Need to use an uncommon paper size? Most of us would just make a custom paper size in Page Setup, and that works well until you want to use that size all the time. You’ll try to go into the “Print & Fax” preference pane and see that custom paper sizes do not show up in the “Default Paper Size in Page Setup” selector.

That’s when we need to do a little digging… and hacking. These instructions are for Leopard, and will probably work in Snow Leopard, but I do not have the ability to check that. Printer settings are different in Tiger and earlier. I am not responsible for any problems.

1. Locate this file: ”/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/” … gasp for air…“Frameworks/PrintCore.framework/Versions/A/Resources/PaperInfo.xml”

2. Make a backup in case you screw up.

3. Make a copy on your Desktop.

4. Open the copy in TextEdit.

5. Make a new entry like the others, don’t copy from here:

	<key>com.apple.print.subTicket.paper_info_ticket 2</key>
	<dict>
		<key>PMPPDPaperCodeName</key>
		<string>Half Letter</string>
		<key>PMTiogaPaperName</key>
		<string>Half Letter</string>
		<key>com.apple.print.PaperInfo.PMPaperName</key>
		<string>Half Letter</string>
		<key>com.apple.print.PaperInfo.PMUnadjustedPageRect</key>
		<array>
			<real>0.0</real>
			<real>0.0</real>
			<real>360</real>
			<real>576</real>
		</array>
		<key>com.apple.print.PaperInfo.PMUnadjustedPaperRect</key>
		<array>
			<real>-18</real>
			<real>-18</real>
			<real>378</real>
			<real>594</real>
		</array>
		<key>com.apple.print.PaperInfo.ppd.PMPaperName</key>
		<string>Half Letter</string>
		<key>com.apple.print.ticket.APIVersion</key>
		<string>01.00</string>
		<key>com.apple.print.ticket.type</key>
		<string>com.apple.print.PaperInfoTicket</string>
	</dict>

6. Change the “<real>###</real>” values to suit you. The first two I didn’t touch. The next two are the dimensions inside the margins. The next two are the margins. The final two are the dimensions outside the margins. I don’t know what units these are but shown here is 5.5×8.5″ with 0.25″ margins, a.k.a. “Half Letter”.

7. Change the order if desired. I made mine second.

8. Copy back to original folder and authenticate with master password.