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PrintPartner V3.5 Sign, Banner and Greeting Card Printer Copyright 1990-1994, Acropolis Software Acropolis Software P.O. Box 5037 Fair Oaks, CA 95628 USA THE LEGAL STUFF PrintPartner is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, expressed or implied. In no event will Acropolis Software, its assigns, employees or pets be liable to you for any damages, including any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use or inability to use the program, even if Acropolis Software, including their employees and/or assigns have been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any other party. Some restrictions may apply in other states, countries, territories and civilizations. FILE LIST PP.EXE The PrintPartner program PP.DOC This manual BORDERS.BDR PrintPartner borders BASEL.FON The standard fonts CIRCUS.FON GREENBAY.FON HOUSTON.FON MALIBU.FON PADOVA.FON STNDARDC.GPH The standard color graphics STNDARD.GPH The standard graphics file EPSON24.PRT PrintPartner printer drivers EPSON24C.PRT EPSON9.PRT EPSON9C.PRT GEMINI.PRT HPDJ550C.PRT HPDJETC.PRT HPJETLAS.PRT TOSHIBA.PRT If you give copies of this program away you MUST include all 20 files in their original form. Distribution with one or more of the files missing or altered in anyway is strictly prohibited. TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview ......................................... 1 System requirements .............................. 2 Installation Hard Drive ..................................... 2 Floppy Drive ................................... 2 Main Menu ........................................ 3 Configuration .................................... 3 Banners .......................................... 5 Signs ............................................ 8 Greeting Cards ................................... 13 Calendars ........................................ 17 Random (but important) Notes ..................... 22 Page 1 OVERVIEW PrintPartner allows you to make printed banners, signs, calendars and greeting cards. Banners can have a graphic on either or both ends and use any font you select and may contain from one to three lines. The banner may contain up to 75 characters on each of three lines. With a little imagination, you can create a banner nearly 20 feet long. Signs may have any number of graphics and they may be placed anywhere on the page. Likewise, multiple blocks of text my be placed anywhere on the page. Calendars with user-entered text and graphics can be printed for any month in any year from 1980 through 2098. Greeting cards are essentially three small signs printed so that you can fold the paper into a greeting card. PrintPartner now includes mouse support and provides for color printing on many different color printers. You can load Printmaster+ and Print Shop graphics (old Print Shop only, not the New Print Shop) directly into PrintPartner. PrintPartner supports the following black & white printers: Canon BJ10e, BJ200 Commodore MPS 1230 Citizen MSP 10/20/50 Epson FX/RX80, FX850, FX86e Epson LQ2500, LQ510 Gemini 10x; HP DeskJet 500 and 550 LaserJet 2+, 3, and 4 IBM ProPrinter NEC PinWriter P5 series, P6 and P7 Panasonic KX-P 1080i, Toshiba P321SL KX-P 1123 and KX-P 1124 Star LV-1615, NX-10, NX-1000 and NX-2400 PrintPartner supports the following color-capable printers: Canon BJC600 HP 500c, 550c Epson Stylus NEC PinWriter P5XL Panasonic KX-P 2124 Epson Color dot matrix In addition, the generic Epson 8/9 and 24 pin drivers are included and support many additional printers. If your printer is not listed above, there is an excellent chance that one of included printer drivers will work. The Generic 8/9 pin and Generic 24 pin drivers will support most Epson compatible printers. REQUIREMENTS PrintPartner needs at least 384K of RAM; the use of a hard drive is strongly recommended. For color graphics, you'll need at least 512K of RAM and a 286-class or faster machine. A hard drive is again strongly recommended. Page 2 INSTALLATION Make backup copies of your PrintPartner disks and store the original disks in a safe place. If you wish to use a mouse with PrintPartner, make sure your mouse driver is installed; most people have their systems configured to install the driver at start-up, but if you don't, be sure to install the driver. Check the manual that came with your mouse for the installation procedure if necessary. HARD DRIVE SYSTEM Create a subdirectory on your hard drive for PrintPartner. I recommend PP for the directory name. C:\> MD PP Now change to the new directory and copy the files from the PrintPartner disk to the new directory. The following example is for the PrintPartner disk in drive A:. If you have the disk in drive B: replace the A:*.* in the example with B:*.* C:\> CD PP C:\PP> COPY A:*.* If you also have a disk (or disks) of extra fonts and graphics replace the PrintPartner disk with the extra disk(s) and repeat the copy procedure as above. PrintPartner is now installed on your hard drive. To start PrintPartner, make sure you are in the PP directory, then type PP and press ENTER. FLOPPY ONLY SYSTEM Make backup copies of all your disks and store them in a safe place. To use PrintPartner on a floppy only system you should place the PrintPartner disk in the floppy drive and type PP. Page 3 MAIN MENU At the main menu you are presented with the following choices: MAKE BANNER To create and print a banner. MAKE SIGN To create and print a sign. MAKE CALENDAR To create and print a calendar. MAKE CARD To create and print a greeting card. CONFIGURATION To configure your printer. EXIT PRINTPARTNER To quit PrintPartner. Use the cursor arrow keys to move the lighted bar around the menu and press [ENTER] to select the highlighted item. If you have a mouse installed