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Troubleshooting Printer Problems by Printing to Disk
DocumentID: 628731
Revision Date: 29-Feb-96 1:42:32 PM

The information in this document applies to:
WordPerfect® 5.1 for DOS

Problem

Have you ever needed to test a printer that you could not get your hands on? Welcome to the growing art of Print to Disk! The art does not come easy, but when it finally comes you will find yourself largely freed from the bondage of nonexistent printers.

All you need besides a lot of patience and a good head for deciphering unreadable symbols is a computer, WordPerfect 5.x, the printer manual of your choice, a couple of helpful charts, and an optional text editor.

What is Printing to Disk?
Printing to disk is simply the act of sending a WordPerfect print job to a file on a floppy or hard drive rather than to a physical printer.

Why would you want to do such a thing?
Various reasons will be discussed later, but mostly, the idea is to determine whether or not WordPerfect is sending the right kinds of "control codes" and "escape sequences" to your printer without having to have the printer at hand to perform actual, paper wasting tests. Another reason is to be able to test WordPerfect's printing capabilities without having WordPerfect running in memory.

How do you print to disk?
From the editing screen in WordPerfect 5.x, you press Shift-F7, S, 3, 2, 8 (Print, Select Printer, Edit, Port, Other) and then type in the name of the file you would like the print job to be sent to. This filename follows normal DOS file naming conventions. It may include a full path name, or simply a filename. If on a network version of WordPerfect, answer No to "Network Printer? (Y/N)."

What do you do with the file once you've printed?
The best print to disk you can test with is a print job sent to you on a floppy by a customer. When a customer needs to send files to you, ask the customer to send the following:
1.      The document file on which the problem is appearing
2.      A printout of the file in question
3.      A print to disk of the same file
4.      The .PRS file used to print both of the above
5.      The .SET file

Upon receiving the files, the first test you can do is copy the print to disk file to the same kind of printer the customer has, if it is available. If everything prints out fine, more than likely the customer has something different in the printer setup (dip switches, etc).

If the printout duplicates the problem on the hard copy the customer sent, you can perform a similar print to disk with new software and compare the two. If the files are exactly the same size, it's a good bet that they are identical, and the problem is in the .ALL or .EXE files. If they are different sizes, compare the actual files in Program Editor.

Operators can actually use the techniques described above while they are on the phone with the customer. Let's say that you have gone through setting up forms and sheet feeder bins with a customer. When you try to print, things don't come out right. You know that your procedure was correct, but you have reason to believe that the customer did not follow your directions correctly.

Here's how to check things out:
1.      Set up your own system the way you have described to the customer
2.      Type in a very simple test document at a clear screen. Have the customer type in the exact same thing
3.      Instruct the customer on how to print to disk, and then print the test along with them
4.      Clear the screen
5.      Retrieve the print to disk file as a DOS text file
6.      Have the customer read back the funny codes they see on their screen. Compare them one by one to what appears on your screen.

If there is any discrepancy at all, there is something different about your two setups. Check your dates (both .EXE and .ALL), initial codes, and any other relevant settings.

(Refer to memo WP51_3804B in the WP51 infobase for additional information on how to do a print to disk.)

Answer:

Details:


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