Printing and Exporting Figures with MATLAB    

Drivers Provided by MATLAB

This section provides additional information about the various types of printer drivers available to MATLAB users. For information about specific drivers, see:

Windows Drivers

There are two MATLAB Windows printer drivers: color and black-and-white. This section discusses the unique aspects of the Windows drivers and the different ways to set them.

Support for the Windows Print Manager

MATLAB provides built-in Windows printer drivers so that your print requests can work with the Windows Print Manager. The Print Manager enables you to monitor printer queues and control various aspects of the printing process.

How the Default Windows Driver Is Handled

If a Windows driver is specified (-dwin or -dwinc), MATLAB interprets this to mean that the print request will use the Windows Print Manager. It also means that MATLAB will assign the default Windows driver based on your current printer's color property setting. In other words, MATLAB does not differentiate between -dwin or -dwinc in printopt.m and you may not get the expected output color.

Two Ways to Get the Correct Windows Driver

There are two ways to ensure that -dwin or -dwinc is used: specify the driver when you print, or use the Windows Document Properties dialog box to set the default driver.

Setting the Default Printer Driver with the Document Properties Dialog Box

You can use the printer's Document Properties dialog box to set the default driver for all print requests. This dialog box sets the printer's color property, which in turn sets the default Windows driver.

To access this dialog box, click the Options button on the Windows Print or Print Setup dialog box. See your Windows documentation if you need help with this dialog box. Document Properties dialog boxes vary from printer to printer. The figure below shows an example of one.

Figure 1-3: Windows Document Properties Dialog Box for an HP LaserJet 4Si

Correcting Color Results with Windows Drivers

Sometimes, even when you use the Windows Document Properties dialog box, you will receive incorrect color results because some Windows printers return inaccurate information about their color property setting.

If this happens, you can use the figure window's Preferences dialog box to override the color property. This setting is used as the default setting for all future print operations.

  1. Select Preferences from the figure window's File menu or from the File menu on the MATLAB command window.
  2. Select General Preferences.
  3. Under the Print Preferences group box, select Always send as color.
  4. Click OK to accept the new default setting, or Cancel to close the dialog box without changing.

Trouble with Native Drivers

Occasionally, printing problems are due to a bug in the native printer driver or an incompatibility between the native printer driver and the MATLAB driver.

If you are having trouble, try installing a different native printer driver. A newer version may be available from the manufacturer or from a different vendor. You may also be able to use the native driver from a different printer, such as an earlier model from the same manufacturer.

If this doesn't help, try using a PostScript or Ghostscript driver.


 Font Support for the Various Drivers PostScript Drivers