Printing from Word 5.1a in Classic

[JO]

Several people have written about Word 5.1a printing blank pages,
including me. The only solution I've found so far is to use a
different printer: it seems that some printers work for this set-up and
some don't. Current findings are --

-- Word 5 prints blank sheets with:
Canon Pixma IP5000
Canon Pixma iP2000
Canon i860
Epson 5700i
Epson Laser (model not known)

-- Word 5 prints fine with:
Epson SC 740
Epson SC 900
HP 500N
HP Deskjet 640c
HP DeskJet 840c

It would be a great help to know what other printers work and just what
combination of features causes the problem. At present it's a matter
of trial and error. If anyone finds any clues please let me know. I
need to buy a new printer soon and want to make sure I get one that
works with my favourite app.

JO

 

[Zack]

I encountered this same problem trying to run Word 5.1a with a Pixma
IP5000 . I was running OSX 10.3.3, and tried upgrading to 10.3.8,
which did not help (and I've also found that Word 5.1a did not work
properly when running in Classic with OSX versions higher than 10.3.3
-- there is a slight but highly annoying delay between the moment a key
is depressed on the keyboard and the moment the appropriate letter
shows up on the monitor).

I had a Lexmark Z42 printer which worked fine with Word 5.1a, but I got
fed up with Lexmark's wildy inflated ink prices and the general
horribleness of its OSX drivers.

I think you can safely assume that none of the Canon Pixmas will work.
As you probably know, none of the new X200 series even come with OS9
drivers (and hence don't work with Classic at all), I know from
personal experience that the IP5000 does not work, and I've seen
references elsewhere to the IP3000 not working. I even tried
downloading foriegn drivers for my IP5000, but they didn't help. I've
researched this problem extenstively on the net and with Canon tech
support, and there just doesn't seem to be a solution.

There is one work around (I've copied the instruction from a post in
another forum): "While in Classic select Chooser from the Apple Menu
and then LaserWriter 8 then close the window. Open the document you
want to print and select Print from the File Menu - in the next window
choose File from the Destination popup menu and the General popup menu
choose Save as File. Only two popup menus to go now - select PostScript
Job in the Format one and All in Font Inclusion. Finally click Save and
choose your OS X desktop. The file will be saved as a Preview doc and
now can be printed in OSX."

This works quite well (in that you end up with a properly printed
document), but is very inconvenient and time-consuming if you do more
than occasional printing.

FWIW, this printing problem was the proverbial last straw for me. I
loved Word 5.1a, used it loyally until two months ago, but I was fed up
with Lexmark's inadequate support of OSX and really needed a printer
capable of printing directly on DVD's (which the US Pixmas can be
hacked to do). I finally switched to Office 2004, and, with a lot of
help from the people on this forum have now reached the point where I
am comfortable with the program and have no regrets for Word 5. In
fact, now that I've got Word 2004 set up in a way that I'm happy with,
I would not go back to Word 5 (the multiple undo feature alone is worth
the cost of admission). And I can print on my Pixma with no problems!

Zack

 

[Clive Huggan]

Zack,

Sounds like you have well and truly made the transition from Word 5.1a, but
in case there are things you discover in due course that mystify you, you
might be interested in looking at some notes on the way I use Word for the
Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a free download
from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Bend/BendWord.htm).

I started to record notes on the differences and on features that were new
to me when I moved to Word 2001. Four years later, having now moved to Word
2004, and having skipped Word X, I'm still continually improving them.
Despite growing in size (the page extent is now about 170 pages) and
covering significant changes in Word 2004, the underlying starting point is
still migration from 5.1. So things like the changes from glossary to
AutoText and AutoCorrect, workarounds for features that disappeared, and
initial settings in Preferences to stop Word doing more than you might want
it to, are all covered -- albeit the 5.1-specific material is well in the
minority.

[Note: The document is designed to be used electronically and most subjects
are self-contained dictionary-style entries. Be sure to read the front end
so you can use the document to best advantage and select the right settings
for reading it.]

If you download a copy, after reading the front end, see what you get when
you do a "Find" command for "5.1".

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is at least 5 hours different from the US and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
============================================================

 

[Zack]

Hello Clive -

yes, I've read 'Bend Word to your Will', including the revised update
you issued a month or so ago, and it's one of the resources here that
greatly smoothed the transition to Word 2004. Thanks!

Zack