Printing The Backside Of Report (Access 2K)

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I have two reports created using the label wizard (3 across, 3 down). Neither report prints labels; we print what we call liberty cards on plain 81/2 x 11 paper and then cut them out to give the recruits. Report 1 is the front side and prints the pertinent individual data. Report 2 is the back side and contains contact info if they get into trouble while out on the town.

Let’s say we have 36 recruits. We print the front side which is 4 full pages. Flip the paper over, stick it back into the printer and print the back side. No problem – 4 full pages.

The problem I’m having occurs when the number of recruits is not divisible by 3 (I think). Let’s say we only have 35 recruits. The front side prints 3 full pages and 8 records on the 4th page. Records 7 & 8 on the 4th page are in the 3rd row, 1st & 2nd columns. Flip the paper over, stick it back in the printer and print the back side (report 2). Obviously, it prints just like the first report. The problem is now I have one front with no back and one back with no front because records 7 & 8 on the front side are now in columns 2 & 3 whereas the back side they are still in columns 1 & 2.

How can I set up report 2 to determine an odd amount of records and then shift them over to the right columns so I have fronts printed with backs?

Thank you.

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Hi Jon,

Are the two dataset’s related in terms of what is being printed – or is the data on the back all the same?

If they are not and given you are cutting them up, I’d printed the first as your are and then set the 2 lot to print the next full multiple in terms of pages.

I had a similar problem with unrelated data and did the above – took the resulting query, did a record count, lookup against a table, to determine difference then used a union to append x number of blank records as such to the second dataset.

Was a bit messy but gave me records on the back of every full page. (this was also given we were not concerned about some wastage at the time)

Cheers
Tony

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Hi, Tony.
Thanks for the response.
The data on the back is all the same so I think your idea would work fine for me. I’m not too concerned about waste since it’s just a small amount of ink anyway. (In my example, if we had 37 recruits it would print one card on the last page so that whole sheet is wasted anyway once we cut it out.)
Could you walk me through your solution – since I’m not sure how to go about it?
Thanks.

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Hi Jon,

After all my mucking around to calculate it I end up changing it due to printer jams and the user also having the odd one to reprint. Also they found it cheaper to photocopy to back of the pages before using them. Also given the volume for them was between 5-20 pages it wasn’t too critical so consider the following as an easier option and just as effective in that the user can do want they want.

The user was printing from a form but you could do the same from a switchboard. From the print cmd button I put a msgbox straight after it asking if they wanted to print the reverse side yes/no, if yes I used a popup box asking how many pages, the user entered the pages and I used this to control the number of copies to print. The report was set to do just 1 full page ever time.

I then put a second button giving the user the ability to print just second pages, exactly the same as above.

Proved to be be the best solution, if they got the number of pages wrong they simply did another one, if they printed too many they just cancelled the print job after the ones they had put in ran out.

This was simple, quick solution that was easy for the user than what I configured originally… Actually just thinking about it, I wonder if you could get the number of pages printed after the first report has formatted and pass this to the popup as the default number of pages.

Cheers
Tony

Reply | Quote

Hi Jon,

After all my mucking around to calculate it I end up changing it due to printer jams and the user also having the odd one to reprint. Also they found it cheaper to photocopy to back of the pages before using them. Also given the volume for them was between 5-20 pages it wasn’t too critical so consider the following as an easier option and just as effective in that the user can do want they want.

The user was printing from a form but you could do the same from a switchboard. From the print cmd button I put a msgbox straight after it asking if they wanted to print the reverse side yes/no, if yes I used a popup box asking how many pages, the user entered the pages and I used this to control the number of copies to print. The report was set to do just 1 full page ever time.

I then put a second button giving the user the ability to print just second pages, exactly the same as above.

Proved to be be the best solution, if they got the number of pages wrong they simply did another one, if they printed too many they just cancelled the print job after the ones they had put in ran out.

This was simple, quick solution that was easy for the user than what I configured originally… Actually just thinking about it, I wonder if you could get the number of pages printed after the first report has formatted and pass this to the popup as the default number of pages.

Cheers
Tony

Reply | Quote

Hi, Tony.
Thanks for the response.
The data on the back is all the same so I think your idea would work fine for me. I’m not too concerned about waste since it’s just a small amount of ink anyway. (In my example, if we had 37 recruits it would print one card on the last page so that whole sheet is wasted anyway once we cut it out.)
Could you walk me through your solution – since I’m not sure how to go about it?
Thanks.

Reply | Quote

Hi Jon,

Are the two dataset’s related in terms of what is being printed – or is the data on the back all the same?

If they are not and given you are cutting them up, I’d printed the first as your are and then set the 2 lot to print the next full multiple in terms of pages.

I had a similar problem with unrelated data and did the above – took the resulting query, did a record count, lookup against a table, to determine difference then used a union to append x number of blank records as such to the second dataset.

Was a bit messy but gave me records on the back of every full page. (this was also given we were not concerned about some wastage at the time)

Cheers
Tony

Reply | Quote