Print legible plans on a small format printer

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Print legible plans on a small format printer

If you only have access to a standard format (e.g. A4 or Letter) printer it can be difficult to print a legible floor plan for lots of guests on a single sheet. Here are some suggestions:

Try printing in Landscape instead of Portrait mode (or vice versa) to better match the aspect ratio (height to width ratio) of the paper to the aspect ratio of your plan.

Print the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane on multiple sheets of paper and join them together (change the Size % in the print_16Print window to span your printout across multiple pages).

Print each table on a separate page from the table_circular_16Table Plan pane.

Set the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane to display seat numbers, instead of names, by selecting Seat number from the Display drop-down. Set the tablechart_16Table Chart pane to display seat numbers as well as names. Print out both floor_plan_16Floor plan and tablechart_16Table Chart panes. The floor plan can then be cross-referenced against the table chart.

Minimize the amount of empty space in the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane, for example by moving the tables closer together. This may seem counter-intuitive, but will allow text to appear bigger when the floor plan is scaled to fit the page.

Select Name only (radial) or Name only (banquet) from the Seats drop-down list at the top of the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane.

Shorten the names displayed in the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane, e.g. by selecting F. Last. from the Display drop-down list at the top of the pane. This will allow you to increase the font size.

Increase the size of the fonts in the floor_plan_16Floor Plan pane by clicking on the colours_and_fonts_16 button. The size of table and seat fonts can be set separately. But note that the text will be shrunk to fit so that it doesn't overlap other text.

Try a more legible font, e.g. Arial, Georgia or Verdana.

Advanced and Professional editions only

Use an E-shaped table type instead of making an E-shaped table from individual head and custom tables (the E-shaped table is more intelligent about how much space can be given to each name).

For E-shaped tables

oMove longer names to the 'external' sides of  (i.e. not between 2 sprigs).

oIncrease the distance between the 'legs' by making the 'top' sprig longer.

print e-shaped tables

NB/ Doubling the size of the tables, seats and fonts won't help, because then PerfectTablePlan will just scale them 50% smaller to fit on the page.

Alternatively:

Export the floor plan as a PDF and send it to someone with a larger format (e.g. A3 or A2) printer

Order a digital poster print from one of our partners

Display the plan on a VDU or plasma screen