Finding One’s Roots – Pratola Serra – Avellino

In October 2021, during our travels in and around Naples, we quickly planned and later took a day trip to the small town of Pratola Serra^[1]The town’s name is actually one of great confusion, most likely because of all of the municipal and governmental changes through the years. Its actual name, at least when one looks back into the … Continue reading in the province of Avellino, region of Campania, Italy, the ancestral home of my wife’s paternal family. While there, we had a delightful discussion, through our guide and interpreter, with perhaps a very distant family member of this family, though it is impossible to know for sure. She was cafe and store owner with the same surname of De Cicco.

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Before she returned, we had a midday coffee at her cafe and discussed what we wanted to actually ask her, when and if she returned. We thought most of the questions should center around the small family tree we had brought with us and where we might be able to find lost family members, including where any might be in local cemeteries. In the meantime, we left the cafe temporarily to walk the streets of this small town and locate what we thought might be the old address of my wife’s paternal grandfather. After taking numerous photographs of the town’s main street and some of its more interesting buildings.

House Number 63 – SS 371, Pratola Serra – Oct 2021

The most pressing problem was the street, now called Strada Statale 371 (S.S. 371), and is no longer named via Nazionale (or for that matter never was called via Nazionale, it could be the wrong street) as it was in the Civil Records for this town back in the early twentieth century. As though that weren’t enough, we couldn’t be certain that even if we were on the correct street, and I thought we were, the numbers of the buildings were most probably wrong and could not be trusted. However, we took a photograph of the suspected building number 63 on S.S. 371, which appeared to be abandoned nonetheless, returning to the cafe after a short while in a light rain.

The Interview

The interview was done entirely in Italian and involved, for the most part, our guide and interpreter Frederica, from MindTheNap, and the Cafe Centrale’s owner Antonia De Cicco, with occasional statements and questions posed by our driver Fabio and my wife Patricia. No attempt has been made to separate voices of the different individuals speaking in the video. Moreover, the recording of each was taken by a phone at some distance, so the quality is not great and the volume may have to be adjusted to hear and understand what is being said. Additionally, in both cases, the recordings were started after the conversation had already begun. Lastly, the times on the left are approximate and may be off by quite a bit, depending on how the software that was used to analyze this recorded it. It was later re-edited by our guide with no changes to the time marks.

Interview Transcription And Translation

What follows is a transcription by our guide of the conversation as recorded, along with a fair translation into English, which isn’t perfect but good enough to understand what the conversation was about.