you can also select an option by double clicking on the menu item of your choice. CONFIGURATION The configuration section of PrintPartner allows you to select the printer that you wish to use. You will be presented with the following menu items: SELECT PRINTER If your printer is not listed your printer may still work with PrintPartner. Most Epson compatible 9 and 24 pin printer will work with the Generic Epson 9 Pin and Generic Epson 24 Pin drivers respectively. When using a color picture on a black and white printer, PrintPartner will convert the color to black and white line patterns to simulate color printing. Note: the supported color printers have two versions listed: the (B&W) and (Color) drivers. If you use the color version of the driver you must have a color ribbon or ink cartridge installed for proper operation. SELECT PRINTER PORT This option allows you to select the LPT port you wish to use. The options are LPT1, LPT2 and LPT3. Printing to the serial port is not currently supported. You may, however, be able to redirect an LPT port to either a serial port or network printer by using the MSDOS MODE command. Refer to your MSDOS manual for instructions on using the MODE command. PAPER SIZE This selection allows you to choose the paper size you wish to use when printing. The current options are: US Letter (8.5" by 11"), US Legal (8.5" by 14") and European A4 (210mm by 297mm). The paper size used is stored both in the configuration file and with the saved file for any signs, calendars or greeting cards; PrintPartner will remember the correct paper size when loading a saved file. Page 4 ADD LINE FEED / NO LINE FEED Not all printers are configured the same. Some come with the printer set to automatically added a line feed (LF) character after a carriage return (CR) is received. Most, however, come configured so that the computer must send a LF with each CR. PrintPartner is set to use this mode. If your printer generates large blank lines in the graphics printed, select the "NO LINE FEED" option to stop PrintPartner from sending LF's to the printer. TEST PRINTER This will send a test page to the printer; it will consist of seven squares of color with the name of the color next to them. If you are not using a color printer or are using the black & white driver for a color printer the squares will be shown as the line patterns used to simulate color. EXIT CONFIGURATION This will exit the configuration section and return you to the main PrintPartner menu; any changes you have made to your configuration will be saved to the disk. If PrintPartner cannot write the configuration to the disk (because it is write protected or full) it will tell you so. Page 5 BANNERS The banner section of PrintPartner allows you to print banners for any occasion. Each banner can be made with any font and can also have a graphic at either end. You may have up to three lines of text, each line may have a different font if you wish. The banner section presents you with the following menu items: NEW BANNER This option will remove any current banner from memory (but not from the disk if it has been saved), allowing you to start a new banner from scratch. SELECT FIRST GRAPHIC / SELECT SECOND GRAPHIC These options will allow you to select the graphic that comes at the beginning (FIRST) and end (SECOND) of the banner. When you select this option you will be presented with a list of the currently available graphic files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load graphics from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list No Graphic. This will return you to the main banner menu without selecting a graphic. This option is also used to remove a previously selected graphic. After selecting one of the graphic files, you will be shown a list of the graphics in that file. Highlighting one of the graphics and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that your selected graphic. Optionally there may be a selection at the bottom of the list NEXT PAGE. Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black. They will, however, print properly in color or as line patterns. ENTER TEXT Enter the text of the banner. You will first be asked to select the font for the banner. Use the arrow keys to move around the list and select the font you want. Additionally, you can select one of the disk drive(s) or subdirectories listed to load a font from another disk or directory. As you move around the list of font files an example of the font will be shown on the right hand side of the screen. Once the font is selected you will be presented with the banner text entry screen. You can now type in the text for the banner. The up and down arrow keys will allow you to move from line to line. As you move the status on the bottom on the screen will change to reflect the state of the current line giving its color and the name of the font it is using. Additionally, you can use two of the function keys to effect the text in the banner. F1 Select a different font for the current line of the banner. F5 Change the color of the text on the current line. Page 6 The [F1] key will bring up the standard font selection screen and allow you to change the font of the current line. The [F5] key will cycle through the colors available for the text. All the text on the current line will be printed in that color. Press the [ESC] key to exit the text entry screen. Using the color option is a good way to lessen the wear on your printer ribbon and/or to produce lighter printing. If you are using a black & white printer or the B&W version of your color printer's driver the colored text will be printed using the simulated color line patterns. Selecting yellow, for example, will result in very light printing while green or blue produces a nice medium dark printing. SELECT BANNER SIZE This option allows you to select the height of the banner. Full Height will print a banner with a height of the page width. 