Produce report in "booklet" format

[Bob Howard]

I'm trying to create a report that is actually a membership directory. My
clients want this printed in what I'll call "booklet" format --- physically
printed on 8 1/2 x 11 paper, duplexed, and then folded in half and stapled.
Thus, each printed page as far as Access is concerned is 5.5 inches wide and
8.5 inches high.

I've designed my report, and I can print it fine in "test mode" to ensure I
get the correct data formatting, etc. But now I'm trying to get the
orientation and sizing correct, and that's whereI'm running into a problem.

Everything in the report is designed to fit on a page 5.5 inches wide and
8.5 inches high. When I print to CutePDF, I can specify a page size of
"Statement" and it outputs (to CutePDF) just fine. But if I print directly
from Access to a printer, the page setup settings that I saved with the
report are being changed and saved back into Access --- so it messes it up
for the next time.

The entire application runs as a closed box to the user --- he/she never
actually gets into (or sees any part of) Access. So something as simple as
printing this report, and having that change the reports saved settings, is
a real problem.

How can I go about creating this type of booklet. Do I need additional
software at the back end to print the pages in the right sequence so they
can be properly reproduced and stapled in the right sequence? Obviously,
when the physical printing is done, the pages will not be printed in
numerical order.

Thanks in advance...

Bob (@Marturerg)

 

[Linda Burnside]

The answer to this questions is not really an Access answer - It's a
printing trick. Here's how to do it.

Go to www.xerox.com and download a postscript printer driver. The one I
selected for this purpose at a previous date was the Xerox WorkCenter Pro (a
color printer driver). It comes as a zip file. YOu'll have to unzip it
someplace.

Go to your control panel and add a new printer. This printer will print to
file rather than to LPT1. When you get to the list of printers, select Have
Disk and browse to the folder where you unzipped the Xerox printer driver
files.

Set up your Access report to print to this specific printer. Set the paper
size to Statement size. Go into the printer options and set it to booklet
format, and expand to fit 8.5 x 11 paper. Print the report. Give it a
name -- an uncommon one, because it can take some doing to find the location
of the file after it has printed. Give the file name ".ps" extension. Go
find your ps file -- it might be in your MyDocuments folder, or it might be
higher up in the file structure. I sometimes have to resort to searching
for the file name.

If you don't have Acrobat Distiller or a similar product, you can try this.
Visit http://www.ps2pdf.com/convert/convert.htm. Upload your ps file, and
the online site will convert it to a PDF for you. The pages will be in the
perfect order for the type of booklet you described.

Linda
(remove the nospam from email)

 

[Bob Howard]

Thanks Linda --- I'll look into all of this. My concern is that if this is
too complicated it'll not be usable in the client environment since the
assumption is that they (the clients) are not computer-savvy.... Bob.

 

[Bob Howard]

Hi again Linda;

Well, I ran a test and it worked perfectly the first time! Thanks so much !
! !

I only wonder whether Xerox has an "issue" with this since we're using their
software the not paying anything.

Oh well ---

Bob.

 

[Linda Burnside]

You could use any printer driver which is sophisticated enough to have a
"booklet" print option. It wouldn't have to be a Xerox.

Linda

 

[Bob Howard]

Thanks again, Linda. I'm always concerned about licensing issues and
especially since the software being developed is for church use (this
component is for printing membership directories in booklet format).

In the end, I looked around and decided on FinePrint. I downloaded and
tested it and it works fine for my application. I'm able to use it for free
since I only need to test with it and the limitations (a little reminder at
the bottom of rach page and printing 8 pages maximum) cause me no issues.
The $50 charge to remove the limitations will be fine for my client churches
if they wish to use the membership directory booklet.

Thanks again for your help. This application is growing by leaps and bounds
and I'm excited about the prospect of having my first client! The price is
right --- I'm distributing it for $10 to cover duplication and mailing of
the CD.

Bob (@Marturerg)

 

[Chuck]

Hi again Linda;

Well, I ran a test and it worked perfectly the first time! Thanks so much !
! !

I only wonder whether Xerox has an "issue" with this since we're using their
software the not paying anything.

Oh well ---

Bob.
Big snip

You are printing on both sides of the paper then folding the paper in half.
Does the first sheet of paper have page 1 and page last on one side and page 2
and page next to last on the other side so that folded sheets are assembled one
inside the next? Or does sheet 1 have page 1 and 4 on one side and page 2 and
3 on the other side so that the folded sheets are stacked one underneath the
next. If the first situatuin, what happens if the total number of pages is not
evenly divisible by 4?

Chuck

 

[Bob Howard]

Chuck;

Something like the latter --- but there are generally way more than 4
"pages".

I finally decided to use a software product called FinePrint
(www.fineprint.com) which acts as a Postscript printer. I give it the
appropriate settings to configure the result as a booklet, and it takes care
of the whole thing.

