Printing enlarged images in Windows programs is notoriously difficult. Because the original tract maps are about 36 x 33" in size the screen images must be sized to fit the size of the paper in the printer - usually 8½ x 11. The help tips below were adapted from an excellent tutorial at the University of North Carolina How to Print Out Census 2000 Maps in PDF Format.

Census tract maps are in Portable Document Format (PDF). Adobe Acrobat Reader, is a free download from Adobe.com and will be needed on your computer to access these files. Using the magnifier properties of Adobe Acrobat Reader maps can be enlarged or scaled to larger sizes to reveal more of their details. Regardless of the magnification size of the image showing on the screen using the print command in Adobe Acrobat Reader will only print a small scale version of the full map.

To print a large scale sized map of a selected area or the full map

• Open the map in Adobe Reader
• Using the Zoom in/out tool to enlarge the map to the size you wish to print.
• Select the Graphics Select Tool this will change the cursor to a cross hair symbol..
• Position the cursor over the area you wish to print.
• Hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor over the desired area. When the button is released an outlined box should be visible.
• Library Public PCs:
  Click on the File menu and Click Print.
  Mark 'Selected Graphic' and Click Print or OK.
  Selected area will be scaled down to fit on one page.
• All others:
  Right click in the outlined box and click on Copy. This copies the selected area to the Windows Clipboard.
• The Print option in this box will not print the large scale image.

Printing the Map

Note: Depending on amount of memory, computer power available, and size of image selected for printing the processing time by the computer will vary. If you have limited resources be prepared for your system to grind on for a while. Results in printing can also vary depending on the default settings in the programs used and especially in the printer.

Printing on one page

• Open a word processor: Wordpad or Word and Paste (from the Edit menu) or Right click within the document window and select Paste.
• The selected area of the map copied to the Clipboard should now appear.
• It will print at a scale that will fit on one page of paper.
• Thus, if a small area had been selected you are likely to get a map at the desired scale, but if a large area was selected you will not.

Printing the full area selected at the desired scale

This will require the use of a drawing program such as MS Paint. We will focus on MS Paint since it is available on almost all Windows computers.

• Click on the Start icon (lower left hand corner of screen).
• Click on Programs.
• Click on Accessories.
• Select Paint - MS Paint will open.
• In the select Paste or right click inside the drawing area of Paint and click on Paste.
• The image copied earlier to the Windows Clipboard will open up. It can now be printed, saved, or further manipulated using the MS Paint tools.
• If the map image selected was of a large scale and large area, it may take several pages to print it completely. The borders of the pages can be cut off, and the pages spliced together to produce the map.