2/3 Height will produce a banner that is 2/3 of the page width. 1/2 Height will produce a banner that is half the page width. PREVIEW BANNER This option will scroll an example of what the banner will look like across the screen. To stop the preview, press the [ESC] key. After the preview is complete press any key to return to the main banner menu. PRINT BANNER This will print the banner for you. You can stop the printing at any time by pressing the [ESC] key. Note: There may be a delay after you press the [ESC] key before the printing stops. Most printers have a buffer that stores some of the print commands. PrintPartner will stop sending commands to the printer when you press the [ESC] key, but the buffered commands will have to complete before printing actually stops. When using a non continuous-feed printer, such as a laser or inkjet printer, you will have to tape the pages together after they've been printed. PRINT SEVERAL BANNERS This functions just like the PRINT BANNER option except that you will first be prompted for the number of banners to print. Pressing the [ESC] key will stop the printing of all banners, not just the current one. SAVE BANNER You will be prompted for the file name of the saved banner. You can type either a simple file name or a complete path and file name. Note: Do not include an extension in the file name as PrintPartner will automatically add the .PBN extension for you. Page 7 LOAD BANNER Select a file from the file selection screen. A list of the banner files in the current directory will be displayed along with the current subdirectories and available disk drives. Selecting one of the file names will load that banner into memory. Selecting a disk drive name or subdirectory will allow you to select a file on another drive or in another directory. The "No File" option on the top of the menu will return you to the main banner menu without loading a file. EXIT BANNERS This option will return you to the main PrintPartner menu. Page 8 SIGNS The sign section of PrintPartner allows you to print signs. Each sign can contain any font you like; each line can be a different font. Additionally, you can include any number of graphics and place them anywhere on the page and in as many different places as you like. The sign section presents you with the following menu items: NEW SIGN This option will remove any current sign from memory (but not from the disk if it has been saved), allowing you to start a new one from scratch. SIGN STYLE This option will allow you to select the style of the sign. The options include the normal portrait and landscape formats. Also included are half page portrait and landscape and quarter page portrait and landscape. The half page options will allow you to design one sign that will be printed twice on each piece of paper giving you two half size copies of the sign. The quarter page option works the same except that four smaller copies of the sign will be printed on each piece of paper. An example of how the page will look is shown when you select the style options. DESIGN SIGN This option will take you into the page designer section of PrintPartner. Within this section you have the following options: You can select any of these options with the normal arrow key and [ENTER] method, or by double clicking the option with the mouse pointer or by typing the letter enclosed in the [] characters. Additionally, you can use the [<] key to reduce the size of a graphic and the [>] key to increase the size. Neither function will work with a block of text, only with graphics. You cannot enlarge the graphic beyond the size of the page. Another option is the [TAB] key. It will move you from object (graphic or text block) to object. Each time you press [TAB] the blinking box will move to the next object. You may then user the [M]ove, [D]elete, [<] and [>] commands to effect that object. If you are using a mouse you can place the pointer over an object and press (and hold) the left mouse button to move it around the page. Release the button once you have the object were you want it. You may have any number of graphics and text blocks on the page. Page 9 The commands do the following: add [G]raphic This command allows you to add a graphic to your sign. You will be presented with a list of the currently available graphics files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load graphics from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "NO GRAPHIC". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a graphic. After selecting one of the graphic files you will be shown a list of the graphics in that file. Highlighting one of the graphics and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that your selected graphic. Optionally there may be a selection at the bottom of the list NEXT PAGE. Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black, they will however print in color or as line patterns properly. After selecting a graphic it will be placed at the center of the page in the smallest size possible. