PRINTER S PLAN New Features and Improvements

Transcription

1 Addendum to User s Guide PRINTER S PLAN New Features and Improvements New Data Entry and Pricing Options Defaults / Options / Data Entry: There are three new options for updating the data of a job copied from another one: When you copy and paste a job, Printer s Plan can update the price level of each Item of the new job according to the customer s settings. It can also re-price each Item automatically: Item Price Levels option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will set the Price Level of the Item(s) equal to the Customer s Price Level. b) If not checked, the Price Level of the Item(s) will remain the same. This option is also applied when an Item is copied from another job. Item Prices option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will re-price each Item and save the default price without asking you Save Default Price or Keep Saved Price? b) If unchecked, Printer s Plan will re-price each Item and then ask you Save Default Price or Keep Saved Price? Show which data is updated option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will show you a list of the fields that were updated (changed). b) If unchecked, you will not see the list. Defaults / Options / Jobs: When you create a job, you may enter the details of the job with or without the guidance of Printer s Plan. In the new After creating a job field: a) Select the Ask me what to do next (default) option to see the What would you like to do? window (below). Printer s Plan will guide you by opening the windows that are checked. b) Select the Do not ask option if you want to decide what to do next without the help of Printer s Plan. This option is recommended for advanced users.

2 Addendum to User s Guide Defaults / Options / Pricing: The following three new options determine how Printer s Plan will respond when you click the [Reprice] button or right-click an Item and then select Reprice This Item or Reprice All Items in the Job window: Reprice automatically option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will calculate and save the default Item price based on the next two options: Price Level Option and Save Option. b) If not checked, Printer s Plan will open the Reprice window for you to change the next two options. Price Level option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will set the Price Level of the Item equal to Customer s default Price Level. b) If not checked, the Price Level of the Item will not change. Save option: a) If checked, Printer s Plan will save the default price automatically. b) If not checked, Printer s Plan will display the Price Changed window for you to decide which price to save. New Cutting Layout Window Important: After installing the upgrade, you must save the Default Cutting Options. Printer s Plan may ask for a password. Enter the same password you use to enter the Defaults section of Printer s Plan. The Cutting Layout Window has been completely re-designed. For more information, please see the New Cutting Layout Window and Cutting Options section at the end of this document. See page 12 How to Set Default Cutting Options.

3 Addendum to User s Guide New Printing Features Option to print Your Company Logo: You have the option to print your company logo on the upper left corner of Quotes, Invoices, and Statements. Your logo may include your company name, address, and phone/fax numbers. This feature is useful for ing Quotes, Invoices, and Statements as PDF file attachments. How to Print Logo(s) Create your logo: Width: 4 inches or wider. Printer s Plan will automatically scale it down to 4 inches. If the image width is less than 4 inches, Printer s Plan will enlarge it to 4 inches. Resolution: 300 x 300 pixel resolution is good for most printers. Please note that the larger the resolution, the longer it takes to create PDF files. Save the logo as: MyLogoPrint.bmp for in-house printing. If you always use preprinted Quotes, Invoices, and Statements, you do not need this file. MyLogo .bmp for ing. Copy the logo(s) to the Printer s Plan folder where PlanData.mdb is located. To print the logo: In the Print window, check the Form: Headers+Logo option. If you are ing the document as a PDF attachment, you do not need to check this option. Printer s Plan will automatically do it for you. Note: The quality of the printed logo depends on your or customer s printer s settings (Draft, Normal, Best). To test the print quality, you may want to experiment with different logo sizes, resolutions, printers, and printer settings. Option to print And Save and Unit Price columns (see the circled area in the Quotation above): In earlier versions, Printer s Plan always printed these columns and the unit was always per thousand. Now, they are printed only if the Unit Price option is checked (on the Print window) and the unit may be either per each or per thousand depending on the Item Unit Price. If the Unit Price option is not checked, only the Order More and Price columns are printed. Option to print a single price list for multiple Items on Quotes: This feature is useful for booklets. To print, check the Specs: Job Title only and Prices for more quantities options. Important: Printer s Plan uses the quantity breaks of the first Item to calculate the prices of the other Items.

