The first step in using Easel is setting up the page on which you will compose. The Printer Selection and Page Setup (PS) window is where you do so.
The PS window appears automatically whenever you start a new composition by selecting File/New on the main menu. To access the window while working on an existing composition, select File/Page Setup on the main menu or click the Page Setup icon on the toolbar.
Because each printer has its own collection of supported paper sizes, you must select a printer before you can set up the page. Easel fills the Printer list with the names of all printers currently installed on the computer. The first time the PS window is shown, the default printer is selected, but you can click the down arrow to the right of the list and select any of the printers shown. The printer you select will be used for all subsequent compositions, until/unless you select a different one.
Note 1: When the PS window first appears and whenever you change the selected printer, Easel queries the printer for the list of supported paper sizes and sources. In general, the printer driver takes care of this, so it doesn't matter if the printer itself is on or off. However, there may be cases where the printer needs to be turned on for these queries to succeed.
Note 2: The last item on the list of printers is Online Printer. Select this printer if you wish to send your composition to an online photo site for printing. See Using Online Photo Sites for more info.
When you chose a printer, Easel populates the Paper Size and Source lists with supported values, ready for you to make your choice. To do so, scroll with the arrow keys or display each list by clicking the down arrow to the right, then click on the size and source you want.
Note 1: While paper source has traditionally been a physical attribute of the printer (e.g. tray, manual feed slot, envelope feeder, etc), this is no longer necessarily the case. My printer lists Sheet and Sheet (Borderless) as separate choices. In either case, the physical source is the same (the sheet feeder), and the difference is coverage: if you want to use the printer's ability to make borderless prints, you must select the borderless source.
Note 2: If you select a printer and a page size and then change the printer, Easel will attempt to find and select the same page size in the new printer's list. However, there is little consistency in the way printer manufacturers write their drivers and Easel may fail to find the matching size, so always check the page size selection after selecting a new printer.
If you want the page oriented with the longest edge vertical, chose Portrait. To have the longest edge horizontal, choose Landscape.
Setting the margins for your composition is pretty straightforward: just enter the values.
If the Apply Left Margin to All box is checked, anything entered in the Left box will be applied to the other 3, for symmetric margins.
If the Use Metric System box is checked, margin measurements are expressed in centimeters. If not checked, margin measurements are in inches. Note that your setting here affects measurements through out Easel, and that metric versus English units of measure can also be set on the Toolbox Settings window.
If the Print Border Outline box is checked, Easel will display and print a thin black rectangle at the margins.
Use the Test button to see if the current margin settings are supported by the printer. Most printers have minimum margin settings, i.e. they cannot print right up to the edge of the paper in 1 or more dimensions. When you click the Test button, Easel sends commands to the printer telling it to set the margins as specified, then queries the printer about the result. If the actual margins are larger than the settings, the settings will be adjusted accordingly.
The Adjust Settings... button opens a window for configuring Easel to maintain performance when working with very large compositions. For more info, see Working with Large Compositions.