PC World 2000 December/PCWorld_2000-12_cd.bin/Software/Topware/fprint/fpnt423.exe/README.TXT

Text File | 2000-08-27 | 18KB | 474 lines

            FinePrint 2000 Build 23

                August 27, 2000


Description
-----------
FinePrint is a printer driver for Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0,
and Windows 2000.  FinePrint prints any multi-page document onto fewer
sheets of paper by printing 1, 2, 4, or 8 document pages onto each physical
sheet of paper, while maintaining document integrity and clarity.  FinePrint
also allows you to customize your printouts by adding headers, footers,
and watermarks to your pages.


Benefits of FinePrint
---------------------
* saves significant amounts of paper and toner, and extends printer life

* works with any standard Windows application which has a Print function

* returns control to your application quickly, which allows you to
  continue working while FinePrint prints your document in the background

* works with any Windows printer (inkjet, PCL laser, PostScript, bubble
  jet, etc.)

* particularly useful for spreadsheets, email, electronic manuals, draft
  memos, technical papers, presentations, Web pages, Adobe Acrobat PDF
  files, software source code

* can be used to efficiently archive large amounts of physical documents

* saves weight for business travelers--carry only 1/2 or 1/4th the amount
  of paper

* supports all standard Windows print features such as fonts, graphics,
  page size, etc.

* Stationery feature prints a header, footer, page number, date and time
  stamps with your document.  Watermarks are also supported.

* simple to install and easy to use

* Universal print preview with editing capability.  All documents can be
  previewed before they are printed.  The ability to add blank pages or
  delete pages makes it easy to ensure that you print what you want.

* Deferred printing allows multiple documents to be combined together as a
  single print job.  This is useful for creating booklets based on web page
  or email output.  Deferred documents can be saved and retrieved for later
  editing.  FinePrint can be used as a web research tool since it saves
  pages in their entirety in a single file.

* Any printed output can be copied to the clipboard in text, bitmap or
  metafile format.  The text of any output can be extracted to a file for
  searching, indexing or other use.

* Booklet making and double sided printing are supported with all
  documents and printers.  Booklets create a professional touch to all
  documents and are easy to read and carry.  Double sided printing cuts
  paper use in half and reduces travel weight.

* Paper scaling allows large pages to be scaled to that they fit on
  standard paper sizes such as letter or A4.  Large web pages that are
  normally truncated or wide spreadsheets can be easily scaled to they fit
  on a single sheet.

* Adjustable margins allows for increased text sizes for better
  readability while using more of the available area on the page

* Gutter capability provides space to punch holes or bind documents

* Multiple FinePrinters may be created, each with a different set of
  predefined settings.


Installing
----------
To install FinePrint, run the program FPxxx.EXE (Windows 95/98) or
FPNTxxx.EXE (Windows NT/2000), where "xxx" is the FinePrint version
number.  Then follow the onscreen instructions.


Uninstalling
------------
In the Start menu, open the Programs folder, then open the FinePrint 2000
folder and select "Uninstall FinePrint."  You may also uninstall FinePrint
in the Control Panel Add/Remove Programs applet.


Recent Changes
--------------

--- Build 1 (December 10, 1999) ---

1. stationery is now imported correctly from all previous FinePrint versions

2. fixed problems where the Order Form or Register Online buttons did not
   work properly

3. white fills under NT are now drawn correctly

4. fixed display problems when you print from any tab other than Layout

--- Build 2 (December 13, 1999) ---

5. fixed a problem where the Pages Printed and Sheets Printed statistics
   were incorrectly reset to zero.

--- Build 3 (December 29, 1999) ---

6. fixed a problem printing borders with margins set to Original

7. fixed problems viewing and printing documents with mixed portrait
   and landscape pages

8. onscreen display of landscape booklets now works correctly

--- Build 5 (January 26, 2000) ---

9. fixed problems printing some Web pages from Netscape 4.7

10. enabled the "fit sheet" zoom option in 1-up display

11. the Save function no longer supports 16 and 32-bit TIFF files.
    supported color depths are monochrome, 4-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit.

12. added mouse wheel scrolling to the print preview

13. the print preview's context menu can now be accessed by hitting
    Shift-F10 or the "context key" on a Windows keyboard

14. the FinePrint icon is now displayed in the Alt-Tab task list and on
    the task bar

15. added minimize/maximize boxes and a System menu to the main FinePrint
    window

16. CD-ROM based installations of FinePrint now correctly set the file
    attributes of system form files

17. temporary files are now created in the current user's temp folder
    under Windows NT/2000

18. fixed problems with the uninstaller under Windows 2000

--- Build 7 (February 16, 2000) ---

19. headers and footers are now properly positioned when gutters are used

20. multiple copy output can now be collated or uncollated (in the past
    it was always collated).  this setting is available in the Options
    dialog from the main Layout tab in the FinePrint dialog.

