Form Printing – AutoManager

This article is for DeskManager 11. For DeskManager Online see Form Printing in DeskManager Online.

In DeskManager there are three types of forms that can be printed, Plain Paper and ePay for normal printers, and Dot-Matrix forms for Okidata printers.

Plain Paper and ePay

To print a Plain Paper or ePay form, first, open a Deal from the Deal/Trade tab then click the Forms button at the top.

Double-click the form from the Forms List, then click Print, then select the appropriate laser or inkjet printer from the list, then click Print.

Dot-Matrix for Okidata

Forms for Okidata printers nearly always need to be aligned so the text that is printed lines up with the corresponding fields.

This video covers how to align and print Okidata forms in DeskManager.

The Top of Form determines where the printer starts printing onto the form. Make sure your Okidata’s Top of Form is consistent, since it is a huge determining factor on how your margins will work. To test, place a blank sheet of paper into the Okidata Top Feed tray.

Take a mental note or mark on the paper how far the Okidata pulled the paper in.
Do this multiple times to insure consistency of the Okidata paper loading.
If the Okidata pulls the paper consistently to the same point, your Top of Form is set.

Locate the dot-matrix form that you are printing in the Forms List in DeskManager.

Double click the form to open the margin tool, if a form pop-up displays for the form, fill it out appropriately, then click Print until the margin tool window appears.

The margins by default are set at Top Margin: 0 and Left Margin: 0.
Print the form normally with these margins and examine where the text is printing in relation to the field it should be in.
It should be expected that the text on the form is not aligned properly on this first print.
- Take a ruler and measure in inches the distance and direction between where the text is printing and the field where the text should be.
  - For example, the text is printing 0.2 inches too low and 0.3 inches too far to the right.
- In DeskManager, double click the form again to Print it and bring up the margin tool.
  - The default measurement is in Points, in which 100 points is equal to .1 inches (or 1000 points is equal to 1 inch). If you would like to input the measurement in Inches rather than Points, click the Inches selection at the top.
- If the text needs to be moved up on the form, in the top margin field, make the measurement negative.
- If the text needs to be moved down on the form, in the top margin field, make the measurement positive.
  - For example, to move the text 0.2 inches up on the form, enter in the Top Margin -200 points, or -0.2 inches.
- If the text needs to be moved left on the form, in the left margin field, make the measurement negative.
- If the text needs to be moved right on the form, in the left margin field, make the measurement positive.
  - For example, to move the text .3 inches to the left, enter in the Left Margin -0.3 inches or -300 points.
Please keep in mind that entering a negative value will only move the text to a certain point until the text is cut-off on the form.
Be sure that you have the correct measurement scale selected between Inches and Points when entering the values.
Print the form again with the measured margins entered into the margin tool and inspect the form to see how accurate the text was printed into the fields.
- If the text still is not lining up with the corresponding fields in the form, double-check that the pre-printed form revision date matches the revision date in the form name in DeskManager.
- If they match, then measure the distance and direction in inches that the text needs to be moved, and repeat the previous steps.
Print again and if the text needs further adjustment, repeat the alignment steps until the text lines up with the corresponding fields on the form.
If the text lines up with the corresponding fields, you are done!
The next time you print this form, the margin tool will remember the last used margin settings.

Plain Paper and ePay

Dot-Matrix for Okidata

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