let me know!

Thanks,
Maria


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## LouieSherwin (Aug 11, 2011)

Hi Maria,

I was also puzzled about this. I changed to MK and also could not select Velvet Fine Art. However, after poking around for a bit I discovered and now remember that, you have to also select the front or back flat sheet feed. This is because this paper and several others are too thick to go through the normal top feed.

For my Photo R2400 in Print Setup I have to select a paper option that includes *(Manual - Front)* in order to be able to select Velvet Fine Art.

-louie


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## Maria (Aug 14, 2011)

Well Louie, this was very helpful and you were correct...it had to do with the paper selection. Once I chose 11X17 manual feed, I was able to select Velvet Fine Art (it was no longer greyed out).

Unfortunately, here's the bad news. The paper that I wanted to print on was sized 8.5X11. The only option that I had for selecting this particular size resulted in the same thing....Velvet Fine Art was still greyed out. By choosing 11X17, just to get the option for Velvet Fine Art, my margins and print size got all messed up in the final print (because the computer thought I was using larger paper than I actually was and I'm not savvy enough at this point to reconfigure all the dimensions in my head in order to compensate for the differences in paper size).

So, my question is, is there a way to get Lightroom to recognize 8.5X11 paper (via the Page Setup button) AND get the Velvet Fine Art paper to be usable??

Thanks!
Maria


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## LouieSherwin (Aug 14, 2011)

Hi Maria,

Are you saying there is no manual entry for "Letter" paper?  This is what you would select for 8.5x11. Or are you saying that if you select "Letter" manual it still does not let you select Velvet paper?

In either case I recommend that you go to the Epson site, get the latest version of the printer driver and install it. The versions that come bundled with MacOS tend to be somewhat to very out of date.

Also what printer are you using? 

-louie


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## DavidHB (Aug 14, 2011)

LouieSherwin said:


> ... get the latest version of the printer driver and install it. The versions that come bundled with MacOS tend to be somewhat to very out of date.



For other users, this is also true of Windows. Also, the drivers that come with Windows tend to be cut down versions, lacking features and options found in the versions provided directly by the manufacturer.

David


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## LouieSherwin (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks David, this if course is not a uniquely Mac problem. I also tend to ignore the CD that comes with a new printer as it is usually out of date also. So if you get a new printer just go to the vendor website and grab the latest driver first and head off a lot of headaches. 

-louie


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## Maria (Sep 3, 2011)

Sorry I've been MIA for so long...I was out of town for 3 weeks.

Just thought I'd update you: you were correct in that there is a paper setting entitled "Letter." If I select the one that says "US Letter," then Velvet Fine Art paper is greyed out. If, however, I select "US Letter Manual Roll," then Velvet Fine Art paper becomes an option. So, that issue is now resolved! 

Alas, there is a new issue I'm noticing: When I go to print (after choosing US Letter Manual Roll and selecting Velvet Fine Art paper), and go under Print Settings, both options for "Color" (where you choose either Color, Advanced B&W or Grayscale) and "Color Settings" are greyed out. So, if I am printing a B&W image, I no longer have the option of choosing "Advanced B&W" as the default setting is on "Color" and all options are greyed out......any ideas on this one???

Thanks so much for your great help thus far--


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## LouieSherwin (Sep 4, 2011)

Hi Maria,

I am not sure why you are not able to select "Advanced B&W".

Are you sure that you are using the latest printer driver for your printer? I believe that Epson has now started to distribute their driver updates through the MacOS "Software Update" tool. One of my recent updates included both Epson and HP printer software. This is new and when I compare my current Epson driver version it is much later than the one available as download. So I am pretty sure that I got it from the last update.

Have you kept up with all the latest updates for 10.6? You don't say in your profile which version of 10.6 you have installed. I am currently at 10.6.8. If not I recommend that you install all the system and printer updates available and retry making your print settings.

If you are up to date then I suggest that you contact Epson technical support and ask them why those items are grayed out.

-louie


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## Maria (Sep 6, 2011)

Hi Louie,

Yup, I'm all up to date on drivers. I am using an iMac with 10.7.1 (Lion) installed and an Epson R2880 (should have said that a long time ago!). I, too, have been getting my Epson updates via the regular Mac updates and my current driver version is 8.61.

So, yes, I may have to call Epson if the problem continues. I'm going to try some printing later today, so if I have to call them, I will post back with the answer as to why certain printing options are currently greyed out.

Again, I really appreciate you hanging in there with me all this time! It's been very helpful......

Maria


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