Document Prints from Two Trays

[Thomas M.]

Word 2003

We have a problem with a mail merge document that is printing the first page
from tray 2 and then switching to tray 3. My first thought was that the
Page Setup dialog box has the paper sources setup as follows:

First Page Tray 2
Other Pages Tray 3

However, both are set to pull from tray 2. So why would the printer switch
after the first page and start pulling from tray 3? Is there some other
setting that could impact this, or could the Page Setup be defined in a
template upon which the document is based?

Also, can someone point me to a good primer on troubleshooting paper tray
issues? We get questions all the time like, "When I print this document I
have to tell it to print on letterhead, and then I need to set it back if I
want to print another document, but Betty never has to do that. How come?"
In my experience, there are a number of settings--some in the document, some
on the printer, and some in the print driver--that can be involved, and it's
sometimes rather confusing trying to figure out why things work differently
for different users.

Like a previous mentor used to say, "Our jobs would be easy if it wasn't for
users and printers!" Feel free to use that in your sig block!

--Tom

 

[Graham Mayor]

This is not an uncommon problem and is probably attributable to limitations
in the printer driver and/or an incorrect setting in the printer options.

Different printers have different views of what the tray commands are so a
document setup for one printer may not work when printed on another.

There are a couple of possible workarounds.

If your printer driver accepts PCL commands, you could use a Print field at
the top of each page to send out the PCL command that will force the printer
to print that page from the required tray. A PRINT field is simply a type of
field that allows you to send instructions directly to the printer.
{ PRINT 27"&l1H" } - Tray 2
{ PRINT 27"&l4H" } - Tray 3
(but do check these commands with your printer manual as there are
variations).

or you could use a macro - this one was suggested by Peter Jamieson

Sub PrintOneDocPerSourceRec()
Dim intSourceRecord
Dim objMerge As Word.MailMerge
'Dim strOutputDocumentName As String
Dim TerminateMerge As Boolean

' Need to set up this object as the ActiveDocument changes when the
' merge is performed. Besides, it's clearer.

Set objMerge = ActiveDocument.MailMerge
With objMerge

' If no data source has been defined, do it here using OpenDataSource.
' But if it is already defined in the document, you should not need
' to define it here.

' .OpenDataSource _
' Name:="whatever"

intSourceRecord = 1
TerminateMerge = False

Do Until TerminateMerge
.DataSource.ActiveRecord = intSourceRecord

' if we have gone past the end (and possibly, if there are no records)
' then the Activerecord will not be what we have just tried to set it to

If .DataSource.ActiveRecord <> intSourceRecord Then
TerminateMerge = True
' the record exists
Else

.DataSource.FirstRecord = intSourceRecord
.DataSource.LastRecord = intSourceRecord
.Destination = wdSendToPrinter
.Execute

intSourceRecord = intSourceRecord + 1
End If
Loop
End With
End Sub


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Graham Mayor - Word MVP


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