Transcript of PratolaSerra_DeCiccoInterview_Part1_Okt2021

- [00:00:00] E sono morti qui a Pratola. I figli invece sono andati in America. E questo corrente è il nonno della signora,
  - And they died here in Pratola. Instead, the children went to America. And this current is the grandfather of the lady,
- [00:00:08] Poi si è trasferito insomma.
  - Then he moved in short.
- [00:00:10] Il Nonno della Maria Beatrice.
  - The grandfather of Maria Beatrice.
- [00:00:12] No della Signora qua, questo è il nonno.
  - Not the Lady here, this is the grandfather.
- [00:00:13] Il nonno, si.
  - The grandmother, yes.
- [00:00:14] Benvenuto was your grandfather right? Yes, he was born here.
- [00:00:19] Forse bisognava andare in Comune.
  - Perhaps it is necessary to go to the town hall.
- [00:00:21] Ma non li hanno aiutati tanto, c’era il Signor Paolo
  - But they didn’t help them much, there was Mr. Paul
- [00:00:23] Quella Paolo è un poco…Prima c’era un’altra signora che aiutava molto. Adesso no. Eh..Poi c’è un’altra folta…Molto i De Cicco sono in una frazione di Pratola Serra che si chiama Saudelle, la sono quasi tutti De Cicco o Di Cicco.
  - That Paul knows a little … Before that, there was another lady who helped a lot. Not now. Eh … Then there is another thick … A lot of the De Cicco are in a fraction of Pratola Serra which is called Saudelle, almost all are De Cicco or Di Cicco.
- [00:00:47] Okay.
- [00:00:47] Poi molti di questi De Cicco si sono spostati verso Monte aperto che prima era collegata con noi. Là c’è un’altra folta comunità di De Cicco diciamo.
  - Then many of these De Cicco moved to Monte Aperto which was previously connected with us. There is another large community of De Cicco, let’s say.
- [00:01:02] Di questi nomi. Allora questo Antonio Di Cicco deceduto a Napoli nel 1859.
  - Of these names. Then this Antonio Di Cicco who died in Naples in 1859.
- [00:01:10] Si sono sposati nell’82 quindi stiamo parlando comunque di quasi due secoli fa.
  - They got married in 1982 so we are talking about almost two centuries ago anyway.
- [00:01:13] E quindi, ahhhhhh
  - And so, ahhhhhh
- [00:01:16] Infatti quello è il problema, purtroppo ovviamente siamo molto indietro nel tempo.
  - In fact that is the problem, unfortunately we are obviously far behind in time.
- [00:01:19] E Si, pensi che io sono nata nel 1959 quindi sono nata un secolo dopo.
  - And yes, when you think I was born in 1959, so I was born a century later.
- [00:01:26] Non ma infatti stavo dicendo loro stavo dicendo loro che non avendo i parenti di questi quì che sono scesi che forse sono ancora a Pratola.
  - No, but in fact I was telling them, I was telling them that not having the relatives of these here, who have come down that maybe they are still in Pratola.
- [00:01:32] Forse forse se Paolo aiutava, tra parentesi, uno poteva risalire ai parenti di Antonio Di Cicco e Maria Beatrice di Fabrizio, Di Fabrizio e quindi vedere quali erano i parenti e quindi risalire alla…
  - Perhaps, perhaps if Paul can help, by the way, one could go back to the relatives of Antonio Di Cicco and Maria Beatrice di Fabrizio, Di Fabrizio and then see which were the relatives and then go back to …
- [00:01:53] Si perchè siccome loro sono tutti e tre andati in America il loro ramo della famiglia si è fermato a Pratola, non ha continuato. Però ora secondo me questo può aver continuato.
  - Yes, because since all three of them went to America, their branch of the family stopped in Pratola, it didn’t continue. But now, in my opinion, this may have continued.
- [00:02:00] Sicuramente, sì. Per quello che mi ricordo io di questi Aniello, Fiore e Benvenuto di questi io non ho un ricordo ma…di questi nomi no. Antonio De Cicco ce ne sono ancora adesso svariati a Pratola, Di Cicco, De Cicco. Però secondo me le origini partono da Saudelle perché il ceppo là è nato diciamo che di questi..di questa si.
  - Surely. From what I remember, I don’t have a memory of these Aniello, Fiore and Benvenuto, but, I don’t remember these names. Antonio De Cicco there are still several in Pratola, Di Cicco, De Cicco. But in my opinion the origins start from Saudelle because the stock was born there let’s say that of these… of this one [family].
- [00:02:31] Ok, perfetto, grazie mille.
  - Ok, perfect, thanks a lot.

