Printing Problems a clarification (Simon Orde)
Posted: 27 Mar 2004 13:10
Having looked a bit more into the printing problem that Alan raised, I find that its actually not as bad as I made out in my first email on this topic.
I said there that if you want to change the printer (and later, by implication this came to include changing the printer settings), you should do so when the Diagram Window and Reports Window are closed, using 'Print Setup'. This was option (2) in my email. Anyway, that's painting the situation much blacker than it really is. In fact, you can change printer settings (either the printer itself, or the characteristics of the printer) whenever you want. There is no need for either the Reports Window or the Diagram Window to be closed at the time. The important thing is just to make sure that when you do it, you do it using the 'Print Setup' and don't (for now) do it using the 'Print' dialog. Having made changes in 'Print Setup', you then print in the normal way using the 'Print' menu command.
As I have said, you ought to be able to change the printer and printer settings in the Print dialog, without getting pagination errors as now, and that will be fixed in the next release. However, even when it is fixed, I would still recommend that you always make printer changes using 'Print Setup' anyway. The reason for this is that if you do make changes using 'Print Setup', you can immediately see what the consequences of these changes are, and effectively have a chance to preview the implications of your changes, before you actually print. Whereas if you just make changes in the Print Dialog, the changes might have small or large implications
which you won't get a chance to check before the results get printed.
Incidentally, if you forget the above advice and do make changes to printer settings using the Print dialog, and thereby get pagination errors of the kind that Alan and others were getting, you can correct the problem at any time by simply opening the 'Print Setup' dialog and pressing the OK button. This works in both the Diagram and Reports window.
This, incidentally, may be why the problem hasn't been spotted before. Its possible that most people prefer to make printer changes using 'Print Setup' for the reason I've just given - so they can see what the results will be before they print.
Simon Orde
List Administrator & Family Historian designer
I said there that if you want to change the printer (and later, by implication this came to include changing the printer settings), you should do so when the Diagram Window and Reports Window are closed, using 'Print Setup'. This was option (2) in my email. Anyway, that's painting the situation much blacker than it really is. In fact, you can change printer settings (either the printer itself, or the characteristics of the printer) whenever you want. There is no need for either the Reports Window or the Diagram Window to be closed at the time. The important thing is just to make sure that when you do it, you do it using the 'Print Setup' and don't (for now) do it using the 'Print' dialog. Having made changes in 'Print Setup', you then print in the normal way using the 'Print' menu command.
As I have said, you ought to be able to change the printer and printer settings in the Print dialog, without getting pagination errors as now, and that will be fixed in the next release. However, even when it is fixed, I would still recommend that you always make printer changes using 'Print Setup' anyway. The reason for this is that if you do make changes using 'Print Setup', you can immediately see what the consequences of these changes are, and effectively have a chance to preview the implications of your changes, before you actually print. Whereas if you just make changes in the Print Dialog, the changes might have small or large implications
which you won't get a chance to check before the results get printed.
Incidentally, if you forget the above advice and do make changes to printer settings using the Print dialog, and thereby get pagination errors of the kind that Alan and others were getting, you can correct the problem at any time by simply opening the 'Print Setup' dialog and pressing the OK button. This works in both the Diagram and Reports window.
This, incidentally, may be why the problem hasn't been spotted before. Its possible that most people prefer to make printer changes using 'Print Setup' for the reason I've just given - so they can see what the results will be before they print.
Simon Orde
List Administrator & Family Historian designer