To perform its magic, it buffers the entire report and then assembles the
result for viewing and eventual printing. If the report (as created by
Access) contains other than an exact multiple of 4 pages, FinePrint will add
from 1 to 3 extra blank pages at the end to yield an exact multiple of 4.

Then it assembles the result (including any extra blank pages), by placing
the first and last pages together on one side of a sheet, the second and
next-to-last pages together on the other side of that sheet, etc. etc.

Finally, on the sheet that forms the exact center of the result, it places
two consecutive pages together (if you open the booklet to here, this is
where you'ld see the staple).

It does a "fine" job (groan)!

It will then (optionally, depending how you define its settings) either
print the result immediately or present it for viewing. If presented for
viewing, you can look it over, change some settings, apply watermarks, etc.
etc., and then send it to one of several printers (or to a PDF).

When defining a physical printer to FinePrint, you tell it whether the
printer has hardware duplexing capabilities (I have a Canon MP780 which
does). If the printer does not have duplexing, then you tell FinePrint how
to achieve a duplexing result (specifically, on what axis the paper needs to
be flipped).

When FinePrint prints on a type of printer that doesn't have hardware
duplexing, it prints the first side and then it issues a message telling you
exactly how to flip the paper and put it back into the input tray --- then
it prints the other side.

FinePrint is downloadable and can be tested for free. Until you
purchase/register it, it applies a "reminder commercial" at the bottom of
the pages, and limits the result to 4 pages. So it can be tested until
you're sure it's the software you want.

I've described just a few of its capabilities --- it has a zillion other
features.

The purchase price is currently $49.95

I didn't bother to purchase it since I don't actually use the Access
software I'm developing. For development purposes, the free option
satisfies my needs. My clients will be purchasing it, however.

Bob.

 

[Chuck]

Chuck;

Something like the latter --- but there are generally way more than 4
"pages".

I finally decided to use a software product called FinePrint
(www.fineprint.com) which acts as a Postscript printer. I give it the
appropriate settings to configure the result as a booklet, and it takes care
of the whole thing.

To perform its magic, it buffers the entire report and then assembles the
result for viewing and eventual printing. If the report (as created by
Access) contains other than an exact multiple of 4 pages, FinePrint will add
from 1 to 3 extra blank pages at the end to yield an exact multiple of 4.

Then it assembles the result (including any extra blank pages), by placing
the first and last pages together on one side of a sheet, the second and
next-to-last pages together on the other side of that sheet, etc. etc.

Finally, on the sheet that forms the exact center of the result, it places
two consecutive pages together (if you open the booklet to here, this is
where you'ld see the staple).

It does a "fine" job (groan)!

It will then (optionally, depending how you define its settings) either
print the result immediately or present it for viewing. If presented for
viewing, you can look it over, change some settings, apply watermarks, etc.
etc., and then send it to one of several printers (or to a PDF).

When defining a physical printer to FinePrint, you tell it whether the
printer has hardware duplexing capabilities (I have a Canon MP780 which
does). If the printer does not have duplexing, then you tell FinePrint how
to achieve a duplexing result (specifically, on what axis the paper needs to
be flipped).

When FinePrint prints on a type of printer that doesn't have hardware
duplexing, it prints the first side and then it issues a message telling you
exactly how to flip the paper and put it back into the input tray --- then
it prints the other side.

FinePrint is downloadable and can be tested for free. Until you
purchase/register it, it applies a "reminder commercial" at the bottom of
the pages, and limits the result to 4 pages. So it can be tested until
you're sure it's the software you want.

4 pages doesn't tell you anything. The problems don't show up till page 5.

I've described just a few of its capabilities --- it has a zillion other
features.

The purchase price is currently $49.95

I didn't bother to purchase it since I don't actually use the Access
software I'm developing. For development purposes, the free option
satisfies my needs. My clients will be purchasing it, however.

Bob.

At $50, it's a tremendous bargin.

I did a kludge of Mickey Mouse / Rube Goldburg methods to produce this type of
report in Access. I had to *manually* insert plank pages to bring the total up
to a factor of 4. I don't even want to think about how many man hours went
into it.

I stopped writing code somewhere back in the early 80s. I've been retired for
more than 20 years now. Access is only a hobby. At one time I wrote a lot of
programs, BASIC, Pascal, & Fortran. All were basic number crunchers. I could
do work that could only be dreamed about when Frieden's (sp) were the
calculator of choice. Fortran programs ran on a Cray. You needed an act of
congress to get little time on it. Never anything for Windows which, if it
existed at that time, I didn't know about. In fact, I used computers for about
five years before I found out they could do anything besides solve long tedious
sets of equations.

Just a wizard prodder
Chuck