Label basics - 4-wide labels

[WaltW]

Seems like a very basic question, but how do you set up MS Access to print multi-wide labels? I have a Zebra printer with 4-inch-wide print head - labels are 1 inch wide by 10 inches long, so 4 labels are printed at a time. I want the text to print "sideways" (so that printing goes from top to bottom instead of side to side). How do I configure the paper size for the Zebra (4" x 10"?), and how do I set up the report in order to both preview and print these labels correctly? I need to be able to do this in both MS Access 97 and 2003. I've been wrestling with this for a while, and it seems like it should be simple, but I must be missing something ...

Thanks for any help offered!

Walt

 

[MMSMSD]

Walt,
I think I understand what you're asking for. Here's something that may work:

1. Make your report to only show one label.
2. Bring up the PROPERTIES of each text field in your report. Under the OTHER tab, you can select YES for VERTICAL. This will put the text sideways. Resize the fields to make it look proper.
3. Under PAGE SETUP, select 4 under NUMBER OF COLUMNS in the COLUMNS tab. This will make the information flow to the 4 labels. You'll need to mess with the margins and report size until the fields line up where you need them to be on the printout. This looked OK on a preview for me in Access 2003. I don't have Access 97 to know if VERTICAL is an option in that version. Hope this helps.

Michael

 

[WaltW]

Thanks for the response, Michael. I tried in MS Access 2003, and the formatting seems OK on the preview with one exception - when I set it to 4 columns, I only see every 4th label on the preview. Is this the way it's supposed to be? Will it still print correctly even though it doesn't show every label on the preview? I was hoping to see each set of 4 labels on the preview, so I can verify that everything's being printed.

Walt