I checked last night via HP Update and all of my drivers are current.

I also tried the "Resize" option to the right of the "Crop" option. It also appears perfect on the screen but when printed I do not get the 0.5" white space at the top and bottom but instead the text is shifted left by 0.25".

Even though "Show Scanner's Native Interface" is selected, it does not popup during this activity.

I downloaded HP's new Scan Doctor and it found no problems with the 8500. So I scanned my test document with it and it produced a perfect image - page edge detection, boarders, and text layout were perfect. It printed the image exactly. So there are no hardware problems with the 8500.

I can only think of 2 possibilities for my problem: either Readiris and Acrobat used an old version of HP's SDK (non Windows 7 64-bit) in building their application, or they use the current SDK and the HP driver is too old to support it.

I found 2 uninstall paths - contol panel right click and an HP download app. I don't know which one to use yet.  Of the 4 driver download versions HP offers, I am focused on the "Full Feature Software and Driver" for my first attempt (Version 14.0.301.0). Another problem is trying to find my current version number. The Program Files(x86) directory has about 20 files that make up the HP driver!  I went to Start -> Control Panel -> Hardware & Sound -> Devices & Printers, 1 right click on HP Officejet Pro 8500 A909n Series -> Printer Properties (NOT "Properties" at the bottom!) -> About. There I found about 20 files with all different versions like "series 70.101.308.0" and "HPWL85NE.GPD 5.14.2010"; some have  "2009". This site also has a "remove device" option which I will try first after downloading the new driver to a directory that contains the version number in its name (so I will have something new to reload with if I lose my Internet connection). But if it owerwrites part of what is already there, then I will have a mess, so I may be offline for several months.

I found out that the HP Officejet Pro 8500 Premier all-in-one is not certified by I.R.I.S (for any Readiris version) and that Readiris Pro 11 is not supported and was only intended for upto Windows XP (32-bit).  That would explain the problems I had with it are not worth pursueing and will now cross I.R.I.S off my list.

I was able to get one scanned page to print with perfect margins, but double sided scanned sheet produced shrunken image. Here is the sequence to reproduce the problem:

Open (execute) "HP Solution Center" (ver 140.0.18.23)

1L-click on "Scan Document, wait ~1 min for it to respond

Set "Scan Shortcut Settings"

     Scan Type: Document

          1L-click on "Advanced Document Settings"

               Select output resolution -> choose any (600)

               Check "Sharpen"

               Check "Automatically crop scanned documents" (THIS IS A CRITICAL CHOICE)

               1L-click "OK"

               Select "Output Type" -> choose any

               Select "Scan To" -> choose "Save to file"

               Select "File Type" -> choose "PDF (*.pdf)"

               1L-click on "Save to file SaveOptions"

                    Select "File Type" -> choose "PDF (*.pdf)"

                    Enter a "Base File Name"

                    Enter a "Save Location"

                    1L-click on "OK"

               under "Button Settings", check "Show a preview scan"

               1L-click "Save Shortcut"

                    Enter shortcut name

                    Enter abbreviated name

                    1L-click "Save"

1L-click on "Scan"

wait for scan to complete

wait for image to be processed

flip original in flatbed scanner

1L-click on "Add/Delete" icon

     1L-click on "Add Page(s)"

     wait for scan to complete

     wait for image to be processed

     note image information (lower right-hand corner) is about 8.21x10.64 inches

     Sometimes the image will need to be rotated (1L-click on "rotate" icon, 1L-click

           on "rotate left" (or right)

1L-click on "Finish"

wait for image to be finalized and written to file

go to directory to where file was saved to (Windows Explorer)

open with Acrobat Reader 10.1.3

1L-click on top bar icon "Fit one full page to window"

(IMAGES SHOW EXACT MARGINS AS SCANNED)

1L-click on printer icon

1L-click on "Advanced"

     check "Print as Image"

     1L-click on "OK"

under "Size Options"

     1L-click on "Fit"

     check "Print on both sides of paper"

under "Comments & Forms

     select "Document"

(PRINT PREVIEW SHOWS IMAGE WITH ORIGINAL MARGINS)

1L-click on "Print"

wait for both sides to be printed

(BOTH SIDES ARE PRINTED WITH THE HEIGHT COMPRESSED BY 1" (0.5" WHITESPACE

     TOP & 0.5" WHITESPACE BOTTOM) EVEN THOUGH IF YOU ONLY SCAN ONE

     PAGE AND THEN PRINT IT, THE PAGE IS PRINTED WITH THE CORRECT MARGINS)

The display of the page shows the size to be 68.40x88.67in! (lower left corner). How did it get enlarged?

Similar results were obtained using Readiris Pro 11 with one additional clue: In the print veiw when you have a double sided source, the print image is inside the image of a spiral bound notebook. Is this the reason the image is shrunk? By the scanner or the print application?

Both the HP Printer Control Language (PCL) (the only language supported by HP 8500 printer) and Adobe Postscript language (PS) (used by .pdf files) have a scale command.

If the scanner inserts a scale command between pages and the printer driver (or the application used to print the file) does not have an option to remove it, that would explain this problem.

I'll go to bed now - oh wait, it's time to go to work!

Shane_R from HP offered this information:

"It's not a problem or issue with the duplexer.  It's just how it works.  The duplexer will format the back page of a print out differently than it does the front.  On inkjet printers, it leaves the space so the ink won't smear.  On laser printers, it leaves the space to prevent toner smears.  It's just the way the duplex function is designed."

So that means I will have to print one (page) side at a time and manually reverse each sheet to print the back (as one separate page).