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. add [T]ext This option will allow you to create a block of text to place on the page. You will first be asked to select the font for the block of text. Use the arrow keys to move around the list to select the desired font. Additionally, you can select one of the disk drive(s) or subdirectories listed to load a font from another disk or directory. As you move around the list of font files an example of the font will be shown on the right hand side of the screen. Once you have selected a font you will be placed in the text editing screen. You can type text into a line and use the [BACKSPACE] key to delete typed text. The up and down arrow keys and the [ENTER] key will allow you to move from line to line. If you are using a mouse you can point to a line and press the left mouse button to go to that line. The available functions are listed along the bottom of the screen. The functions available are: [F1] Change Font. This will allow you to select a different font for the current line. You will presented with the standard font selection screen. [F2] Change Size. This will cycle the size of the font on the current line. The options are: from X1 - normal size; X2 - twice normal size and X3 - three times normal size and back to normal size. [F5] Clear Line. This will erase all the text on the current line. Page 10 [F6] Center/Left/Right. This will change the justification of the current line. Pressing it will cycle from center to left justification to right justification and then back to the center. [F7] Delete Line. This will delete the current line of text and move all the text below it up one line. [F8] Insert Line. This will insert a blank line of text below the current line; it will have the same justification, color, font and size as the current line. [F9] Change Color. This will cycle through the available colors for the text. Just above the list of commands is a status indication of the current line. It will indicate the font, color and size of the current line of text. [ESC] returns you to the main designer menu. A box of text will appear on the screen that says "WORKING..." This is displayed while PrintPartner is creating a small copy of the text to display on the screen. After that, the text will be place at the center of the page. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. You can use the [E]dit Text command to change the text after later if you wish. [M]ove Item This option allows you to position the current object on the page. A mouse is the easiest; just press and hold the left mouse button while you position the object. Without a mouse, use the keyboard options: use the arrow keys to move the current object (the one with the blinking box) around the page. It will move slowly; you can move the object faster by holding down the [SHIFT] key while pressing the arrow keys. The object will then move approximately 10 times faster. While you are in the Move Item mode, the [TAB] key will allow you to move to the next object on the page so that you can position it. To exit the Move Item mode, press the [ESC] key; you'll be returned to the main designer menu. [D]elete item This option will allow you to delete the current object. You will be prompted to confirm removal of the object. If there is currently no object on the page this option will produce no action. [E]dit text This option will allow you to edit a text object. It functions just like the Add [T]ext option above, but starts with the existing text. If the current object is a graphic, this option will produce no action. Page 11 select [B]order This will allow you to select a graphic to use as a border on the page. You will be presented with a list of the currently available border files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load borders from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "No Border". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a border. Any previously selected border will be deleted. After selecting one of the border files, you will be shown a list of the border graphics in that file. Highlighting one and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that the new border for the page. Optionally there may be a selection at the bottom of the list "NEXT PAGE". Pressing [ENTER] at this option will take you to another page of border graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color border graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black; they will, however print in color or as line patterns properly. e[X]it designer This will exit the designer and return to the main sign menu. PREVIEW SIGN This will display an example of the sign on the right side of the screen. To stop the preview press the [ESC] key. After the preview is complete, press any key to return to the main sign menu. PRINT SIGN This will print the sign for you. You can stop the printing at any time by pressing the [ESC] key. Note: There may be a delay after you press the [ESC] key before the printing stops. Most printers have a buffer that stores some of the print commands. PrintPartner will stop sending commands to the printer when you press the [ESC] key, but the buffered commands will have to complete before printing actually stops. PRINT SPECIAL This option will bring up another menu with the following options: Print Multiple This functions like the PRINT SIGN option except that you will first be prompted for the number of signs to print. Pressing the [ESC] key will stop the printing of all signs, not just the current one. Print Reverse This function works like the normal PRINT SIGN option, but the printed image will be reversed left-to-right, giving you a mirror image of the final sign. This option allows you to print using special ribbons (or special paper) to create iron-on transfers. Exit Print Special This option will return you to the main sign menu. Page 12 SAVE SIGN You will be prompted to enter a name for your sign. You can type either a simple file name or a complete path and file name. Do not include an extension in the file name as PrintPartner will automatically add the PSN extension for you. LOAD SIGN Select a file from the file selection screen. A list of the sign files in the current directory will be displayed along with the current subdirectories and available disk drives. Selecting one of the file names will load that sign into memory. Selecting a disk drive name or