21. fixed problems with 1-up scaling when the document paper size is
    different from what's loaded in the physical printer

22. fixed a problem loading callback DLLs at dispatcher startup

23. the Forms tab now correctly uses Original margins

24. when the FinePrint dialog is set to "not at all" display and Defer
    All mode is enabled, the dialog now appears minimized the first time
    you print to it

25. fixed problems selecting HP 890C printers (and possibly others) in
    the Printers combo box

26. fixed problems drawing rotated text in rotated landscape pages or
    when copying a sheet to the clipboard as a bitmap

27. FinePrint driver settings (e.g. paper size, orientation) are now
    stored correctly on client machines using FinePrint Enterprise Edition

--- Build 8 (February 23, 2000) ---

28. fixed a problem with cleaning up user profiles under Windows NT/2000.
    if you were unable to delete user profiles because of FinePrint, just
    install this new build and reboot your machine, and the problem will
    be solved.

29. fixed a CFpFile error 7 that caused print jobs to fail

--- Build 10 (March 15, 2000) ---

30. fixed problems with custom paper sizes in Excel ("Cannot print"
    errors) and in other applications (custom paper sizes printing
    incorrectly)

31. fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when printing Web pages from
    Netscape 4.x

32. Save As TIFF now allows you to create a single TIFF file containing
    all the job pages, or one TIFF file for each job page

33. Save As TIFF now supports different DPI resolutions

34. Save As FinePrint (.FP) now supports file compression, which produces
    much smaller files

35. added "Order Supplies" link to the Layout tab.  this can be disabled
    with a check box on the Settings tab.

36. rearranged push buttons on the main dialog to improve consistency

37. minor adjustments to the dialog controls on the Layout tab

38. the Windows 9x printer driver now defaults to International Font
    Support off instead of on

--- Build 11 (April 17, 2000) ---

39. FinePrint now automatically saves the most recent jobs you print.
    This allows you to go back and reprint jobs even after you have
    dismissed the FinePrint dialog.  Autosave settings are on the
    Settings tab in the FinePrint dialog and jobs are saved in a new
    folder called AutoSave, located in your FinePrint jobs folder (see
    the "Explore FinePrint files" shortcut in the FinePrint 2000
    program group).

40. FinePrint now has crash recovery so that you don't lose your work
    if a problem happens while you are printing.  When you reboot
    Windows or restart the FinePrint Dispatcher, any unhandled print
    jobs from your last FinePrint session are automatically loaded into
    FinePrint so that you can print or otherwise dispose of them without
    losing your work.  This feature is different from autosave because
    it uses the actual temp files in your TEMP folder, not saved .FP
    files in your AutoSave folder.

41. fixed a problem with custom resolutions in the Save As TIFF dialog

42. you can now set the default location for saved FinePrint jobs and
    files by clicking the Folder Locations button on the Settings tab

43. new Quick Bypass feature: if you hold down the SHIFT key when you
    print from any application, then FinePrint switches into Bypass mode
    using the currently selected printer and suppresses the FinePrint
    dialog box.  You must hold down the SHIFT key until you see the
    FinePrint icon in the Windows task bar status area; the icon is
    removed when Quick Bypass is complete.  You can enable or disable
    Quick Bypass on the Settings tab.

44. FinePrint can now use the same data directories for all users
    instead of creating new unique directories for each user.  To use
    this feature you must uninstall FinePrint and reboot your machine,
    then specify DataDir and JobsDir in FP4.INI.  Contact FinePrint
    Technical Support ([e-mail]) for more details.

45. fixed problems with Save As TIFF where sometimes the TIFF file was
    not created

46. you can now specify color depth and DPI resolution when copying
    pages to the clipboard as bitmaps.  Right-click on a page in the
    Layout tab and select "Copy sheet to clipboard" to set the options
    or copy a page.

47. Save As now supports bitmap (BMP) and JPEG formats

48. fixed problems where output to some color Postscript printers (e.g.
    HP Color Laserjet 4500 series) was coming out monochrome instead of
    color

49. fixed a problem printing to FinePrint when Chinese Star for Windows NT
    is running

--- Build 12 (April 19, 2000) ---

50. FP files saved on the Jobs tab can now be used as forms by copying
    them into the Forms folder

51. fixed a problem where using a watermark sometimes caused text to
    disappear

52. fixed a problem with inserting blank pages after you have deleted pages

53. fixed a problem where some gridlines were missing when printing from
    Excel under Windows NT/2000

--- Build 13 (April 21, 2000) ---

54. minor cosmetic improvements to the "Order Supplies" link

--- Build 14 (April 28, 2000) ---

55. new optimizations reduce the size of the physical printer spool file
    for AutoCAD and other line art-intensive documents

56. in addition to the [Registry] section, FP4.INI now supports [Registry-9x]
    and [Registry-NT] sections for platform-specific initializations.
    [Registry-9x] is for Windows 9x and [Registry-NT] is for Windows NT/
    2000.  These sections are processed AFTER the platform-independent
    [Registry] section is processed.

