Create a custom size for multiple photo printing in Roxio's Easy Media Creator V.9 Deluxe Media Manager The Contact Sheet option in Media Manager can be used to print custom size multiple photos to work around EMC's lack of custom sizing for multiple photo printing. (Check the included templates first. There are so many you will probably find the desired size.) In a nutshell, all you are doing is just adding up all of the elements that span the width of the paper (margins and photos) and subtracting them from the total page width to get your leftover "space" value, and then dividing that number by the number of gutters you have. That gives the "Spacing" number that will determine the width of your photos. I haven't tested this on every paper-size choice that Roxio provides, but once you know what margins Media Manager uses for a certain size paper, the rest is mostly just subtraction. The original question was to be able to print 4, 1.7-inch square photos on a 4 x 6 photo paper, for which this method worked fine. I haven't tried this with portrait-oriented photos, only landscape-oriented and square. Using photos deeper than they are wide might not work because at a small spacing they might be too deep for the number of rows you put in and would not print at the desired width. It isn't as complicated as the table below might seem, but I provide it in case anyone wants to follow step by step.

To access Media Manager's Print window:

Go to Start > All Programs > Roxio > My Media > Media Manager. Once in Media Manager, browse the computer to find the pictures slated for printing and select (highlight) them. (If they are in more than one folder, just select the ones from the folder you are in; you can go back from within the Print window later to get more from different locations.)

Click on the Print icon (or File > Print) to open the Print Dialog window to set up the custom-size photo printing page(s).

Media Manager's Print Settings dialog window:

Example, Part One

I have 9 different photos that I want each to print at 1.7 inches wide, and I find that size is not listed in the myriad templates available in Media Manager. I want to print them on 8.5 x 11 paper. First, I gather measurements. For letter-size paper, Media Manager sets the margins at .25 inch or 0.635 cm. (To convert inches to cm, multiply by 2.54. Or, use a handy converter like this one.)

Your total photo widths should not exceed the width of the paper. So accounting for the margins, I have 8 inches across to work with. I can fit no more than 4, 1.7-inch-wide photos within that 8-inch width, so I plan to place 4 photos across each row. (An 8-inch paper width divided by the 1.7 photo width = 4.71 (or 4) pictures that could fit across the page.)

Once I figure out how many pictures will fit across a row, I convert inches to cm, for ease of calculations.

I take the total margins and photos widths from the blue-shaded rows above and add them together.

Add the margins and the total photos width:

Subtract the "total width accounted for" number from the total paper size to get the total "Spacing" number (actually what some might call the "gutters"). Subtract that total from the page width (yellow-shaded cell):

Now, I divide my Spacing number by [the number of pictures minus 1]. (Because 3 pictures in one row will have 2 gutters, 4 pictures in one row will have 3 gutters, etc).

Number of pictures = 4, so I have 3 gutters, so I divide the Spacing number by 3:

3.048/3 = 1.016 = final Spacing number

Example, Part Two

Now fill the information in Media Manager's Print Settings dialog window:

1. Select the printer you wish to print on.

2. Set your paper Size to Letter and your Orientation to Portrait.

3. In the Layout section, choose As a Contact Sheet.

4. Set your Rows and Columns. Use the number of photos that will fit on each row as both the Row number and Columns number. This is 4 in the example above.

5. Set your Spacing. Use calculated Spacing number. This is 1.016 in the example.

6. Set Units to cm. Media Manager will default back to inches at every opportunity so double check this.

7. Choose print titles or not, which pages to print, and how many.

8. Print photos.

Sample calculation sheet

Below is a calculation sheet for an 8.5 x 11 paper size with blank spaces left open for the desired custom photo size.

Convert inches to cm

Add the margins and the total photos width:

Subtract the "total width accounted for" number from the paper size to get the total "Spacing" number

Divide the Spacing number by [the number of pictures minus 1] to get the final spacing number and add to the Print Setting Dialog window where indicated.