subdirectory will allow you to select a file on another drive or in another directory. If PrintPartner cannot find a graphic that was included in the file, you will be advised and given the option of searching for the graphic. Optionally, you may elect to not include that particular graphic in the sign or substitute a new graphic. The same option is available if one of the fonts in the sign is not available except that you also have the option of using the small internal courier font. EXIT SIGNS This option will return you to the main PrintPartner menu. Page 13 GREETING CARDS NEW CARD This option will remove any current card from memory (but not from the disk if it has been saved) allowing you to start a new one from scratch. DESIGN COVER / INSIDE COVER / INSIDE This option will take you into the page design section of PrintPartner. Within this section you have, for each part of the card, the following options: You can select any of the options with the normal arrow key and [ENTER] method, by double clicking them with the mouse pointer or by typing the letter enclosed in the [] characters. You can use the [<] key to reduce the size of a graphic and the [>] key to increase the size. Neither function will work with a block of text, only with graphics. You cannot enlarge the graphic beyond the size of the page. The [TAB] key will move you from object (graphic or text block) to object. Each time you press [TAB], the blinking box will move to the next object. That will become the current object that the [M]ove, [D]elete, [<] and [>] commands will effect. If you are using a mouse you can also place the pointer over an object and press the left mouse button to move it around the page. Release the button once you have the object were you want it. You may have any number of graphics and text blocks on the page. The commands do the following: add [G]raphic This will allow you to select a graphic to add to the page. You will be presented with a list of the currently available graphics files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load graphics from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "No Graphic". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a graphic. After selecting one of the graphic files you will be shown a list of the graphics in that file. Highlighting one of the graphics and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that your selected graphic. Optionally, there may be a selection at the bottom of the list "NEXT PAGE". Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black, they will however print in color or as line patterns properly. After selecting a graphic it will be placed at the center of the page in the smallest size possible. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. Page 14 add [T]ext This option will allow you to create a block of text to place on the page. You will first be asked to select the font for the block of text. Use the arrow keys to move around the list and select the font you want. Additionally, you can select one of the disk drive(s) or subdirectories listed to load a font from another disk or directory. As you move around the list of font files an example of the font will be shown on the right hand side of the screen. Once you have selected a font, you will be placed in the text editing screen. You can type text into a line; use the [BACKSPACE] key to delete typed text. The up and down arrow keys and the [ENTER] key will allow you to move from line to line. Also if you are using a mouse you can point to a line and press the left mouse button to go to that line. The functions available are listed along the bottom of the screen. [F1] Change Font. This will allow you to select a different font for the current line. You will presented with the standard font selection screen. [F2] Change Size. This will cycle the size of the font on the current line. The options are: from X1 - normal size; x2 - twice normal size and X3 - three times normal size and back to normal size. [F5] Clear Line. This will erase all the text on the current line. [F6] Center/Left/Right. This will change the justification of the line. Pressing it will cycle from center to left justification to right justification and then back to the center. [F7] Delete Line. This will delete the current line of text and move all the text below it up one line. [F8] Insert Line. This will insert a blank line of text below the current line. The new line will have the same justification, color, font and size as the current line. [F9] Change Color. This will rotate through the available colors for the text. Just above the list of commands is a status indication of the current line. It will indicate the font, color and size of the current line of text. [ESC] will return you to the main designer menu. A box of text will appear on the screen that says "WORKING..." will be displayed while PrintPartner is creating a small copy of the text to display on the screen. The text will then be placed at the center of the page. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. You can use the [E]dit Text command to change the text if you wish. Page 15 [M]ove Item This option allows you to position the current object on the page. A mouse is the easiest; just press and hold the left mouse button while you position the object. Without a mouse, use the keyboard options: use the arrow keys to move the current object (the one with the blinking box) around the page. It will move slowly; you can move the object faster by holding down the [SHIFT] key while pressing the arrow keys. The object will then move approximately 10 times faster. While you are in the Move Item mode, the [TAB] key will allow you to move to the next object on the page so that you can position it. To exit the Move Item mode, press the [ESC] key; you'll be returned to the main designer menu. [D]elete Item This option will allow you to delete the current object. You will be prompted to confirm removal of the object. If there is currently no object on the page this option will produce no action. [E]dit Text This option will allow you to edit a text object. It functions just like the Add [T]ext option above, but starts with the existing text. If the current object is a graphic, this option will produce no action. select [B]order This will allow you to select a graphic to use as a border on the page. You will be presented with a list of the currently available border files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load borders from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "No Border". