Can't seem to format envelopes (permanently)...

While personally I would use a letterhead template with the styles and tabs
already set so that you don't have to enter umpteen tabs and empty
paragraphs and I would apply the style InsideAddress to the address section
I can't see anything in your macro or procedure that would cause the problem
you are experiencing.

As the procedure works with the LJ2500 have you tried printing to the LJ2500
driver with the 3600 printer attached to the output. As I only know about
these printers what I read on the internet I cannot confirm that this will
work, but as HP printers are essentially similar in technology their drivers
are often interchangeable (albeit with differences associated with features
of the printers). If it works you can switch drivers for envelope printing -
see http://www.gmayor.com/fax_from_word.htm which explains how to do that.

HP hardware is excellent but their software is often dreadful. They have a
site http://www.hp.com/pond/ljbeta/ which I mentioned earlier, where they
post beta drivers to attempt to keep up with the problems, but they don't
give it too much publicity.

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Kenneth wrote:
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:50:24 +0300, "Graham Mayor"
wrote:

Hi Graham,

Please see my comments inline below...

It might help if you posted your macro code so that we can see how it
formats the letter.

Here is the code (generated by recording, then tweaking, so
it has lots of extra junk, but it works perfectly with the
LaserJet 2500 and fails with the LaserJet 3600n.)

Sub Let1()
'
' Let1 Macro
' Macro recorded 8/5/99 by Kenneth Sole
'
Selection.TypeText Text:=vbTab & vbTab & vbTab & vbTab &
vbTab & vbTab & _
vbTab & vbTab
Selection.InsertDateTime DateTimeFormat:="MMMM' 'd',
'yyyy", InsertAsField _
:=False, DateLanguage:=wdEnglishUS,
CalendarType:=wdCalendarWestern, _
InsertAsFullWidth:=False
Selection.TypeParagraph
Selection.TypeParagraph
ChangeFileOpenDirectory "Z:\data\"
Selection.InsertFile FileName:="let", Range:="",
ConfirmConversions:=False _
, Link:=False, Attachment:=False
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory, Extend:=wdExtend
With Selection.Font
.Name = "Arial"
.Size = 12
.Bold = False
.Italic = False
.Underline = wdUnderlineNone
.UnderlineColor = wdColorAutomatic
.StrikeThrough = False
.DoubleStrikeThrough = False
.Outline = False
.Emboss = False
.Shadow = False
.Hidden = False
.SmallCaps = False
.AllCaps = False
.Color = wdColorBlack
.Engrave = False
.Superscript = False
.Subscript = False
.Spacing = 0
.Scaling = 100
.Position = 0
.Kerning = 0
.Animation = wdAnimationNone
End With
Selection.EndKey Unit:=wdStory
End Sub





How then are you extracting the address from the letter
to the envelope? If you are doing that by macro then clearly the
macro isn't applying the required styles to format the envelope
correctly.

When I used the 2500 I would have a blank doc open and then
would run the macro. After that, the doc looked like this:




April 10, 2008

Joe Blow
12345 6th Street
Histown NH 54321

Dear Joey,

Letter body here.
Letter body here.
Letter body here.




When finished, (having selected nothing) I would click on
the envelope icon, and the envelope dialog would show:

Joe Blow
12345 6th Street
Histown NH 54321

in the recipient address field and the preview looked as it
should.

Next, I would click Print, insert the envelope, and it would
print properly.

Now, however, when I follow those steps, nothing at all
appears in the envelope dialog in the recipient's address
field.

So, instead of clicking the envelope icon, I first select
the address, when I click the envelope icon the dialog field
shows:

Joe Blow
12345 6th Street
Histown NH 54321

Dear Joey,

Letter body here.
Letter body here.
Letter body here.



This is, everything in the letter (except for the date) is
included.

That happens if I select anything that is part of the
address, the salutation, or the letter body itself.

If, instead, I select all, or part, of the date, only the
date is put into the envelope dialog.

In all these cases just described, if I edit the contents of
the recipient's address dialog to include only the address,
when I print, the resulting text is located in the return
address area of the envelope.




Rather than substitute a normal template that you believe is good,
rename the normal template and allow Word to build a new one so we
*know* it is good!


I just did that, and have exactly the results I have
described above.

As I may have mentioned, I have an appointment to talk with
competent tech folks from HP later today, but I would
certainly welcome any further thoughts you might have.

Many thanks, as before,

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:22:03 +0300, "Graham Mayor"
wrote:


As the procedure works with the LJ2500 have you tried printing to the LJ2500
driver with the 3600 printer attached to the output.

Hi Graham,

Well, I just tried that, but the 3600n will not print at all
with the 2500 driver.

I do have a work-around, but it is not as convenient as the
technique I used to use.

I am eager to see what the HP folks suggest later today.

