How to Set Paper Orientation for Printing in C#

How Do I Set Paper Orientation for Printing?

The PaperOrientation property on PrintSettings accepts three values:

• PaperOrientation.Portrait — vertical layout (default on most printers). Best for single-column documents like letters, contracts, and invoices.
• PaperOrientation.Landscape — horizontal layout. Best for wide content like data tables, Gantt charts, spreadsheets, and slide decks.
• PaperOrientation.Automatic — defers to the printer's default setting.

We create a PrintSettings object, assign the desired orientation, and pass it to Printer.Print() for silent printing or Printer.ShowPrintDialog() for dialog-based printing.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/set-paper-orientation/portrait-and-landscape-orientation.cs

using IronPrint;

// Portrait orientation — standard for letters and invoices
var portraitSettings = new PrintSettings
{
    PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Portrait
};
Printer.Print("invoice.pdf", portraitSettings);

// Landscape orientation — ideal for wide tables and dashboards
var landscapeSettings = new PrintSettings
{
    PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape
};
Printer.Print("quarterly-dashboard.pdf", landscapeSettings);

Imports IronPrint

' Portrait orientation — standard for letters and invoices
Dim portraitSettings As New PrintSettings With {
    .PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Portrait
}
Printer.Print("invoice.pdf", portraitSettings)

' Landscape orientation — ideal for wide tables and dashboards
Dim landscapeSettings As New PrintSettings With {
    .PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape
}
Printer.Print("quarterly-dashboard.pdf", landscapeSettings)

With the native .NET System.Drawing.Printing approach, orientation is a boolean (DefaultPageSettings.Landscape = true) buried inside a PrintDocument that also requires PrintPage event handling, graphics rendering, and manual page management. IronPrint replaces that entire pipeline with a single property on a settings object.

How Do I Combine Orientation with Other Print Settings?

Orientation is most useful when combined with paper size, DPI, and margins to define a complete print layout. The PrintSettings class lets us configure all of these in one object.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/set-paper-orientation/combine-orientation-with-settings.cs

using IronPrint;

var settings = new PrintSettings
{
    PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape,
    PaperSize = PaperSize.A4,
    Dpi = 300,
    NumberOfCopies = 1,
    PaperMargins = new Margins(15, 15, 15, 15),
    Grayscale = false
};

Printer.Print("financial-report.pdf", settings);

Imports IronPrint

Dim settings As New PrintSettings With {
    .PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape,
    .PaperSize = PaperSize.A4,
    .Dpi = 300,
    .NumberOfCopies = 1,
    .PaperMargins = New Margins(15, 15, 15, 15),
    .Grayscale = False
}

Printer.Print("financial-report.pdf", settings)

PaperSize and PaperOrientation work together — setting A4 landscape gives a 297 × 210 mm print area, while A4 portrait gives 210 × 297 mm. The Dpi property controls output resolution (300 is standard for business documents), and PaperMargins values are in millimeters.

How Do I Let Users Choose Orientation in the Print Dialog?

When we pass PrintSettings to Printer.ShowPrintDialog(), the dialog opens with our preset orientation. The user can accept it or switch between portrait and landscape before printing.

:path=/static-assets/print/content-code-examples/how-to/set-paper-orientation/dialog-with-orientation-preset.cs

using IronPrint;

// Pre-select landscape, but let the user override in the dialog
var settings = new PrintSettings
{
    PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape,
    PaperSize = PaperSize.Letter
};

Printer.ShowPrintDialog("wide-report.pdf", settings);

Imports IronPrint

' Pre-select landscape, but let the user override in the dialog
Dim settings As New PrintSettings With {
    .PaperOrientation = PaperOrientation.Landscape,
    .PaperSize = PaperSize.Letter
}

Printer.ShowPrintDialog("wide-report.pdf", settings)

For non-blocking UI scenarios, the async variant Printer.ShowPrintDialogAsync() accepts the same parameters and keeps the application responsive while the dialog is open. This is especially useful for orientation because users often want to preview how a document looks in portrait versus landscape before committing to a print run. The print document tutorial covers both silent and dialog workflows end to end.

Next Steps

Paper orientation is one property on the PrintSettings object — set PaperOrientation to Portrait, Landscape, or Automatic and pass it to any IronPrint print method. Combine it with PaperSize, Dpi, and PaperMargins for full layout control.

Explore the print settings how-to for every available property, the Printer class API reference for the complete method surface, or the code examples page for ready-to-run snippets. The IronPrint tutorials walk through the full printing lifecycle, and the changelog tracks recent updates including performance improvements.

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