ACT 6.0 - Printing Labels, Envelopes, etc

[Art57]

When I use the File, Print menu to print envelopes, labels, etc. I get the following error message:
"A system error occurred while printing this document." Click OK and it allows one item to be printed. If another attempt is made to print an item, then the following message appears:
"There is no print driver installed on this machine." Click OK, but now it won't allow printing. I uninstalled ACT using the recommended method to completely remove ACT and reinstalled. It didn't help. I uninstalled my print driver and reinstalled - no help. Does anyone have a suggestion? Thanks.

 

[Nanook1231]

Honestly I don't know if it is even worth bothering with labels or envelopes in 6.0. I don't have a great answer to your question, but I can say that I struggled with envelope/label issues a lot in all the previous versions before the current 9.0. The whole thing is a big mess and they know it. It has been mostly been resolved in 9.0 and I would suggest upgrading if you are planning doing much at all with either labels or envelopes. It may be worth the upgrade for this alone.

just my 2¢

Alan

 

[GLComputing]

Have you tried getting an updated printer driver as per -

http://itdomino.act.com/act.nsf/docid/11744

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[DirectMarketingMan]

Hi Art57

Can you print a merged word document? Because if you can - it is easier to print labels set up as a word document.

Here's how to do it for Act 6

Create a new blank template and set the page margins to the correct size for the lables you are using.

Insert a table into the page (ie use 4 and 8 lables per sheet so have one set up for both). In word you can edit the table properties setting the row height and column width. click table/table properties and a dialogue box pops up. First select options at the bottom right hand corner of the box and make sure 'automatically resize to fit contents' is deselected. Ok that

Now click on the row table at the top of the box and specify the height you want for each row (make sure Exactly is selected - so it is say 5cm exactly)

Now do the same for column (you can only set a prefered width)

Now you have a page with a table set to the correct width and height. For Example I have a 4 labels per sheet that has a 2x2 table.

Now you need to add the merge fields into the boxes.

In the first top left box add the fields you want: eg

DatabaseID=[[DatabaseID]]|ContactID=[[ContactID]] this is the identifyier for the database and record best to copy it from another word template as it is invisible when printing.

Now the address info:

[[Contact:26]]
[[Title:46]]
[[Company:25]]
[[Address 1:27]]
[[Address 2:28]]
[[Address 3:29]]
[[City:30]]
[[Postcode:32]]

In the next box down do the same but add at the top of the address this field: «Next Record» if you don't add this the same address will be repeated on this lable - You don't need it for the first label on the sheet. so it looks like:

«Next Record»
[[Contact:26]]
[[Title:46]]
[[Company:25]]
[[Address 1:27]]
[[Address 2:28]]
[[Address 3:29]]
[[City:30]]
[[Postcode:32]]

Do the same for all the other boxes

I also add a return address in the labels too.

Once you have done this save the template. Then simple merge to it as you would merge a group or look up to a letter.

then all you have to do is load the printer with your lables and finaly print them off.

hope this helps

kind Regards

Paul

 

[Art57]

Thanks to everyone that replied to this cry for help. I upgraded the printer driver to the latest version downloaded from Samsung's web site. Unfortunately, the problem continues. The strange thing is that it only began occurring recently. This printer/PC has been running without any issues for over a year. By the way, the printer is a Samsung CLP-510.

Any other suggestions? I don't ant to upgrade as there's no guarantee that upgrading will cure the problem. Also, Ver. 6 does everything I need it to do....until recently. Thanks again.

 

[GLComputing]

What else was changed around the time it started failing?

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au

 

[Art57]

That's the thing that has me really frustrated - I've put no new software or hardware in to this machine for over a year and this problem only began about 2 months ago.

I believe your first suggestion is on the right track. I deleted my default printer (Samsung CLP-510). This caused the default printer to become an "internal" printer that's used for my accounting software (Peachtree by, guess who, Sage) and the problem went away. The thing is, I've been using the Samsung for about 18 months and never had a problem.

 

[GLComputing]

It's possible the print driver has become corrupt and downloading and installing an updated one might fix it

Regards,
Mike Lazarus
ACT! Evangelist
GL Computing, Aust

http://www.GLComputing.com.au