Preparing and Printing Maps

There are three steps to printing maps:

Define the map area to include in the printed map. The Paper Area and the Defined Area are independent. The Paper Area shows how much of the current map extents are possible to print on a given page and is moved to set the general area of interest to print. The Defined Area enables you to select the precise map area to print. So while the Paper Area may cover several townships, dragging the boundaries of the Defined Area box enables you to print a single township. The Defined Area is saved along with your map. When print scale, or paper area (whether by changing printers, margins, orientation, page size, border, and so on) are changed, the Defined Area automatically fills the new paper area.
Select the elements to include, their position on the page, and their display properties. A WYSIWYG layout enables you to configure exactly how the printed page will look before you print.
Print either the current map extents or the Defined Area. The Defined Area doesn't have to be displayed in order for you to print it.

Jobs can be printed to PDF or to image format (.bmp, .gif, .jpg, .png, .tiff, .emf, and .wmf) and included in other documents or presentations. If printing to PDF, map layers with fills (Land, Fields, Pools, and Units, etc.) that have transparency enabled cause large PDF files to be created, which Acrobat Reader is unable to launch. Disable transparency by either selecting a solid fill or no fill for the above layers.

Changes you make to the print layout are retained for future AccuMap sessions. You can also the configuration as a template that you apply to any map.

To define print areas

Using the Ribbon toolbar, with the Print tab displayed, click the Show Defined Area check box.
The Defined Area doesn't have to be displayed in order to print what falls within its extents.

An outline showing the default Defined Area and the Paper Area appears on the map (Print Area bounded by black line, Defined Area bounded by pink line). By default, the Defined Area and the Paper Area are the same size and are roughly half the size of the map window, but you can drag a line of either to change this providing the Lock Defined Area to Paper Area check box is cleared and Edit mode () is selected in the ribbon in the Print tab.

Select from the following options:

Printer configuration - click Printer Selection () and using the Print dialog box, select the desired printer and then click Preferences to set hardware print options. The settings from which you can choose using the resulting Printing Preferences dialog box are based on the particular printer and are not covered here.
Paper configuration - using the Setup group, click Margins () to select from four basic settings or to click Custom below the standard settings to display the Page Setup dialog box where you specify custom margins and paper sizes, Orientation () to select either Portrait for vertical length or Layout for horizontal length, and Size () to select standard paper sizes. These same paper sizes are available from the Margins option above when you click Custom to display the Page Setup dialog box.
Scale 1: - by default, the scale is such that the Defined Area fits within the Paper Area (and the Paper Area is roughly half of the size of the map window). This scale is used when you click Print Preview ().
Edit - to drag the Defined Area (and accompanying Paper Area) so that it covers the general area to print. Drag the Defined Area to more accurately select the specific map area to print. By default, the Defined Area fills the Paper Area, but you can drag it smaller to increase the margins. When the Defined Area is smaller or larger than the Paper Area, the Fit Defined Area to Paper Area () option becomes active, which you click to match the Defined Area extents to the Paper Area. Lock Defined Area to Paper Area which fills the paper area with the defined area changing the scale as required.

The cursor appears as follows when hovered over an area other than the Print Area or Defined Area:
- to move the current map so that the Defined Area appears in the center of the map. This is handy when you've panned away from the Defined Area and want to move back to it.
- to place the Defined Area in the center of the current map extents. This is handy when you want to use the current map, but don't want to have drag the Defined Area box to it.
Click Save Template () to save the current configuration as a template that controls the presentation of printed maps.

To print maps

Using the Ribbon toolbar, with the Print tab displayed, click either of the following:

Print Preview Map () - Display the Print Preview dialog box based on the current map using the map center point and the Scale 1: defined in the bottom-right of the map window. Using the Print Preview option, click Apply Template () to apply a configuration template that you previously saved to the current map. You can use this template as is, or modify it further and then save it as well as a print map configuration template.
Paper configuration - Using the Page Setup group, click Margins () to select from four basic settings or to click Custom below the standard settings to display the Page Setup dialog box where you specify custom margins and paper sizes, Orientation () to select either Portrait for vertical length or Layout for horizontal length, and Size () to select standard paper sizes. These same paper sizes are available from the Margins option above when you click Custom to display the Page Setup dialog box.

The Print Preview dialog box appears.

Select from the following options:

Print - Click Print () and using the Print dialog box, select the desired printer and then click Preferences to set hardware print options. The settings from which you can choose using the resulting Printing Preferences dialog box are based on the particular printer and are not covered here.
Page Setup - Described in step 1 (2nd bullet) above.
Using the Zoom group in the ribbon menu, zoom a specific percent (), or zoom in () or out () where each click halves or doubles your current map scale
OR
Drag the slider in the bottom-right corner of the Print Preview dialog box.
Layout - Click Layout () and then either Default to select the most common printed map elements, or click Map or Legend and then select other elements that you may want to print . To position or resize items on the printed page by dragging them in the preview pane, click Edit Mode (). The Layout and whether edit mode is enabled appears in the bottom-right of the Print Preview dialog box.

To specify the location of map elements, simply drag the element to the desired location as depicted below. You can also click the name of the map element that appears in the pane to the right of the Print Preview dialog box to select the element and then drag it to the desired location.

If you change the size of the paper after customizing the location of map objects, the relative position of all of the map objects are maintained. If you enable a map element by selecting the check box to the left of it that was previously cleared, the enabled map object appears in the top left of the preview pane and can be dragged to the desired location.
To change the display properties of individual map objects, using the Print Setup pane, click the desired map object.

The lower portion of the Print Setup pane displays controls to modify the map element. The type of display controls displayed depend on the map object selected. For example, click Map to set whether the map background is transparent. Click Company Information to import an image of the corporate logo.

Configure the desired display options. For Color, click the drop-down list and select either the Palette or Named tab and click the desired color. To change the opacity, click , and then drag the slider as depicted.

To specify whether a map object appears on the printed map, click the check box to the left of the name of that map object in the Print Setup pane. The Product Information check box can't be cleared, and the Title Box check box can't be cleared if the Map check box is enabled.
As map objects are removed and added to the display, other elements in the map shrink or expand accordingly to best utilize the available space.

If using the Print Preview Defined Area dialog box, click Save Template () to save the current configuration as a template that controls the presentation of printed maps.