Printing a "thumb" on edge of report

[QedMatt]

I'm wondering if this can be done in Access 97, or if I have to have a printer add the marking later.

What I need is for every category in my report, I need a mark to print on the extreme right edge of the page so that it bleeds to the edge of the paper.

For each new category, the mark needs to move down a notch, so that the overall effect is similar to looking at a closed dictionary from the edge - you can identify from the outside each letter of the alphabet because the marks progress from top to bottom.

It's kind of like having index tabs for each page, but printed on each page instead of sticking out.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to achieve this? My biggest problems are 1) Moving the tabs down a notch for each new section, and 2) printing all the way to the edge of the paper. Access seems to want to leave a small margin so you don't go all the way to the edge.

Thanks!

Matt

 

[JerryDennison]

Access doesn't really care where you try to print, but the printer driver may. Are you sure your printer will support bleed?

The 1st question is going to be more difficult to handle. The primary problem centers around positioning. It would be very easy to create a series of solid box controls down the page then hide all but the one you want to print (all of which could be done with conditional formatting). The problem with this is the detail section is now the full length of the page and you will only get one detail per page (totally unacceptable). This leaves us with doing everything through code. You may find the CurrentX and CurrentY properties useful. This will let you define the next absolute position relative to the 0 starting point of the section that you are working with. This in conjunction with the OnPrint event may let you achieve what you're looking for.

 

[QedMatt]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the input! I was also thinking that it would have to be done through code, but after asking around, our printers won't handle the ink to the edge.

So, just as an FYI in case anyone else is reading this, we're going with 1 of 3 options: 1) have the printing company do it, 2) print the report with the tabs, but on oversized paper & have the printer cut the paper to size, or 3) print the tabs as far over as possible, provide the report as "camera ready" to the printing company, and have them shoot the report inside the paper margin so the pic has the tabs on the edge.

I'm not going to worry about the code just yet, but thank you for the idea of CurrentX and CurrentY. That sparked an idea for how to drift the tabs if that's how they decide to go.

Thanks for your help!

Matt