4 Addendum to User s Guide New Job Window To open this window, click the [New ] button in the Jobs section. To create a new job: 1. Select a Job Type: Order, Quote, Template, or History Job. 2. Select a customer. To select a buyer other than the default buyer, click the folder icon of a customer. 3. Select your name and click OK. Save a CSR name on each computer so that you do not have to select the same name again each time you create a job. Notes: 1. Depending on the Job Type selected in the Job List Manager, Printer s Plan selects either Order or Quote when it opens this window. 2. To save your name (CSR) as the default setting, click the Options button. You may assign a different setting for each computer. 3. When you click a column header to sort the list, Printer s Plan hides the buyers listed, and then sorts the customers. 4. The quickest way of entering re-orders (converting a History Job to a new Order) is still to find the History Job on the Job List Manager and then Copy and Paste it.

5 Addendum to User s Guide New Items Window To open this window, click the [New Item ] button in the Job window. The new New Items window makes adding Items from existing jobs and templates much easier: You can find Items by Product Type, Item Description, and frequently used Job Fields. You can select and add more than one Item to the job. How to add Items: a) From Scratch: Select Printing, Copying, or Book Items. Printer s Plan lists Product Types. Double-click a Product Type to enter the specs for the new Item. If you choose the Book option, Printer s Plan opens the New Book window. b) From Customer s Existing Items: Click (or right-click to add filter) Orders, Quotes, or History. Printer s Plan lists Jobs, Products, or Items, depending on the List Style option. To set the List Style, click the [Options ] button. c) From Templates: Select All, Printing, Copying, or KeyCustomer Templates. Printer s Plan lists the templates of customer 31 and of the customer who ordered the job. If you are adding Items from existing jobs and templates: 1. When Jobs or Products are listed, click a folder icon to list the Items of the Job or Product. 2. When you click the folder icon of a job, an additional check box will appear for you to select all Items of the job. 3. When you click a column header to sort the list of Jobs or Products, Printer s Plan hides the Items that are listed, and then sorts the list. 4. To save How to Add Items and How to List Items options as your default settings, click the [Options] button. You may assign different settings for each computer. 5. Click a Preview icon (circle) to preview the details of a Job or Item. 6. To help you organize your templates more clearly, we have changed the Standard Job Types from Active, Inactive, and Key Templates to Printing Templates, Copying Templates, and Key Customer Templates. To change the type of a template: In the Jobs List Manager, click Standard Job/All, highlight the template(s) you want to move to a different group, right-click

6 and select Change Status. Addendum to User s Guide New Book Window In the New Book window, you can specify the Book Title, Quantity, Page Size, Book Cover, and Inside Pages. Page Size: In the Item Specs window, the page size you enter is the flat sheet size, not the folded page size. In the New Book window, however, you must enter the folded page size as Width x Height. Printer s Plan will convert the page size to flat sheet size when it creates the Items. For example, if you enter 8.5 x 11 as the page size of a folded book, Printer s Plan will double the Page Width and set the finished size to 11 x 17 in the Specs window. Options: 1. Check the Cover option to add a Printing Item. Uncheck to add a Copying Item. 2. Check the Text option to add a Printing Item. Uncheck to add a Copying Item. 3. Check the Finish option to add a separate Item for bindery services. The number of Originals of this Item will be the sum of the originals of Cover and Text Items. Click the [Save as Default ] button to save the Quantity, Page Size, Cover Type, and Options as New Book default settings. After you click OK in the New Book window (above), Printer s Plan will list the Items to be created (below). Review the Items listed. When you click [OK], Printer s Plan will automatically open the Specs window of each Item created for you to complete the specs. If there is a separate Bindery Item, enter pre-press cutting services in Cover and Text Items and enter all other bindery services in the Bindery Item. If there is no Bindery Item, include the binding service (stitch, comb, velo, wire, tape) in the first Item only. Include the collating, folding, and cutting services in all Items. Notes: 1. Book Items are not special. You open, edit, and price them just like Printing and Copying Items. Printer s Plan does not handle them differently. 2. If you change the quantity of a Book Item, you need to change the quantity of other Items manually. 3. When you print an Invoice or Quote, you need to remember to select Specs: Job Title only option. 4. We added this New Book feature to help you create Book Items easily. We will continue improving this feature.