Transcript of PratolaSerra_DeCiccoInterview_Part2_Okt2021

- [00:00:00] Di passaggio
  - Passing
- [00:00:01] Diciamo. Però i De Cicco venivano tutti da queste zone queste frazioni di Pratola via Saudelle oppure Serra di Pratola, ok un’altra cosa quindi, quindi poi dopo si è formato Pratola Serra…perché vedendo quando è nato 1859.
  - Let’s say. But the De Cicco family all came from these areas, these hamlets of Pratola via Saudelle or Serra di Pratola. Okay, one more thing then, then later Pratola Serra was formed… because seeing when he was born 1859.
- [00:00:18] Potrebbe essere. E un’altra cosa signora, perché loro hanno recuperato il certificato di nascita del Nonno e dice che è nato a via Nazionale…via Nazionale é San Michele di Pratola e un’altra frazione di Pratola.
  - Could be. And another thing madam, because they have recovered the birth certificate of their grandfather and says that he was born in via Nazionale … via Nazionale is San Michele di Pratola, another hamlet of Pratola.
- [00:00:32] C’è proprio via Nazionale. La strada che é via Nazionale. Okay, Via Nazionale sarebbe San Michele di Pratola Serra quindi la parte di là, la parte alta di…Perché Pratola Serra ha tre frazioni, Serra di Pratola che era il Comune originale, poi c’è San Michele di Pratola da noi comunemente detto masserie perché erano tutte masserie che sarebbe questa Zona qua.
  - There is just via Nazionale [she points to a street on the map]. The street that is via Nazionale. Okay, Via Nazionale would be San Michele di Pratola Serra so the part beyond, the upper part of… Because Pratola Serra has three hamlets: Serra di Pratola which was the original municipality, then there is San Michele di Pratola commonly used by us said farmers, because they were all farms that this area would be here.
- [00:00:58] Se ho ben capito bene questa San Michele di Pratola è la strada che sale di fronte alla Fiat giusto?
  - If I understand correctly this San Michele di Pratola is the road that goes up in front of the Fiat [meaning the Fiat manufactorer in Pratola], right?
- [00:01:03] No quella va a Serra di Pratola.
  - No that goes to Serra di Pratola.
- [00:01:05] No quella è Serra di Pratola.
  - No that’s Serra di Pratola.
- [00:01:06] Là sopra dove c’è il Castello che era il vecchio comune originale. San Michele di Pratola si sale di qua. Okay si sale di qua. Invece Via Saudelle. Salendo di qua dove c’è il c’è il plesso scolastico qui si va in campagna…dove c’è il cimitero dall’altro lato.
  - Up there, where there is the Castle [this must be the ruins of Casa dell’Orco], was the original old town. San Michele di Pratola, you go up from here. Okay go up here. Instead Via Saudelle. Going up from here, where there is the school complex, here you go to the countryside… where there is the cemetery on the other side.
- [00:01:24] Okay però siccome lei ha detto via Nazionale allora è San Michele di Pratola
  - Okay but since you said via Nazionale, then it is San Michele di Pratola.
- [00:01:30] Okay andiamo a controllare lì perfetto, grazie mille signora, Lì c’è un altro bar a San Michele…voi salite sopra…Allora andate al cimitero non il cimitero questo.
  - Okay, let’s check, there perfect [points to map on phone], thank you very much lady, there is another bar in San Michele… you go up… then go to this cemetery, not this cemetery.
- [00:01:40] Quell’altro vecchio.
  - That other old one.
- [00:01:41] Voi forse se volevate vedere qualcosa dovevate andare al cimitero quello vecchio.
  - Maybe if you wanted to see something, you have to go to the old cemetery.
- [00:01:45] Ma ci hanno detto che non c’era niente là. No perché questo nuovo diciamo tra parentesi è stato aperto nel periodo del terremoto intorno agli anni ottanta diciamo quindi sicuramente i vecchi non c’erano qua perché il cimitero era quello.
  - But they told us there was nothing there. No, because this new one, let’s say in brackets, was opened in the period of the earthquake around the eighties, let’s say so surely the old ones weren’t here because that was the cemetery.
- [00:02:00] Quello là vecchio sopra.
  - The old one over there.
- [00:02:01] Salendo per il cimitero vecchio. Voi l’avete visto. Allora andate al cimitero vecchio dopo cento metri c’è un bivio. Sono le due varianti, voi andate dritto sopra e arrivata a San Michele di Pratola che in realtà è una strada lunga arrivate nella sommità dove c’è la chiesa c’è un bar là magari trovare qualcuno che vi vuole dare una mano.
  - Going up to the old cemetery. You have seen it. Then go to the old cemetery after a hundred meters there is a crossroads. There are two choices, you want to go straight up and then will arrive in San Michele di Pratola, which is actually a long road.
- [00:02:25] Gentile come lei insomma.
  - In short, as kind as you are.
- [00:02:27] Grazie signora. Grazie mille.
  - Thank you Madam. A thousand thanks.

The Municipal Building

Municipal Building – Pratola Serra – Oct 2021

After our nice conversation at the bar we visited the local Municipal Building, where the public records are held. We had to hurry, because it was getting late and nearing lunchtime, and we all know what that means in Italy. There, we checked in with the local hall monitor and waited in line, since there was already someone in the office and there were Covid restrictions in place.

Municipal Building – Pratola Serra – Receptionist

Once inside, it took our guide some time to convince the gentleman that was to help us, that we had come a long way and only needed a bit of information. At first, he was very resistant and complained mildly that he had to close in twenty minutes and was not sure he could help us in that time. However, after some cajoling and seeing that family tree that we had given our guide, his interest was piqued.

Frederica and Paolo (Paul) – Municipal Building – Pratola Serra – Oct 2021

Federica, our guide, slowly got him to open up on whether he could help us at all. He admitted that his local historic knowledge was not that great and that they had been sending many of the old historical civil documents to the main Municipal Building in Avellino.

Luckily, after perusing the family tree and seeing Benvenuto De Cicco’s name and his birth date, he went into the back room and emerged very quickly with a large ledger. He opened it and within a matter of seconds had Benvenuto’s birth record in front of us. Though I had already found this in the electronic archives that Italy has, I nonetheless took a photograph, if only to show him he hadn’t wasted his time with us.

