Printing to a dot matrix printer from Internet Explorer 8 results in malformed characters

When printing to a dot matrix printer from Internet Explorer 8 on Windows XP or Windows 7, the output font in the printout is not the correct size. Additionally, printed characters may overlap adjacent characters. This problem does not exist when printing to a dot matrix printer from Internet Explorer 6 or Internet Explorer 7, and does not occur when printing from Internet Explorer 8 to a printer that is not dot matrix. 

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the products listed in the applies-to section.

To work around this problem, choose one of the following options:  

1. Use Internet Explorer 7 to print from instead of Internet Explorer 8. 


2. Set your printer resolution as used by Internet Explorer 8 to a square aspect (equal horizontal and vertical) if that option is available. If it is not, pick a resolution where the difference between the horizontal and vertical is not extreme, and preferably one where the horizontal is greater than the vertical. You can do this on a per-job basis, or set this as the printer defaults once by following these steps:

1. Open the Printers Control Panel
2. Right-click the dot-matrix printer
3. Select “Printing Preferences…”
4. Click the Advanced button
5. Under “Graphic” click “Print Quality” 
6. elect from the resolutions available for your printer. Choose a square resolution if it is available, or the closest available to square to minimize the problem described in this article.

3. Instead of printing from Internet Explorer, save the web page to disk and then open it in Microsoft Word. Then, print from Microsoft Word using a view other than Web view, such as Page View or Normal View.

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