7 Addendum to User s Guide Job Window is More Informative Price Level: In the Item list (above), an asterisk will appear in the new column [*] when the Price Level of an Item is different from the Customer's Default Price Level. Hidden Services: In the Job window and on Work Orders and Invoices, the names of hidden services start with an asterisk and include the word (hidden) for easy identification. This feature is especially helpful when a job is copied from history. Be sure to replace hidden services in the Specs window. Paper Description: Paper descriptions include the number of outs and ups as shown above. Number of Impressions: Press descriptions include the number of impressions as shown above. To see a report about number of impressions: Go to Reports / Sales By / Press. Other Changes in Jobs Reprice Button: Please see the Defaults / Options / Pricing section at the beginning of this document. Job Totals Window: The Job Totals window, which opens when you click the [Subtotal] button, highlighted the Discount field. Now it highlights the Shipping field. Commission: In earlier versions, when you re-priced a previously No Charge job, the commission amount remained as zero. Now the commission amount is re-calculated based on the default commission rate of the sales rep. Paper Waste: Earlier versions did not interpolate the waste percentage between 10M and 100M impressions. They used the percentage at 100M. Now Printer s Plan interpolates it. Therefore, the estimated waste for Items with more than 10M impressions may be slightly more than in previous versions. New Quantity Button: When you open the Specs window of a Quote, you will see a new [Quantity] button above the Quantity field. You may click this button to type additional quantities without the curly brackets. Or you may enter them directly into the Note field within curly brackets as before. Bold Invoice Balances: Earlier versions printed Item Prices with a bold font and Invoice Balances with a regular font, which caused some customers to pay the Item Price instead of the Invoice Balance. In this version, the font of Item Price is regular and Invoice Balance is bold. Order Receipts and Delivery Tickets: Earlier versions printed the default payer s name in the Bill to Address box and the default payer s fax number in the Fax box. This version prints the buyer s name and fax number. Order Receipt: It now includes Delivery Method, Due Date, and Due Time. from the Contact window: Select a contact and click the new button. Subject: You may include variable data in the Subject line of your templates. Example: Order No <JobNo>. For a list of variable data fields, open the Help.txt file in the sub-folder of Printer s Plan folder where PlanData.mdb is located. Work Order: If you try to a Work Order and Estimate Detail, Printer s Plan will ask you to confirm. This feature is added to prevent Work Orders and Estimate Details from being ed by mistake.

8 Addendum to User s Guide New Features and Improvements in A/R Payment Entry: To improve the Payment Entry (finding a customer to enter a payment), we made some changes. In the A/R Section, there are three ways to find a customer and open the A/R Payment window: 1. Click the New button to find a customer by Job Number, P.O. Number, Customer Name, Payer s Name, etc. This method is not new but finding by Job Number or P.O. Number is. 2. Open the Invoices Unpaid folder and click By Customer or By Invoice No or Past-Due Only to list the unpaid invoices. Double-click an invoice to open the A/R Payment window. 3. Open the Payments Expected folder and click Any Date to list all customers with balances and then double-click one of them. Or right-click on Any Date to add more filter. This method is not new. TIP When you receive a payment that includes invoice numbers, click the [New ] button; select the Job Number field; type the invoice number and click OK. Printer s Plan finds the customer and opens the A/R Payment window. In the A/R Payment window, there are some new and changed buttons: [Save & New] button: saves the payment you entered and then opens the Find window for you select another customer. [Save & Close] button: saves the payment and closes the Payment window. [Close] button: closes the window. [New] button: opens the Find window for you to select a customer for a new payment [Arrow] buttons: let you browse through the customers included in the Payments Expected list. Arrow buttons are visible only when you select Payments Expected or Send / Statement or Past Due Notice in the A/R List Manager. Note: If you click the [Close], [New], or an [Arrow] buttons after entering a payment, Printer s Plan will ask you if you want to save the payment.