57. improved onscreen drawing speed of line art

58. fixed problems with banded output not lining up properly

59. fixed problems with erroneous lines drawn on output

60. fixed a crash that sometimes happened in AutoSave

--- Build 15 (May 2, 2000) ---

61. fixed a crash that happened when printing from WordPerfect on some
    computers

62. fixed a crash that happened when printing from a Windows Terminal
    Client

63. the "Delete autosaved files" button on the Settings tab now tells you
    how much disk space the autosaved files are occupying

64. fixed problems connecting to a shared FinePrinter under Enterprise
    Edition

--- Build 16 (May 19, 2000) ---

65. changes for international versions

66. FinePrint for NT/2000 no longer automatically creates registry keys
    for all existing users during installation.  Registry keys are created
    when the user next logs on.

67. fixed a crash that sometimes occurred when printing compressed bitmaps

68. fixed problems printing text from applications that do not specify a
    font

69. fixed problems printing some embedded TrueType fonts

--- Build 17 (July 17, 2000) ---

70. fixed scaling problems with forms

71. fixed drawing problems with PDF fonts

--- Build 21 (August 9, 2000) ---

72. reinstalling FinePrint no longer deletes FinePrint shortcuts in the
    Send To folder

73. reinstalling FinePrint after uninstalling now gives you the option of
    retrieving your old FinePrint settings, even if you have rebooted your
    computer in the meantime

74. the installer and uninstaller now display thermometer progress bars

75. fixed keyboard accelerator conflicts on the main Layout tab

76. the dispatcher now displays a confirmation message when it is manaully
    restarted from the FinePrint program group

77. added "Print sheet" command to the context menu, so you can right-click
    on a page in the main Layout tab and print just that sheet to your
    printer

78. added a "Save settings" button to the Settings tab, so you can save the
    current FinePrint settings without having to print a job to your printer

79. reordered the tabs in the FinePrint dialog so that the more commonly
    used tabs are first

80. the new Printer Wizard feature makes it even easier to print double-sided
    to any printer

81. improved the UI for inserting variables (date, time, etc.) into
    stationery on the Stationery tab

82. you can now specify the starting page number that is used for the Page
    variables in stationery.  the starting page number can be specified on
    the Settings tab and resets to 1 for each new FinePrint session.

83. fixed an install problem

--- Build 23 (August 27, 2000) ---

84. fixed problems printing double-sided output to manual duplex printers

85. fixed problems with incorrect page ordering on some printers

86. improved the Printer Wizard

87. FinePrint now sets the current directory when printing to Acrobat
    PDFWriter or other printer drivers that present a Save dialog

88. the Quick Bypass feature (SHIFT printing) now sets FinePrint layout
    options correctly


Company History
---------------
We are FinePrint Software, a company founded in 1995 by Jonathan
Weiner and Mark O'Brien.  Our mission is to create printing products
that maximize the functionality of existing printing hardware.  Our
innovative approach to printing allows us to create software on all
Windows platforms that works with all existing printers.


Setting Default Paper Size
--------------------------
In many countries the default paper size is A4.  It is possible to set
FinePrint to always use this or other supported sizes by default.  In
the Start menu, open the Settings Printers folder, then right-click on
the FinePrint Driver and select one of the following commands:

- Properties (Windows 95/98)
- Document Defaults (Windows NT)
- Printing Preferences (Windows 2000)

This will present you with a list of choices, and you can select A4 or
any other supported paper size as the default.


FinePrint Dispatcher
--------------------
The FinePrint Dispatcher is a program that runs in the background and
manages the flow of print jobs within FinePrint.  The Dispatcher must
be running in order for FinePrint to operate.  If you ever get an error
message about "Could not locate the FinePrint Dispatcher", you can try
re-launching it from the FinePrint program group in the Start menu.  Or,
you can reboot your computer, since the Dispatcher is launched upon
startup.


Registration
------------
You have downloaded a trial version of FinePrint. If you decide to
use it, registration to the full version costs $39.95. The
registration mechanism we use allows payment by check, credit card,
and electronic payment.  When payment is received, you will be sent a
registration key which you then enter into FinePrint.  Once you have
registered by entering your key, two things will happen:

1. The "unregistered" message printed on each page will be removed
2. The page limit will be removed

Registering entitles you to receive free maintenance upgrades of
FinePrint.  Major new releases will be made available to registered
users at a substantial discount.

To register, click the Register tab in the FinePrint window and
then click the Order Form button to fill out an order form.  You can
also click the Register Online button to connect to our registration
page.

After you have registered and receive the serial number, enter it along
with your name in the spaces provided.


Support Information
-------------------
We are committed to providing excellent support for our customers.  We
can be reached for technical support and comments via email at
[e-mail].


Contact Information
-------------------
sales: [e-mail]
support: [e-mail]
web: http://www.fineprint.com

FinePrint IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND.
FINEPRINT SOFTWARE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  IN NO EVENT SHALL FINEPRINT SOFTWARE
BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL
DAMAGES, EVEN IF FINEPRINT SOFTWARE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

FinePrint is a trademark of FinePrint Software.