This section has been requested and I'm a little hesitant as printers differ in the options they give, programmes that print are equally varied and then there is the Mac/PC question. However, as a baseline, all images here are 10 x 15 cm (effectively 4 x 6 in or postcard size) in portrait format.

Printing surface.

Although the major inkjet manufacturers do not guarantee results if their own inks and papers are not used together, there is a measure of leeway. We all use cheap paper for text printing, but combining thicker paper and inks is a matter of trial and error for images. Thicker paper (180gsm - 250gsm), if it is not glossy, will take a 'plain paper' printing quality setting better than 'photo' quality. Blank post/correspondence cards and matte papers 200gsm and over will make cards well. The instructions below are for cards printed as postcards and fitting a C6 envelope.

Printing on a PC

Right-click on the full size picture and choose Save Picture As, leaving the name unchanged save to desktop. Now right-click on the saved file and open with Windows Picture and Fax viewer. Click on the printer icon at the bottom of the screen and the Photo Printing Wizard will start. Click Next and you need to make sure the picture you want is selected (ie it is ticked), Click next, this gives Printing Options. Your normal printer will automatically be shown, so skip that and click the Printing Preferences button. You should find options to set

the size to 10 x 15 cm

the orientation to Portrait

the print quality to medium (not draft or best)

Click OK

Check that your picture will fit your 10 x 15 cm page by looking at the Print preview. If it doesn't fit try another of the Available layouts to the left of the picture. Once satisfied you can click Next to start printing.

Printing on a Mac

Drag the chosen full size image to the desktop and open it in Preview by double clicking it. Choose Page Setup from the File drop down menu. Under the Paper Size drop down menu if 10 x 15cm does not appear select Custom Sizes and fill in 10 x 15 cm in the Page Size field. You can alter the margins as you wish. Give your custom size a title by double clicking on Untitled. Click OK on the Custom Size Window. This returns you to Page Setup, check that 10 x 15 cm is in the Paper Size box, if not select it from the drop down menu as it will be there for future use. Click the portrait icon of not selected and then OK. Click Print under the File menu and you will get a preview image which you adjust further if you want. The print quality will probably be that which you use normally, there is no need to adjust it (using the Advanced button) for card printing unless you are printing on transparency film. Then click Print.

Other ideas

Inkjet ink is not waterproof and it is worth spraying the printed card with an inkjet fixer (such as Ghiant) to protect it.

Using inkjet transparency sheet makes interesting cards, this tends to come in A4 size and a printing programme like Photoshop is easier for printing several images at a time to fill the sheet.

Printing on thin Japanese and other Asian papers also makes good cards, but this is not a quick process and is outside the scope of producing a card in a hurry.

You don't even need to print the image out to send it as an email greeting, an attachment does the job.

The traditional method of putting an image in the bottom right hand corner of an A4 sheet and then folding the paper twice to make an A6 size card is deliberately not included here as producing a quick card on decent paper/card gives a better result. A supply of correspondence cards and C6 envelopes does what it says in the title - cardsinahurry.