Page Display

This area of the dialog shows a graphic display of the layout of the badges on the page.  It will change dynamically as the Page Layout information changes or the orientation or type of printer is changed.

The display shows where the badges will be printed on the page.  The broken line rectangle indicates the size and position of the printable area.  This is determined by the printer driver software and cannot be changed.

Each location for a badge shows as a solid green rectangle, possibly with a number in it.  The number indicates where the first (and possibly only) badge will print.  This can be changed by altering the value in the First Badge Position field in the Page Layout area.  Place holders where badges will not be printed are shown in green cross-hatching.  This is a very useful feature if you are printing to die-cut sheets and have already partially used a sheet and want to use the remaining areas.  If you have previously used 3 locations, setting First Badge Position to 4 will start the printing at the next available location.

Normally you would only want to offset the first badge location on sheet 1 of a multi-sheet printing operation.  This is why the Page 1 Only check box is checked by default.  If you want to have the offset apply to all pages in the operation, uncheck this box.

The Page Display area also contains 3 buttons to help in the formatting of the badges on the page.  These buttons allow for horizontal and vertical centering of the badges on the page, and for maximizing the number of badges that will fit on the page.

If you wish to space the badges evenly across the page, click on the  button.  The effect will depend upon whether you have a single column of badges or multiple columns.  If you have a single column, the Left Margin value will be adjusted to center the column on the page.  If you have multiple columns, the Left Margin will not be changed, but the Horizontal Gap will be adjusted to position the columns evenly across the page.

Similarly, the  button will center the badges up and down the page.  As before, the Top Margin will change if you have only one row of badges.  If there are 2 or more rows, the Top Margin will not be changed and the Vertical Gap will change to evenly space the rows.

There are a couple of points to note when centering columns or rows.  First, the number of rows or columns will not be changed by these buttons.  Also, if you are working with multiple columns or rows, the top and left margins will not be altered, only the associated gaps will change.  Therefore you should set the margins and the number of rows and columns before you use these buttons, if the values are not already correct.  A good procedure to follow for multiple columns and/or rows is this:

1.  Set the horizontal and/or vertical gaps to zero

2.  Set the left and/or top margins to the desired values

3.  Click on  and/or  buttons as required

The  button is used to maximize the number of badges that will fit on the page.  When you click this button all 6 values in the Page Layout area may be adjusted to maximize the badge layout.  The rules for adjusting the values are as follows:

Left & Top Margins will only be adjusted if centering the badges would cause some parts of a badge to be outside the printable area.  This could happen, for example, if your printer can print closer to the top of the page than the bottom and you had set a top margin to make printing start at the top of the printable area.  Associated margins will also change if only a single row or column of badges will fit on a page.

Horizontal & Vertical Gaps will only change to center the badges when there is enough room for multiple rows or columns.

Rows & Columns will change to maximize the number which will fit on a page.  If multiple columns or rows will fit, remember that the margins will not be changed, so set these manually first.

The badge locations will be centered in the page according to the above rules.  (This is not necessarily centered in the printable area, as some printers have printable areas which are not centered in the page.)