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  1. #1
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Printer Form Challenge

    Hi, I'm new to this forum. I have an unexpected problem (aren't they all!). I'm a fairly green Access person, using Access 2007.



    I need to print to a fairly esoteric three-up printer form that includes a punch-out membership/business card. However, the form was designed without consideration for printer margins (my printer's minimum is .25"), so each of the three form portions is 3 2/3" tall. This means, for me, that once the minimum margins are accounted for, the size of the detail section needs to be different by .25" for records 1,4,7 etc. compared to records 2/3, 5/6, 8/9, etc.

    Does anyone know of a way around this issue?

  2. #2
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    If you are printing what amounts to a label type report in Access I don't think the solution is to try and alter the size of every 3rd record. Have you tried messing around with the width of the report as a whole, when I've encountered similar problems (printing on non-standard labels) I could usually get around it by altering the layout fractionally (i.e. reducing the width of the report so it would print slightly to the right on the first column, middle of the middle column and slightly to the left on the third column)

  3. #3
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpeare View Post
    If you are printing what amounts to a label type report in Access I don't think the solution is to try and alter the size of every 3rd record. Have you tried messing around with the width of the report as a whole, when I've encountered similar problems (printing on non-standard labels) I could usually get around it by altering the layout fractionally (i.e. reducing the width of the report so it would print slightly to the right on the first column, middle of the middle column and slightly to the left on the third column)
    I tried setting up the page as a three-up and modifying the placement of each of the segments, but so far Access is treating the page as a single record, i.e. repeating the same record contents three times. Is there a way to get it to see each part of the report page as a new record?

  4. #4
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    I don't understand you should only have one membership record, is the query driving your report multiplying that (probably with a one to many relationship with another table?

    or are you not using the label wizard when you create your report?

  5. #5
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpeare View Post
    I don't understand you should only have one membership record, is the query driving your report multiplying that (probably with a one to many relationship with another table?

    or are you not using the label wizard when you create your report?
    I had not been using the label wizard, I was working in Report Design. However, trying some quick examples using the wizard, I get the right records but the label creeps up the page with each iteration because of the need to include a page margin on the label definition. I did not completely understand your comment about tweaking the report. For clarity, my form is 8.5 X 11, portrait orientation, and divided into three sections of 8.5 X 3.667.

  6. #6
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    right so if your successive lines are creeping up on your label you need to make your label area slightly larger, you can turn the SNAP TO GRID off and make very small (pixil width) changes to your report to make it line up properly on your page. I haven't found a label wizard report that works correctly yet, they are close but not exact and I have always had to modify the width or, more often, the vertical height of each 'section' to make it fit properly on labels.

  7. #7
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpeare View Post
    right so if your successive lines are creeping up on your label you need to make your label area slightly larger, you can turn the SNAP TO GRID off and make very small (pixil width) changes to your report to make it line up properly on your page. I haven't found a label wizard report that works correctly yet, they are close but not exact and I have always had to modify the width or, more often, the vertical height of each 'section' to make it fit properly on labels.
    I have the label height correct for the first third of the page, but the overall label definition includes a minimum page margin, it won't let me (in the wizard, at least) specify a zero page margin. Without the page margin the second and third segments of the form are short by the height of the margin and the contents creep up accordingly.

  8. #8
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    I'm playing around with custom labels and I can put a zero width between labels on the same page, but I'm forced to have a minimum margin of .3 on the edge of the paper. Is this what you're experiencing? Does your 8.5x11 printing stock have any margin at all? i.e. if it's printing on a piece of plastic do you have a punchout matrix or somethign of that nature? or is the printing stock something like a piece of card broken into 3 equal pieces by a perforation?

  9. #9
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Quote Originally Posted by rpeare View Post
    I'm playing around with custom labels and I can put a zero width between labels on the same page, but I'm forced to have a minimum margin of .3 on the edge of the paper. Is this what you're experiencing? Does your 8.5x11 printing stock have any margin at all? i.e. if it's printing on a piece of plastic do you have a punchout matrix or somethign of that nature? or is the printing stock something like a piece of card broken into 3 equal pieces by a perforation?
    Yes, it's 11"h X 8.5" w, perforated at 3 2/3" and 7 1/3". Each segment has a perforated business card in it. I am trying to print a membership card onto that with some wrap-around text. Yes, it is requiring me to accept a minimum .3" in the page margin field, which seems to be the source of my problem.

  10. #10
    rpeare is offline VIP
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    can you get the effect you want by accepting the .3 margin which would leave you with 10.4 inches of vertical space or 3.4666666 inches

    on a given page your first record may be slightly below here you want it, the middle would be pretty much where you wanted, and the third record would be a little bit above where you wanted it, in other words they wouldn't be perfectly centered but you could get close.

    The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is to put an artificial counting system (i.e. put in a text box with =1 as the control source and making the RUNNING SUM field say OVER ALL) then have a small vertical field that had a CAN GROW property of YES that would be populated based on the line number to modify the spacing where necessary.

  11. #11
    RA99 is offline Novice
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    Smile Problem solved

    Quote Originally Posted by rpeare View Post
    The only other thing I can think of off the top of my head is to put an artificial counting system (i.e. put in a text box with =1 as the control source and making the RUNNING SUM field say OVER ALL) then have a small vertical field that had a CAN GROW property of YES that would be populated based on the line number to modify the spacing where necessary.

    Thank you very much, this was they key to a solution.

    For the benefit of anyone else struggling with a similar issue, here are a few learnings. I used a bit of math to control the vertical size of the "can grow" spacer control, based on whether the calculated record number (from the running sum) plus 2, divided by 3, less the integer value of that product, was zero or otherwise. The running sum text box, however, when referenced for the math, contains a one rather than the actual displayed running sum from the control (I don't know why). Access doesn't seem to have a lag function, so I was in a bit of a sweat over that, but I tried something on a hunch. If you create another text box referencing the first running sum control and make it also a running sum/over all, the value of the running sum becomes available from the second control for mathematical manipulation (again, I don't know why).

    I used text, line feeds and carriage returns to conditionally fill the spacer text box and fine-tuned the vertical dimension with font size. I've got it close enough that only close study with a good ruler would distinguish the placement of the three items on the 3-up form. The math controls and the spacer control cannot be made invisible or the trick does not work; they need to be left visible with font colour white (in my case, using a white form).

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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