9 Addendum to User s Guide New Reports New Sales Reports by Service: Earlier versions gave you summary reports by Sales Departments and Service Categories. This version breaks these reports down by Service. To see these reports: Go to Reports / Sales By. Note: The Products by Customer Report existed in the User Defined Lists folder in version 1.50 and New Number of Impressions Report: This version tracks the number of impressions of printing jobs. To see the report: Go to Reports / Sales By / Press. New Discrepancy Reports: When you click Discrepancies in Jobs / List Manager, Printer s Plan will ask you to choose one of the following three options: Subtotal is not equal to sum of service prices option lists the jobs that have inaccurate subtotals due to failures in network, computer, or power. Note: This report existed in earlier versions. Default and Item Price Levels are different option lists the jobs in which the Price Levels of Item(s) differ from the Customer s Default Price Level. When you open these jobs, you will see an asterisk in the [*] column of the Item/Services list. Default Item Price was manually edited option lists the jobs that have at least one Item with an edited price. When you open these jobs, you will see a + or or! sign in the [±] column of the Item/Services list. TIP: To update the Price Levels and Prices of the jobs listed in the Discrepancy Report: Open one of the jobs and click the [Reprice ] button. After updating the prices of the job, press the [Page Down] key to go to the next job in the list.

10 Addendum to User s Guide Other Changes in Printer s Plan Currency Fields and No Charge: If you type in a currency field, such as Credit Limit or Shipping Charge, Printer s Plan assumes it is a No Charge. Earlier versions did not allow you to enter a dollar amount once you entered This version does. Services / Other / Quick Sale Window: In earlier versions, when you changed the markup value of a Quick Sale Service and then pressed the Enter Key, the change was lost. In this version, the change is not lost. Reports / Audit Trail: Credit Invoices in Printer s Plan have negative invoice numbers. In earlier versions, if you deleted a Credit Invoice, Printer s Plan added the transaction to the Audit Trail with a positive invoice number. Now, the invoice number of a Deleted Credit Invoice remains negative in the Audit Trail. Reports / All Favorites / Print: The previous version printed incorrect titles for Favorite reports. This version prints the name of the selected Favorite as the report title. Sales Taxes: The number of sales taxes you can enter was 10. Now it is 32. Changes in Optional Tools Barcode Tool: Printer s Plan did not print the barcodes longer than three inches. Now it does. You can set the barcode font size in Defaults / Options / Barcodes. SchedulePlus Tool: Schedule by reports incorrectly showed the Due Date of Orders as the Due Date of the services that were scheduled to the same date as the Order Date In. Now the reports show the correct dates. Export Tool: Printer s Plan now removes invalid characters (?<> :/\.) from the name of export files. Hidden contacts are not exported. Export to QuickBooks: The Tax line in the sales export file now includes AllTaxes under the NAME column. If you are using QuickBooks 2003, be sure to add a Tax Agency called AllTaxes to a tax Item. ContactLink Tool: The Contact window includes a new button: [Act Database ]. Click this button to select and open an Act Database. The design of the ContactLink window for Act! is also improved. The Notes and Activities (Call, Meet, and Reminder) are marked with different icons for clarity. Please Note: We recently discovered that, in a previous update, we inadvertently activated the optional ContactLink tool for everyone, whether they had purchased it or not. This upgrade to Printer's Plan will correct that error by disabling ContactLink for those users who have not yet purchased it. We apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused you. If you would like to purchase ContactLink, please call us at Ext. Zero.

11 Addendum to User s Guide Adobe Acrobat Version 6 PDF Converter instead of PDF Writer: One of the new features of Printer s Plan Version 2003 was the ability to Invoices and Quotes as PDF files. To create the PDF file, Printer s Plan used the PDFWriter of Acrobat 5. Acrobat 6, however, does not have the PDFWriter feature. Therefore, Printer s Plan 2003 could not create PDF attachments with Acrobat 6. Version fixes this problem. It can create PDF attachments with either Acrobat 5 or 6. If you are using Acrobat 6, be sure to set your Adobe PDF printer settings as shown below. Important: Printer s Plan uses the properties of the PDF printer (above) to create and save PDF files without prompting for a file name and location. For other applications or purposes, you may create additional PDF ports and PDF printers that prompt for a file name and/or location.

