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Introduction

Total Office Manager™  has been tested on a wide variety of printers. Flat Rate Plus!™  is 100% compatible with virtually all known ink jet, bubble jet and laser printers manufactured within the last seven years. We do not recommend the use of dot matrix printers.

IMPORTANT: Anytime you receive a Run-Time Error (kicks you out of the program) you MUST restart Windows before proceeding with any attempts to remedy the problem and print again. Failure to do so will generate additional (even non-related) error messages and may crash Windows® entirely.

Known Technical Issues

The report includes a page that contains only a header or footer but no other information. This problem only occurs using certain printers and driver combinations. You may never experience it. No information is lost. All information does get printed. In other words, all tasks, inventory items, etc., are displayed and printed on your report.

When printing or exporting, on certain computers with specific printers and video drivers, you may print reports that contain huge fonts or other strange looking characters. To resolve this, you will need to make certain that the magnification is set to 100%.

Correction Procedures

If you are having printer problems, such as Run-Time errors, system lockups, etc., please take the following steps before requesting technical support:

  1. Windows has several built-in tools to help you manage printers and print jobs. The first is the Printer window, which you can access by clicking Start, selecting Settings, and clicking Printers. The window that appears lists all installed printers and their statuses. Grayed-out devices are disabled or off-line. If your printer is missing entirely, you probably need to reinstall it. Right-click any printer to view its context menu. In Win98, use the context menu to Pause or Resume Printing, or to Purge the entire queue. In WinMe, you can’t control the queue from the context menu, but you can take the printer off-line or try to reconnect it. You can also Share, Rename, or Delete the printer from either OS (operating system). If you do need to reinstall the printer, or if you just want to start from scratch, the Add Printer Wizard will walk you through the process.
  2. Click the Start button. Choose Help and then Trouble Shooting. Double click “If You Are Having Trouble Printing”. Please go through each step recommended. Many times this will correct the problem.
  3. Verify that you have the most current print driver. This is the software that came with your printer. This software is what your computer and all of it applications, including Total Office Manager™ , use to communicate with your printer. It is important that you have the most current print driver available if you want to help insure proper printing results. Contact your printer’s manufacturer for an updated print driver. Typically they are provided free of charge. For more information on this topic, please consult your printer’s User ‘s Manual or Help system.
  4. Total Office Manager™  utilizes your ” default ” printer. Total Office Manager will send the document that you wish to print directly to which ever printer Windows has designated as the “default” printer. This is the printer that is used by other programs as a “default” printer if no other printer is expressly chosen. Verify that the “default” printer is the same printer that you have connected to your computer and are attempting to print to. When you attempt to print a document in Flat Rate Plus!™  a print dialog box opens. Your default printer will automatically display. Verify that it is the same printer as what is connected to your computer. Flat Rate Plus!™  may not print correctly if you have a “default” printer setting other than what is connected to your computer. They must match exactly. Please check your Windows User’s Manual or Help system if you are not certain what your default printer is or how to set this option.
  5. Most print driver software has a number This field is four (4) characters in length and is made up of letters and numbers or any combination of the two. The repair number is the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh numbers in the repair task number and is followed by the labor code . This number separates repair tasks and allows you to display and print these repairs in a logical order. Repair tasks are sorted first by the category first three letters and/or numbers) and then by the repair number. of settings and choices available to the user. Make certain that you have the print driver software set up correctly to print documents that contain a combination of text and graphics. Please see your printers User’s Manual or Help system for more information on how to make the correct settings.
  6. Set your video monitor’s resolution to 1024 x 768 or higher. Video resolution has an important role in producing accurate transformation of information from the screen to the printer.
  7. If what you see is not what you expect or if what is on your screen is not what you get when you print your reports, then read on. Often times these problems are results of a faulty video driver (a highly specialized software program that allows your computer to communicate with your display monitor). These programs are often updated by the manufacturer of the computer or video display manufacturer. If you have video or even printer problems, verify that you have the latest video driver. Contact your local computer technician or the manufacturer of your computer and verify that you have the latest video and printer drivers. Faulty video drivers may cause printing problems.
  8. Your parallel printer cable generally should not be more that six feet in total length. If it is, try printing with a shorter cable.
  9. Every computer hard drive has a temporary file folder named “Temp”. The typical path for this folder is C:\Windows\Temp. To locate this folder: Click Start, click Find Folders and Files, type in “Temp” and click Find Now. Or from a DOS prompt , type “set” and press Enter. Open this folder and delete ALL files that are one day or more old. This is the most common cause of Run-Time Error or Out of Memory problems.
  10. Make certain that you have no less than eighty (80) megabytes of free hard disk space (or 10% of total hard drive capacity, which ever is greater). Windows creates temporary files (*.tmp) when printing. The reports in Flat Rate Plus!™ use a great deal of space. If necessary, empty your recycle Bin and/or delete old and unused files from your hard drive. Be careful!
  11. If you are using a printer switch box, try bypassing this device.
  12. If you are receiving Run-Time or Out Of Memory error messages during the printing process and what is printed looks normal, try printing your reports in smaller segments. For Example: if you are printing a one hundred page report, print pages 1 through 33 and 34 through 66 and finally, 67 through 100. You may even have to restart Windows® before each print job . This process will require less memory and hard drive space.
  13. To reduce the possibility of “Out of Memory” error messages and sometimes for faster printing, set your printer resolution from 600 dpi to 300 dpi. Please note that some printers do not have this option.
  14. If your printer works correctly with all other software programs, please contact us for further help.
  15. If your reports are missing a certain color (Example: Blue is not printing on your reports), please try to print that color from another program such as MS Word®.
  16. There are lots of printer problems that can indicate a software malfunction. For example, if the printer works but prints garbled text, the driver may be corrupted. Or, if your PC suddenly can’t find the printer, there may be a configuration mix-up. If you have such difficulties, try uninstalling and then reinstalling the driver. To uninstall the printer driver , click Start, point to Settings, and click Printers (in Windows XP®, click Start, Printers And Faxes). In the dialog box that appears, right-click the printer you want to remove and click Delete. After you delete the printer, you can reinstall the driver using the CD or floppy diskette that shipped with the printer. If you cannot find the media containing the driver, you should be able to download a driver from the manufacturer’s Web site. In many cases, downloading may actually be preferable because it ensures you’re installing the most recent driver version.