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a border. If a border was previously selected, it will be deleted. After selecting one of the border files you will be shown a list of the border graphics in that file. Highlighting one of them and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that the new border for the page. Optionally there may be a selection at the bottom of the list "NEXT PAGE". Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of border graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color border graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black, they will however print in color or as line patterns properly. e[x]it Designer This option will exit the designer section and return you to the main card menu. Page 16 PREVIEW CARD This option will display an example of what the card will look like on the right side of the screen. To stop the preview press the [ESC] key. After the preview is complete press any key to return to the main card menu. PRINT CARD This will print the card; you can stop the printing at any time by pressing the [ESC] key. Note: There may be a delay after you press the [ESC] key before the printing stops. Most printers have a buffer that stores some of the print commands. PrintPartner will stop sending commands to the printer when you press the [ESC] key, but the buffered commands will have to complete before printing actually stops. PRINT MULTIPLE This functions just like the PRINT CARD option except that you will first be prompted for the number of cards to print. Pressing the [ESC] key will stop the printing of all cards; not just the current one. SAVE CARD You will be prompted to enter a name for your card. You can type either a simple file name or a complete path and file name. Do not include an extension in the file name; PrintPartner will automatically add the PCR extension for you. LOAD CARD Select a file from the file selection screen. A list of the card files in the current directory will be displayed along with the current subdirectories and available disk drives. Selecting one of the file names will load that card into memory. Selecting a disk drive name or subdirectory will allow you to select a file on another drive or in another directory.If PrintPartner cannot find a graphic that was included in the file, you will be advised and given the option of searching for the graphic. Optionally, you may elect to not include that particular graphic in the card or substitute a new graphic. The same option is available if one of the fonts in the card is not available except that you also have the option of using the small internal courier font. EXIT CARDS This option will return you to the main PrintPartner menu. Page 17 CALENDARS NEW CALENDAR This option will remove any current calendar from memory (but not from the disk if it has been saved) allowing you to start a new one from scratch. CALENDAR STYLE This option allows you to choose the style of the calendar. The two options are "Monthly" and "Yearly". The monthly style will generate a calendar for the month and year you choose with the option of entering information into the days of the month. The yearly option will generate a calendar that includes all the months on a single page, making a year at a glance calendar. HEADING FONT This option will allow you to select the font that is used on the top of the calendar indicating the month and year. You must select a heading font in order to be able to print or preview the calendar. If one is not selected PrintPartner will prompt you for one when you try to print the calendar. SELECT YEAR This option will allow you to select the year for the calendar. The default year is the current year according to your computer. SELECT MONTH This option allows you to select the desired month from your calendar. You can use this option when you are making a yearly calendar, but it will have no effect. The default month is the current month according to your computer. ANNOTATE DATES This option is only available when using the monthly style of calendar. If you are currently using the yearly style selection this option will cause no action. Selecting this option will bring up another menu that allows you to select a day of the month and then enter text to indicate the event for that day. The menu will list all the days in the month. If the date has information entered for it there will be an asterisk next to the date. Page 18 To enter information for a day, select it will the arrow keys and then press the [ENTER] key or select it with the mouse. You will then be taken to a screen that allows you to enter the information. You can enter up to 5 lines of text with each line having a maximum of 15 characters. You can move from line to line using the arrow keys or by pressing the [ENTER] key. When you are finished entering the text for a particular date, press the [ESC] key. Once you have entered all the information, select the "Done" option to return to the main calendar menu. DECORATE CALENDAR This option will take