Benvenuto De Cicco – Birth Record – Municipal Building – Pratola Serra – Oct 2021

It appeared after taking our photograph we had exhausted our time and it was also time for his lunch break.

The Old Cemetery

De Ciccos — St Michele Cemetery – PratolaSerra, Avelino – Oct 2021

The old cemetery is located on the outskirts of Pratola Serra on via Provinciale 61, or SP 61, in the direction of San Michele di Pratola. When we arrived, it happened to be open and though it was very cold with the threat of rain, we parked and went inside quickly to take as many photographs as we could. There was no doubt, there were a lot of De Ciccos and Fabrizios interred there, but after a thorough search no direct relations.

Saint Michele Di Pratola Cimitero – PratolaSerra, Avelino – Oct 2021

Restaurants

Valleverde Ristorante

Inside Restaurant Valleverde, Atripalda Avellino – Oct 2021

To complete our trip, our guide Frederica suggested lunch at a local restaurant on the way back to Naples. Located on Via Pianodardine, in Atripalda Avellino, the Valleverde Ristorante was a welcome sight after a day of exploring and investigations. We had a simple lunch that included water, wine and a pasta dish. And, as per usual with most restaurants in Italy, the food was delicious, well prepared and very reasonably priced. We had a great time and discussed what we thought we learned from the trip and what might be our next steps in our search for my wife’s living relatives, distant or otherwise. Again, Frederica and Fabio, at MindTheNap, did an excellent job and if you are ever in the Naples area and looking for a local guide, look them up, they are exceptional. Until next time, Ciao..!

References[+]

References
↑1	The town’s name is actually one of great confusion, most likely because of all of the municipal and governmental changes through the years. Its actual name, at least when one looks back into the 19^th and 20^th centuries, is Pratola di Serra. This makes perfect sense, since there is a commune called Serra not far away. It is most likely that at one time it was just called Pratola and belonged to this commune and not Avellino, a change made later by governmental bodies.

25 February, 202225 February, 2022

HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-in-One Printer Custom Forms Issue

This short paper outlines a problem that many users have properly configuring forms to print with custom paper sizes on the 7740. This is largely due to insufficient, outdated or wrong information that is contained on many fora and also in the product’s User Guide. The solution hopefully more clearly states the crucial step or steps in the procedure to do this and how to avoid issues.

The Problem

Users who have purchased and use HP’s OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-In-One Printer, from here on known simply as the printer, on claims that it supports wide formats, custom forms and other desirable features, quickly find that there are issues with the documentation. Part of the problem is also due to customer’s misunderstanding, or more precisely their lack of knowledge, of printer paper size, forms and how they map to paper sizes, lastly the proper printer and application configurations to use. This paper hopes to ameliorate this misunderstanding.

This paper specifically deals with the custom form issue, as provided by HP’s HP Smart ^[1]HP Smart is a product and trademark of the HP Inc., formerly Hewlett-Packard Corporation.application on Microsoft’s Windows 10^[2]Microsoft Windows 10 is a product trademark of the Microsoft Corporation, Inc. platform, from here referred to as Windows 10. A user cannot set the printer’s paper size to any strange values and expect the related application software drivers to recognize it by defining any custom form, rather they must first understand that this printer has paper size detection, paper size limits and other constraints. Any one of these may prevent the paper size from presenting itself to the user when they finally try to print, using the form that they may have setup.

The HP application software that were used on Windows 10 platform for this exercise were HP Smart, version 134.1.221.0 and the documentation for HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Wide Format All-In-One series, User Guide, © 2020 HP Corporation.

A Word About HP Smart

The software solution on Windows 10 that HP promotes and supports, is the HP Smart application. In fact, attempts to install the appropriate drivers to make this device work without using this product, normally end in failure. It has become HP’s go-to all-around solution for it’s printer products and HP has adopted this common application approach for it’s entire printer product line, the 7740 being no exception. In order to do so, it relies heavily on the printer’s auto-detection capabilities for paper size and type, which in some cases can severely confuse the end user. This most often occurs due to a lack of understanding on what is going on under the covers. Otherwise, HP Smart appears to be a very reliable and sound application, with respect to the printer in question.

What About HP Support?