12 Addendum to User s Guide New Cutting Layout Window and Cutting Options: To open this window, click the button next to the Std.Size field in the Printing Specs window. Does the new version calculate the number of outs, ups, and cuts differently? Yes. In earlier versions, Printer s Plan tried to: 1. Minimize the number of cuts by positioning the cut sheets in the upper left corner. 2. Maximize the yield (the number of outs and ups) by using mixed-grain-cut. The new version gives you more options and calculates the number of outs, ups, and cuts based on your Default Cutting Options. Important: How do I set and save my Default Cutting Options? 1. Open the Cutting Layout window by clicking the scissors icon next to the Std.Sz field in the Specs window. 2. Set the cutting, centering, and trimming options for both Parent and Run sheets. 3. Click the Save Default Options button. 4. Printer s Plan may ask for a password. Enter the same password you use to enter the Defaults section of Printer s Plan. The Default Options apply to newly created Items and to existing Items as explained below. Important: How does the new version affect the existing Items saved by an earlier version? a) If you open the Specs window of the Item and change the Paper or Paper Sizes, Printer s Plan will re-calculate the number of outs, ups, and cuts based on your new default cutting options. b) If you open the Cutting Layout window without changing the Paper or Paper Sizes, Printer s Plan will inform you if the recalculated number of outs, ups, and cuts are different from the previously saved values. Important: How does the new version affect a new Item that I copy and paste from another Item? The cutting options of the New Item will be the same as the other Item until you: a) Change the Paper or Paper Sizes, or b) Open the cutting window and change settings. Does the new version save the cutting options for each Item? Yes. Printer s Plan now saves the specific cutting options for an Item when you click the OK button in the Cutting Layout

13 and Specs windows. The previous versions did not save the options. Addendum to User s Guide Why doesn t the new version ask me how I want to cut, Stagger or Regular? The old version did. Printer s Plan does not ask this question because now it uses your default cutting options to calculate the number of outs and ups automatically. If you usually use mixed-grain sheets, check the Cut mixed-grain option and save as default. Why does the new version swap the paper dimensions? a) In the Specs window: Printer s Plan calculates the outs and cuts by matching paper sides. Therefore, it may swap the width and height of a paper in order to maximize the yield. For example, if you select a parent size of 11 x 17 and then select 8.5 x 11 as the run size in the Specs window, Printer s Plan will change the run size to 11 x 8.5. b) In the Cutting Layout window: Printer s Plan uses the size that you entered. You may swap the paper dimensions by clicking the swap button: What should I do if the actual number of cuts is different from the ones calculated by Printer s Plan? The features of your cutter (width, programmability), the order of cuts/trims, or any other cutting variables that Printer s Plan does not handle may cause the calculated number of cuts to be different from the actual number of cuts you are doing. To overcome this discrepancy, try changing the Cut multiple-pieces option, which affects the number of cuts. a) If this option is checked, Printer s Plan gives you the minimum number of cuts. Printer s Plan assumes you keep the previously cut pieces on the cutter. For example, cut 11 x 17 in half to 8.5 x 11, and then cut both pieces to 8.5 x 5.5 with a single cut. Result: 2 total cuts. b) If this option is not checked, Printer s Plan may give you a larger number of cuts. In the example above, you cut each 8.5 x 11 piece separately. The result: 3 total cuts. If your actual number of cuts is still different, manually override the number of cuts and save it as a Favorite. How can I save the cutting layouts I frequently use as Favorites? After you set up the cutting options, click the Add to Favorites button. After you enter a name for the favorite cut and click OK, Printer s Plan saves the following settings on the screen: Run Size, Finish Size, all Options, Out, Up, and Cuts. When you want to apply one of your cutting Favorites to an Item, click the Favorites button and select the favorite you want to use. Printer s Plan loads and applies the saved settings to the current Item. When and why do I get the message Default number of outs or cuts is different? Each time you open the Cutting Layout window, Printer s Plan automatically calculates the default number of outs or cuts and informs you if they are different from the values in the Specs window. The following conditions may cause these values to be different: 1. The Item was saved in an earlier version of Printer s Plan. 2. The Item was copied from an Item that was saved in an earlier version. 3. The Item was saved in this version but the default number of Outs or Cuts was overridden. 4. The default cutting options were changed after the Item was saved in this version.