you into the page designer section of PrintPartner to design the look of the calendar. First PrintPartner will generate a copy of the fixed parts of the calendar (the lines and date of a monthly calendar or the individual months of the yearly calendar). You cannot use the designer to change any of the generated parts of the calendar. When in this section you have the following options. You can select any of these with the normal arrow key and [ENTER] method, or by double clicking them with the mouse pointer or by typing the letter enclosed in the [] characters. Additionally you can use the [<] key to reduce the size of a graphic and the [>] key to increase the size. This function will work only with graphics. You cannot enlarge the graphic beyond the size of the page. The other option is the [TAB] key. It will move you from object (graphic or text block) to object. Each time you press it the blinking box will move to the next object. That will become the current object that the [M]ove, [D]elete, [<] and [>] commands will effect. If you are using a mouse you can also place the pointer over an object and press the left mouse button to move it around the page. Release the button once you have the object were you want it. You may have any number of graphics and text blocks on the page. The commands do the following: add [G]raphic This will allow you to select a graphic to add to the page. You will be presented with a list of the currently available graphic files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load graphics from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "No Graphic". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a graphic. After selecting one of the graphic files you will be shown a list of the graphics in that file. Highlighting one of the graphics and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that your selected graphic. Optionally there may be a selection at the bottom of the list "NEXT PAGE". Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black, they will however, print in color or as line patterns properly. After selecting a graphic it will be place at the center of the page in the smallest size possible. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. Page 19 add [T]ext This option allows you to create a block of text to place on the page. You will first be asked to select the font for the block of text. Use the arrow keys to move around the list and select the font you want. Additionally, you can select one of the disk drive(s) or subdirectories listed to load a font. As you move around the list of font files an example of the font will be shown on the right hand side of the screen. Once you have selection a font you will be place in the text editing screen. You can type text into a line and use the [BACKSPACE] key to delete typed text. The up and down arrow keys and the [ENTER] key will allow you to move from line to line. Also if you are using a mouse you can point to a line and press the left mouse button to go to that line. Along the bottom of the screen is listed the function you can preform on each line of text. The functions available are: [F1] Change Font. This will allow you to select a different font for the current line. You will presented with the standard font selection screen. [F2] Change Size. This will cycle the size of the font on the current line. The options are: from X1 - normal size; x2 - twice normal size and X3 - three times normal size and back to normal size. [F5] Clear Line. This will erase all the text on the current line. [F6] Center/Left/Right. This will change the justification of the current line. Pressing it will cycle from center to left justification to right justification and then back to the center. [F7] Delete Line. This will delete the current line of text and move all the text below it up one line. [F8] Insert Line. This will insert a blank line of text below the current line. The new line will have the same justification, color, font and size as the current line. [F9] Change Color. This will rotate through the available colors for the text. The status indication of the current line is shown just above the list of commands. It will indicate the font, color and size of the current line of text. Pressing the [ESC] key will return you to the main designer menu. A box of text will appear on the screen that says "WORKING..." will be displayed while PrintPartner is creating a small copy of the text to display on the screen. The text will then be placed at the center of the page. Use the mouse or [M]ove Item command to position it on the page. You can use the [E]dit Text command to change the text if you wish. Page 20 [M]ove Item This option allows you to position the current object on the page. A mouse is the easiest; just press and hold the left mouse button while you position the object. Without a mouse, use the keyboard options: use the arrow keys to move the current object (the one with the blinking box) around the page. It will move slowly; you can move the object faster by holding down the [SHIFT] key while pressing the arrow keys. The object will then move approximately 10 times faster. While you are in the Move Item mode, the TAB key will allow you to move to the next object on the page so that you can position it. To exit the Move Item mode, press the [ESC] key; you'll be returned to the main designer menu. [D]elete item This option will allow you to delete the current object. You will be prompted to make sure that you want to delete the object before it is actually removed. If there are currently no object on the page this option will produce no action. [E]dit text This option will allow you to edit a text object. It functions just like the Add [T]ext option above, but starts with the existing text. If the current