How to print a 5 x 7 folded greeting card in Photos?

What settings are people using to print a 5" x 7" folded photo greeting card at home from Apple Photos? I used to create a greeting card project and then instead of selecting "Buy Card" I would just hit "Print." But ever since Apple announced they are discontinuing print services, the print option is grayed out (see photo).


It should be possible to set this up by adjusting paper sizes from the regular print photo menu (e.g. create a custom paper size of 10" x 7"), but I can't figure out how to get the photo to print only on the bottom of the page so that it is properly aligned when the 10" x 7" card is folded in half. I'm using a Canon Pixma Pro-100, Photos v. 3.0, OS 10.13.6 on an iMac 27" (2017).


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iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.6)

Posted on Sep 14, 2018 10:10 AM

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Posted on Sep 14, 2018 11:49 AM

Here is my newly created functional workaround:


  1. Open another program (like Preview) and select print (but don't actually print!). Then under "Paper Size" go to "Manage Custom Sizes..." [this step is necessary because Apple Photos does not allow you to add a custom paper size).
  2. Create a new custom paper size: 7 in x 10 in with non-printable area as user-defined: Top (3.85 in), Left/Right/Bottom (.2 in). Name it something like "5 x 7 photo greeting card"
  3. Close without printing
  4. Open Photos, select photo, and hit print.
  5. Make sure that you select the newly created custom page size to print on.
  6. Select "Custom" size and set photo size to 6.6 in by 4.57 in.
  7. Print as usual.


The result is the whole photo prints on the bottom half of the page and then you can fold it in half to make your greeting card. I had to fiddle with the custom size and non-printable area settings (no idea why it doesn't actually correspond to the actual paper size), but these are the settings that are working for me. You may have to twiddle with them to get them to work for your printer.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 14, 2018 11:49 AM in response to a13z

Here is my newly created functional workaround:


  1. Open another program (like Preview) and select print (but don't actually print!). Then under "Paper Size" go to "Manage Custom Sizes..." [this step is necessary because Apple Photos does not allow you to add a custom paper size).
  2. Create a new custom paper size: 7 in x 10 in with non-printable area as user-defined: Top (3.85 in), Left/Right/Bottom (.2 in). Name it something like "5 x 7 photo greeting card"
  3. Close without printing
  4. Open Photos, select photo, and hit print.
  5. Make sure that you select the newly created custom page size to print on.
  6. Select "Custom" size and set photo size to 6.6 in by 4.57 in.
  7. Print as usual.


The result is the whole photo prints on the bottom half of the page and then you can fold it in half to make your greeting card. I had to fiddle with the custom size and non-printable area settings (no idea why it doesn't actually correspond to the actual paper size), but these are the settings that are working for me. You may have to twiddle with them to get them to work for your printer.

Sep 14, 2018 12:36 PM in response to Old Toad

Are you able to bring up the print command from the project menu? Any time I create a greeting card project (or I just tried it with a book), the print command is grayed out as shown in the original post. That's what disappeared for me in the last month or so, which I think coincides with Apple discontinuing the commercial print service for projects (I keep getting the attached window reminding me of this).


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Sep 17, 2018 11:50 AM in response to a13z

Some modifications have to be made to the process. Instead of print to PDF one needs to Control (right) - click on the card and Save as PDF. Then each page off the PDF needs to be converted to a jpeg file. Pages 1 and 3 (the front and back of the card will need to be joined together in an image editor (or Pages) that can do the joining. The inside of the card will be one page of 10 x 7.

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How to print a 5 x 7 folded greeting card in Photos?

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