windows XP-printing checks

[dwr56]

I am using Peachtree Accounting version 7.0 and everything worked fine on Windows ME. Have now switched to Windows XP and get the message "Warning! There was no room to store those printer set up parameters in the form file." It gives me the option to print anyway, but if I choose to do so, it runs through an infinate (I assume as I stopped at 10,000) number of checks without starting the print. I am also using a new printer - HP office jet d135.

[Deborah Bean]

Printer drivers are usually the problem when this occurs. Either dozens of pages with a single line of gibberish appear when printing or the size of the form and text are skewed. Verify that you have the correct printer driver for your printer and your OS. The drivers can be very specific, especially for a problem ridden OS such as ME. Of course, I don't feel that XP is much better. You will need to completely uninstall the current printer in the system and then reinstall the new driver.

Let us know if you still have problems.

[dwr56]

Thank you, Deborah. I have received and installed the new driver for my HP, which is to make it completely compatible with windows XP. (I did uninstall the original.) All other reports are printing fine - just cannot print checks.

[jag]

Try this:

Install an usual printer driver (like HP Deskjet 800 series or anything under the Deskjet line) and try printing from that driver from any other windows app. If it works ok, then try it printing checks.

I have found that many specific drivers (specially HP's) just don't work with Peachtree. And if you use a common driver the problems are solved, since you can keep both drivers.

HIH,

[dwr56]

Thank you! Thank you! A million thank yous!!!

[Deborah Bean]

That was to be my next solution also.

[jag]

Don't sweat it. It is just the essence of time.

Why does Peachtree not use the Printer API? Their printing engine is totally a mess.

[Deborah Bean]

Many programs have printing problems. In some cases it is the programs fault. Occasionally it is Microsoft's fault. Act! Contact Management is another program that I regularly support that has problems with "blowing up" the size of forms and reports when printed.

Hey - did you hear that Peachtree is putting out its own version of Act. Since I've already written three books on Act, I was thinking about doing one for Peachtree's Contact Manager - Powered by Act!

[jag]

Deborah,

From all the negative feedback I have received from the ACT! CM for PT I tend to think that if you write a book about it most probably it will sell (but I think is too soon to tell). Although, IMHO the real money would be to write a book on Crystal Reports for Peachtree, emphazing in their DB structure (if there is some one who can do that!!!). I would rather use PawCom and the full version of Crystal Reports.

Any experience with PT2000? That's my workhorse, but nobody writes books for it, since it is used by a small group and I think that Peachtree will be retiring it very soon.

[Deborah Bean]

The problem with PT2000 appears that it is trying to hit a market already saturated. I have hardly touched it because it looked as if the set up was much more extensive that PWComplete. My clients don't need that power and complexity for their entire accounting system.

What I am truly looking for is a way to mesh MS Access with PW. I've been doing Access work almost as long as PW. My normal solution is to create whatever Access solution I need and then create an Access report that is actually a journal entry. The client then enters the journal entry into PW. I've done both A/R and Inventory modules using this method.

Sure, I know about DDE, but I haven't tackled it yet. A while back PW had a developers kit, but then the company was sold and it disappeared. I thought it was supposed to have standard database connectivity in it.

As for Crystal Reports, I actually used to do a lot of CR a few years ago. Maybe I should look into that to.

[dringstrom]

Have you looked at PawCOM from www.multiwareinc.com? It's the best solution for integrating Peachtree with Access. If you haven't delved into DDE, I'd skip it in favor of PawCOM. But, if you do decide to tackle DDE, I accidentally created the only Peachtree/DDE resource on the web at www.accountingadvisors.com.

[jag]

As dringstrom said:

You got to try PAWCOM !!!

Download a free demo version at http://www.multiwareinc.com/pawcom.htm.

There's nothing "demo" on that version, but it only works with the demo company and it is fairly cheap. Also, you can ask almost anything to Robert Walraven (walraven@multiwareinc.com) (the creator of the program) about the program. He is very nice and knowleadble, and he frequents this site and the NG very much.