The HP Support Team appears to acknowledge users who have trouble with this printer and custom forms. There are numerous anecdotes and stories that one can find with a simple search. However, most of these issues are sometimes not resolved by the support team, who are most likely not developers and rely too much on the documentation, which as has been already asserted, rather vaguely addresses the issue. When faced with a customer’s constant attention to this issue, support will eventually stop responding, or more likely, the customer politely ends the narrative with thanks for trying to help me. At that point one’s only recourse is to peruse the Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQs, on HP’s Support website, in the hopes for finding an answer to no avail.

HP Applications

As of this writing, the 7740 and newer HP printers no longer have printer device drivers in Microsoft’s Windows Drivers repository, at least none that work very well. Performing any type of Windows Printer Add procedure and a Windows Update, will reveal only back level, non-supported device drivers^[3]A Device Driver is not to be confused with the printer’s firmware, which actually works as designed.. The customer is eventually forced to install the HP Smart application, which in turn installs a printer specific application for HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 Series Printing Properties (desktop icon).

The former, requires an internet connection and an HP Smart account for some functions to work, since it connects to HP’s main website to ensure entitlement to software and product support. The latter, controls operating system specific properties, ostensibly those that HP supports for that platform and product.

The User Manual

All of the User Manual material devoted to this subject on pages 33 and 34, indicate that custom forms are supported and work on Windows 10. However, in actual practice, many of the steps or actions pointed out in the material are erroneous, not available (out of date). However, for those who have a development background, have many years of experience with such printers, or can read between the lines; you can be successful at using custom forms.

The first paragraph on Page 33 under Print on special and custom-size paper implies that if one is unable to set the custom paper size in the application, it is somehow the application’s fault. The truth of the matter is, the custom form size was more than likely incorrectly defined.

Before beginning any of the below, the user should understand that Tray 1 of the printer is also called the Main Tray, it is the only one that can accept custom paper sizes!

The Printer – Setting Custom Paper Size

Setting the paper size for the printer (hardware) can be done in one of two ways, both of which successfully set the paper size to custom. Apparently this setting informs the printer’s firmware that an unknown paper size will be used, or one that cannot be properly detected by the hardware, and to accept any paper size overrides directly from the operating system or application. This is very important to understand. You may set the Main Tray to custom and still print Letter or other predefined paper sizes, as long as they are selected in the application during printing.

Unfortunately the Users Manual does not go into the procedure for loading a custom paper size and how to set the display. At least, a quick perusal of the table of contents or the entire document would reveal it as an omission. One can question whether that implies a lack of support. If that were the case, you would think the documentation would be changed to remain the salient sections for such support on the user’s end.

Printer Console Procedure

To set the paper size to custom manually, using the printer’s LCD console display, perform the following.

- Standing directly in front of the printer, remove Tray 1 (the top most tray).
- On the display a message will appear indicating the Tray 1 is open.

HP Printer Console – Opening Tray 1 Message

- Insert your paper into Tray 1, of course it must be one that fits an accepted width of the printer. For this exercise a sheet 8.5” x 40” was used, the paper inserted tight against the front wall of the tray and the remainder hung out of the top of the printer tray.
- Upon closing the printer tray the console will change and prompt you to change the paper size setting

HP Printer Console – Modify the Paper Size – Modify

- Click on Modify to change the paper size (as you can see it has already been set to custom). The next screen will appear where you can scroll down and select Custom (it was the last entry in the list on this printer).

HP Printer Console – Paper Size – Select Custom

- Click on Custom, the display will change so the user can verify all choices and accept them. For this exercise the paper type used was just Plain Paper.

HP Printer Console – Tray 1 Paper Setup – Done

- Click on Done. The printer is now set up to accept a Custom paper size for Tray 1.

HP Smart Procedure

To set the paper size to custom, using the HP Smart application on Windows 10, perform the following.

- From double-clicking the desktop icon or by selecting Start → HP Smart, start the HP Smart application. The application below should appear.

HP Smart – Main Dialog – Printer Settings

- Click on Printer Settings, the dialog below will appear, showing current printer settings (some have been blurred for security).

HP Smart – Main Dialog – Printer Information

- Click on Advanced Setting, the dialog below will appear.

HP Smart – Main Dialog – Advanced Settings

- Click on Settings, the dialog below will appear.

HP Smart – Main Dialog – Advanced Setting – Tray and Paper Management

- Under Preferences, click on Tray and Paper Management, the dialog above will change to show the current Tray settings for the printer. Using the pulldown, set the Paper Size to Custom.
- Click Apply and close the application, if no other changes are needed.

