Works: Problems Printing Envelopes to Epson ESC/P2 Printers

When you print envelopes from Works for Windows to an Epson ESC/P2 printer such as the Epson Stylus 800, the text may print in the wrong orientation (landscape instead of portrait). This problem occurs with versions 1.03, 1.04e and 1.61 of the ESCP2.DRV printer driver and includes the following Epson ESC/P2 printers:

• Stylus 300
• Stylus 800
• Stylus 800+
• Action Printer 3250 (AP-3250)

In addition, with some printer models such as the Stylus 800+, the following error message may be displayed:

Version 1.4 of this driver corrects the problem.

To obtain an update of the ESCP2.DRV printer driver, contact Epson technical support at (800) 922-8911. Note: Not all ESCP2.DRV driver versions support all ESC/P2 printers. Check with Epson to make sure the updated driver directly supports your printer model.

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If version 1.4 of the driver is not available, change the paper source to Tractor before creating the envelope. This will correct the problem for all ESC/P2 printers except the Stylus series (because there is no tractor feed option on Stylus printers).

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Add the following lines to the MSWORKS3.INI file to force portrait orientation where "x" is the number of the printer port being used (for example, 1 for LPT1).

NOTE: If the "page size and orientation settings" error message is still displayed, change the Width, Height and Orientation settings in the Works Page Setup dialog to match the Printer Setup settings.

Adding the lines above to the MSWORKS3.INI file also prevents this problem from occurring with the Epson EX-800 printer driver version V.2.10.

Envelopes print incorrectly to printers such as the Epson Stylus 800 using version 1.61 of the ESCP2.DRV printer driver, but they print correctly to the Epson LQ-570.

Printers such as the Epson LQ-570 print correctly because the Paper Source in Printer Setup is set to Tractor by default when the driver is installed. Printers such as the Epson Stylus 800 and Action Printer 3250 (AP-3250) print incorrectly because the Paper Source in Printer Setup is set to Sheet Feeder by default when the driver is installed.

Epson ESC/P2 printers include the following models:

• Stylus 300, 400, 800, 800+ and 1000
• Action Printers: AP-3250, AP-5000, AP-5000+, and AP-5500
• LQ-100, LQ-1070, LQ-1070+, LQ-1170, LQ-570, LQ-570+, and LQ-870
• SQ-1170 and SQ-870

The products included here are manufactured by vendors independent of Microsoft; we make no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding these products' performance or reliability.