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:45:56 -0400, Kenneth
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:21:42 -0400, Lem
wrote:


Good luck. Some of the hp techs actually *do* seem to know what they're
doing. If you do get a solution from hp, please do post back. As I
said, I was able to fix my similar problem by uninstalling and
re-installing the driver, but I'd really like to know what was going on.

Hi Lem,

My apologies if I already mentioned this...

I had wasted a ton of time with an HP "tech" but then had a
new idea.

I called, and explained to the "service router" that I could
waste no further time with the problem.

The options I described were simple:

Provide me a real technician, or instructions to return the
printer for a refund.

In moments, I found myself talking with a very highly
competent woman, and I will be talking with her again today.

If we get this sorted out, I will certainly let you know,

Hi Lem,

I just spent some time with a very competent person from HP.

Among other things, she explained that the printer is "Host
based" in that it uses only formatting it is sent by the
system.

With that, she was pointing in the direction of all this
being a Word problem, rather than printer related.

The simplest way I could check was to print envelopes to
another printer, and she appears to be correct. With another
printer installed, I have exactly the problem I have
described.

So, it appears that there is something in the inserted text
that is causing the problem, but I have no idea how to try
to find it, and, as I described, the macro is one that I
have used with no trouble for years.

Thanks for any further thoughts,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

Kenneth wrote:
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 06:45:56 -0400, Kenneth
wrote:

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:21:42 -0400, Lem
wrote:

Good luck. Some of the hp techs actually *do* seem to know what they're
doing. If you do get a solution from hp, please do post back. As I
said, I was able to fix my similar problem by uninstalling and
re-installing the driver, but I'd really like to know what was going on.
Hi Lem,

My apologies if I already mentioned this...

I had wasted a ton of time with an HP "tech" but then had a
new idea.

I called, and explained to the "service router" that I could
waste no further time with the problem.

The options I described were simple:

Provide me a real technician, or instructions to return the
printer for a refund.

In moments, I found myself talking with a very highly
competent woman, and I will be talking with her again today.

If we get this sorted out, I will certainly let you know,

Hi Lem,

I just spent some time with a very competent person from HP.

Among other things, she explained that the printer is "Host
based" in that it uses only formatting it is sent by the
system.

With that, she was pointing in the direction of all this
being a Word problem, rather than printer related.

The simplest way I could check was to print envelopes to
another printer, and she appears to be correct. With another
printer installed, I have exactly the problem I have
described.

So, it appears that there is something in the inserted text
that is causing the problem, but I have no idea how to try
to find it, and, as I described, the macro is one that I
have used with no trouble for years.

Thanks for any further thoughts,

Very interesting. In my situation, when I printed to a different
printer I did NOT have the problem.

I knew about "host based" printers, but I wouldn't have thought that the
laserjet 2600n fell into that category, which I always associated with
inexpensive low-end printers
(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/host_based_printer.html)

I guess hp has expanded that somewhat:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...ectID=bpl07860

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm

On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:17:21 -0400, Lem
wrote:

I knew about "host based" printers, but I wouldn't have thought that the
laserjet 2600n fell into that category, which I always associated with
inexpensive low-end printers
(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/host_based_printer.html)

Hi Lem,

It was interesting...

When she explained the host base stuff to me she suggested
that instead of the 3600n I might be better off with their
3650 (IIRC).

While we were on the phone, I checked on it, and it was
about twice the price.

Less than 1% of the stuff we print is color, so I have
invested more than enough already.

For now, I am printing monochrome to one printer, and color
to this new one. I'll just go with the monochrome for
envelopes.

All the best,
--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

Kenneth wrote:

I am eager to see what the HP folks suggest later today.

Let us know if they come up with anything

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org

Unlike some other applications, Word interrogates the printer driver and
will format the document according to what it finds. If the output looks
correct in the print preview then it is almost certainly the driver that is
at fault. The print preview is determined by the driver. If the printer is
unable to translate that then it is the printer rather than Word that is at
issue.

For some reason several printer manufacturers have been unable to get the
business of printing envelopes correct. Lexmark for example prints black
envelope text not from the black ink but from a combination of colours to
create black, thus if one colour runs out prematurely you get some odd
coloured text on the envelope.

If you are using a monochrome printer to print envelopes, as a workaround,
you can do so transparently using the method I suggested at
http://www.gmayor.com/fax_from_word.htm

--

Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site http://word.mvps.org



Kenneth wrote:
On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:17:21 -0400, Lem
wrote:

I knew about "host based" printers, but I wouldn't have thought that
the laserjet 2600n fell into that category, which I always
associated with inexpensive low-end printers
(http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/host_based_printer.html)

Hi Lem,

It was interesting...

When she explained the host base stuff to me she suggested
that instead of the 3600n I might be better off with their
3650 (IIRC).

While we were on the phone, I checked on it, and it was
about twice the price.

Less than 1% of the stuff we print is color, so I have
invested more than enough already.

For now, I am printing monochrome to one printer, and color
to this new one. I'll just go with the monochrome for
envelopes.

All the best,