object is a graphic, this option will produce no action. select [B]order This allows you to select a graphic to use as a border on the page. You will be presented with a list of the currently available border files and a list of your drives and subdirectories. Selecting one of the drives or subdirectories will allow you to load borders from another disk. There is also a special option at the top of the list "No Border". This will return you to the main designer menu without selecting a border. If a border was previously selected, it will be deleted. After selecting one of the border files you will be shown a list of the border graphics in that file. Highlighting one of them and pressing the [ENTER] key will make that the new border for the page. There may be a selection at the bottom of the list "NEXT PAGE". Pressing [ENTER] on this option will take you to another page of border graphics to select from. For people not using a color display the color border graphics may be hard to see as any non-white color will be displayed as black, they will however print in color or as line patterns properly. e[x]it designer This will exit the designer and return to the main calendar menu. PREVIEW CALENDAR This will display an example of the calendar on the right side of the screen. To stop the preview press the [ESC] key. After the preview is complete, press any key to return to the main calendar menu. Page 21 PRINT CALENDAR This will print the calendar for you. You can stop the printing at any time by pressing the [ESC] key. Note: There may be a delay after you press the [ESC] key before the printing stops. The reason is that most printers have a buffer in them that will store some of the print commands. PrintPartner will stop sending commands to the printer when you press the [ESC] key, but those buffered commands will have to complete before printing actually stops. PRINT MULTIPLE This function just like the PRINT CALENDAR option except that you will first be prompted for the number of calendars to print. Pressing the [ESC] key will stop the printing of all calendars and not just the current one. SAVE CALENDAR You will be prompted to enter a name for your calendar. You can type either a simple file name or a complete path and file name. Do not include an extension in the file name as PrintPartner will automatically add the PCL extension for you. LOAD CALENDAR Select a file from the file selection screen. A list of the calendar files in the current directory will be displayed along with the current subdirectories and available disk drives. Selecting one of the file names will load that calendar into memory. Selecting a disk drive name or subdirectory will allow you to select a file on another drive or in another directory. The <No File> option on the top of the menu will return you to the main calendar menu without loading a file. If PrintPartner cannot find a graphic that was included in the file, you will be advised and given the option of searching for the graphic. Optionally, you may elect to not include that particular graphic in the calendar or substitute a new graphic. The same option is available if one of the fonts in the calendar is not available except that you also have the option of using the small internal courier font. EXIT CALENDAR This option will return you to the main PrintPartner menu. Page 22 RANDOM NOTES FONT SELECTION For banners the larger the better it will look since less scaling has to take place. The same holds true for graphics on banners. SELECTING GRAPHICS Selecting graphics on a floppy disk is quite slow; the graphic must be loaded from the disk every time you move to a different selection on the menu. Placing the graphics on a hard drive is highly recommended. COLOR GRAPHICS AND MEMORY If you only less than 512K of RAM avoid using a large number of different color graphics on a single page. Multiple copies of the same graphic use much less RAM. DISK SPACE If you are using PrintPartner on a floppy only system and wish to make room on your working copy of the PrintPartner disk you can delete the PP.DOC and PP.NEW files if they are on your floppy. Once you have run PrintPartner and configured if for your printer you can look at the contents of the PP.SET file and find which printer driver it is using for your printer. Delete the other driver files (those files ending with the .PRT extension) to make more room. Be sure that the original disk you were sent is NOT changed, though - you may buy a new printer and need one of the other printer drivers. PRINT SPEED Color printing is much slower than B&W; the print head may have to make four passes over each line of print. The more graphics and text you have on a page, the slower the printing will be. Borders slow the printing; the print head must make a complete pass across each line. Print speeds for slow machines (slower than 286) are very lengthy. PRINT QUALITY The print quality is much better on 300dpi Inkjet or laser printers than any of the dot matrix printers. Avoid using small text on dot matrix printers. This also hold true for the Canon Bubblejet printers as they use lower resolution 24-pin printer drivers. LASER PRINTING The printer needs at least 1 Meg of RAM in to print a full page. INKJET PRINTING Some inkjet printers will hold the completed page for a time after printing is completed to allow the ink to dry some before ejecting it. FILE COMPATIBILITY This new version of PrintPartner allows many more options than previous versions. The enhanced capabilities necessitated a new file structure, saved signs, cards, calendars and banners from versions older than 3.0 will not load into the new version. LETTERHEADS If you were using the Letterhead feature in V2.0, you will find that the new sign module in this version is easier to use and more capable.