Originally Posted Sept. 14 2008

If you suspect your printer cartridge has more life in it in spite of the 'low ink' warning you may be right.  According to this Slate article manufacturers have a vested interest in selling as many cartridges as possible (the razor and razor blade model - as mentioned in the article).

But if you want to get every last ounce of juice from your HP, Brother, Canon, and even other manufacturer's cartridges there are a few suggestions (paragraph 1, 5, and 6).

Take That Stupid Printer! Slate Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

Originally Posted July 13 2008

The simplest is to try to purge all the print jobs (a print job is every document, spreadsheet, e-mail, or any file that you try to print).  Many times something went wrong on your first print job and it's backing up all the other print jobs.  But, there are a few other things you can also try.  Here's what you do:

Option 1:
In Windows XP:
1. Click Start > Control Panel > Printers and Faxes
2. Double Click the printer which you printed to
-A list of your Print Jobs appears
3. Printer > Cancel All Documents
4. Try printing again

In Vista:
1. Click the Start button > Control Panel > Printers
2. Double Click the printer which you printed to
-A list of your Print Jobs appears
3. File > Cancel All Print Jobs
4. Try printing again

Option 2: - Delete Temporary Files
-In Windows XP
1. Shut down all programs
2. Click Start > Run
3 Type 'temp' without the quotes in the Run field
4. Press the ENTER key
-A window with your Temporary files opens
-Select all files
5. Press and hold CTRL on your keyboard
6. Press A
7. Release CTRL and A
-All files are selected

-Now delete all files
7. Press and hold CTRL
8. Press D
Note: not all files will delete and you will likely get an error that a file is in use.  In this case, you have to:
9. Press and hold CTRL
10. Press A
11. Relese CTRL and A
11. Press and hold CTRL
12. Click once on the first file in the window
13. Press and hold CTRL
14. Press D
15. Repeat this process until all the files are deleted
17. Repeat the same process except enter '%temp%' in step 3.
18. Try printing again

In Vista:
1. Shut down all programs
2. Click the Start button
-In the Start field
3. Enter 'run'
4. Click on 'Run' at the top of the Start menu
5. Type 'temp' without the quotes in the Run field
6. Press the ENTER key
-A window with your Temporary files opens
-Select all files
7. Press and hold CTRL on your keyboard
8. Press A
9. Release CTRL and A
-All files are selected

-Now delete all files
10. Press and hold CTRL
11. Press D
12. Click 'Skip' when prompted
13. Repeat this process until all the files are deleted from the 'temp' folder
14. Repeat the same process except enter '%temp%' in step 5.
15. Try printing again

Option 3:
In Windows XP and Vista
-Restart your printer
1. Unplug the power cord from your printer
2. Wait about 30 seconds
3. Replug your printer
4. Try printing again

I hope these help!

July 23 2007
One of the most common questions I get about ACT! is if there is a way to print labels.  If so then how?

In all versions of ACT! 5.0 - 2007
**Be sure to complete a Lookup of the contacts you want to print before starting these steps
1. File > Print...
-Under 'Printout Type' in the left column
2. Select 'Labels'
3. Select your label type according to Avery standard
-Office Max and Office Depot labels will state their equivalent Avery type on the package if you are using those brands
4. Click 'Print'
5. Select 'Current Lookup'
**Best practice is to leave 'Preview' as the selected output in case something is wrong with the selected contacts
**If printing on an incomplete sheet of labels, you can select the starting position of labels under the 'Position' tab
6. Click 'OK'
-Review your Labels
**Load your printer with labels
7. Click the Printer button to print
You're done!

The Print Label feature isn't easy to find - even in the latest versions of ACT!.  But, it does exist and is very handy when completing a mail merge.

March 14 2005
Q: Sometimes I get an extra plank page when I print a Word document.  Why is that and how can stop it?
A: Well, when you are typing a letter, memo, document, report, etc, in Word, Word is recording each keystroke.  What I mean is that every time you press the keyboard, Word is entering a character on the page.

Most of the characters are visible-like the letters that consist of the text you type.  Some of the characters are invisible-like when you press the SPACEBAR or when you press the ENTER key.  The invisible character left behind after pressing the ENTER key is the crux of this problem.

The reason a blank page prints when you print that Document in Word is because at the end of that Document there is a collection of invisible ENTER characters-enough to push your Document into printing an extra page.

To eliminate these characters (and the unneeded blank page) all you need to do is:
1. Press and hold the CTRL key and press the END key
-This will take place your cursor at the absolute end of your Document
2. Press the BACKSPACE key until you reach the last text of your Document
3. Save your Document
-You can then verify that you have eliminated the extra page by looking at the lower left hand side of the Window.  You will see a fraction like '1/2' which means your cursor is on page one of two.  If your Document was 4 pages and you successfully deleted the unneeded ENTER characters it should read '1/3'.

If you would like to see the non-printing characters like SPACEBAR, ENTER, etc., look in the Toolbar in the upper right hand side of the Window for a button that has a paragraph symbol and click on it.  Click on it again to turn it off.

January 17 2005
Q: How can I create a Fax Cover Sheet for the Current Contact in ACT!?
A: All you need to do is:
-In ACT!
1. Lookup the Contact for whom you want to create the cover
2. Write > Fax Cover Page…
3. Click the 'Print' button and you're done

January 10 2005
Q: When I print specific web pages, a portion of it is either cut-off or I get extra pages at the bottom.  How can I fix this?
A: Well, this is actually a result of how the web page is 'translated' to your browser program (Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox etc.).   I won't get into the specifics of the technology, but there are two solutions that work around this.

The first solution is:
-On the more thoughtful websites click on a link/button that says something like:
'Printable Version', 'Print Page', 'Printer Friendly' or something similar.
-These links/buttons usually are at the top, bottom, or in the margin of the page you are viewing
1. Click on this link
-A new page will appear with some formatting removed
2. Print from that window usually by going to the File > Print menu

If there is no 'Printable Version' link/button, you can use the second solution:
-In Internet Explorer (In other web browsers, the option will be in a similar location)
1. Select/highlight what you want to print using your Mouse
2. File > Print
-Under the 'Page Range' section:
3. Select 'Selection'
4. Click the 'Print' button
-The text you selected/highlighted is printed

Maybe you have been in this situation:  You are trying to describe what you see on your computer to a co-worker or even someone from technical support.  What you describe is not clicking for the other person.  Harder yet, you spend several minutes trying to figure out what to use as the same terminology to describe what you see.  Well, if you are ever in again just use the Print Screen feature.

The Print Screen feature is on all computers and just like it says, it will take a snap-shot of your computer screen as you currently see it.

Here’s how you use it:
-While your computer is on
1. Press and hold down the FN key or if your computer does not have this key, press the ALT or CTRL key and Press the PRNT SCRN key
2. Open Microsoft Word (or another word processing program)
3. Edit > Paste
-The image of your screen is inserted in the document
You can then save the document and then email it to the person you want to share it with.
That’s it!

Hint:
-On my Dell Laptop the FN key is in blue lettering at right of the Space Bar and my PRNT SCRN is at the left of the Space Bar, also in blue lettering
-On my Desktop with a Logitech keyboard it is the F Mode button & Print Screen buttons at the upper right hand side of the computer
-On other keyboards the FN it is in white lettering at the left hand side of the space bar and the PRNT SCRN button is somewhere at the upper right hand side.