Application – Setting Up Custom Forms

Setting up customer forms is the most important setting. However, the instructions that are in the User Manual need an apparent refresh.

Understanding Custom Form and Printer Paper Size

The user must first understand the relationship between the custom form size and the paper size that will be used. To explain this, it is probably best to demonstrate with an example.

Given a printer job that requires a banner to be printed on piece of normal paper cut from a roll of paper and that measures 8.5 inches high by 40 inches long, we can think of this in two different ways.

1. 40 inches wide x 8.5 inches high
2. 8.5 inches wide x 40 inches high

As can be seen by the two measurements above, they appear to be the same; and for most practical purposes they are. However, upon closer inspection the user should recognize that the printer in question cannot handle a paper which is 40 inches wide; but it can handle a paper that is 8.5 inches wide and very long. Therefore, when defining the custom form for this particular job, there is really only one solution.

- Width: 8.5”
- Height: 40”

The next consideration will be determining how the banner is printer on a paper of the above size. Since our test banner in the illustration above requires it be read lengthwise, the following additional paper property must be considered when printing.

- Paper Orientation: Landscape

Procedure To Correctly Set A Usable Form Size

Once the above decisions have been made, it is a straightforward matter to map the above values into a custom form and the correct paper size and orientation when printing.

Print on Special and Custom-Size Paper – Page 33

On page 33 there are very specific steps to set up custom forms on Microsoft Windows. They are still valid on Microsoft Windows 10, but with the following modifications.

- Depending on your operating system, do one of the following:
  - Windows 10: From the Windows Start menu, mouse over to the applications listed on the right, scroll down to Windows System, right-click to expand, select Control Panel.

- - From Control Panel, click Devices and Printers, find the HP 7740, then select and click on the Print server properties on the second menu bar.

Control Panel -> Devices and Printers — Select Print Server Properties to Create From

- The Print Server Properties dialog is displayed below. Check the Create a new form box.
- Enter the new Form Name for the custom paper size. For this example, the following were used:
  - Form name: Landscape8.5x40
  - Width: 40”
  - Height: 8.5”
  - Printer Area Margins: 0.12” (or something similar, for all four settings)
- Enter the dimensions of the new paper, along with the printer margins to respect in the Form description (measurements) section.
- The Save Form button will be highlighted once information is added, click on it to save the form, then press Close

Print Server Properties – Create a new form

- In the example above, a custom form for a long piece of paper that was cut from a roll of 8.5 inch paper and fed into the Main Tray, also known as Tray 1 (the only tray that supports custom paper sizes), was used. At this point, the custom form has been created successfully.

With the printer paper size now set to custom and a custom form size that is properly set, it should now be an easy matter of using both of these to print the project. If the new custom form size does not appear in your application’s printer paper size as an option when printer, the most likely cause of this is an invalid custom form size.

Application – Using and Printing with Custom Paper Sizes

This section details efforts to test whether or not documents can actually be printed using the new custom forms.

Custom Form Check in Device Setting

As a separate exercise, an easy check to see if the new form will be used by the printer driver, one can easily try and set the default printer properties dialog.

1. 1. 1. - To see if the printer driver that was installed by HP Smart will actually detect the new form, we can attempt to adjust the default paper size to use it.
        
        As can be seen by the pull-down above, the new custom form size that was created is shown as an option in the list. Checking all other applications, for example Adobe Reader, will lead to similar results.

HP OfficeJet Pro 7740 sereis PCL-3 Default Device Settings

Setting Up Printer Properties for Custom Form Sizes

Regardless of trying to set the default device properties as previously demonstrated, a walk through of the current Users Manual write up on how to use the new custom form must be undertaken. The User Manual states the following on Page 34 for printing with custom paper sizes. This appears to work as written and the user should have no further problems, with the possible exception of forgetting to load paper of unusually long lengths manually. In such instances, it is best to leave paper Tray 1 empty each time, since the printer will remind the user that paper is missing if an attempt is made to print without any.

Print on Special and Custom-Size Paper (Windows) – Page 34

References[+]

References
↑1	HP Smart is a product and trademark of the HP Inc., formerly Hewlett-Packard Corporation.
↑2	Microsoft Windows 10 is a product trademark of the Microsoft Corporation, Inc.
↑3	A Device Driver is not to be confused with the printer’s firmware, which actually works as designed.