FMP 6, OSX or a new Laserjet problem ??

[rtezell]

OSX 5.x

A long existing FMP 6 database

Brand new Laserjet P2015

 

ALL layouts print fine on an Epson InkJet

 

Now on the HP, only certain layouts will print. Otherwise the command goes to the printer, it acknowledges the command and then stops the print command.

I have tried layouts that have only one font (Ariel) using a calculated field but 800+ records. Printing command stopped.

 

cloned the DB (no records) , cleaned up out-of-date records, and imported them into the clone-no help.

 

I have no idea if it is OSX5, the printer or a need to upgrade. I can upgrade, but my support person (a non-profit who gets free help where available) is on 7.

 

Pulling my hair out here..

 

Many Thanks

 

Rhoda

[Maarten Witberg]

Filemaker 6 is not tested and certified for Leopard (10.5), in fact versions prior to 7 are not supported nor updated anymore by filemaker inc.

this means version 6 might work on current operating systems, but also that it might have unexpected problems or not function altogether.

If you decide to upgrade, you would jump to version 9, the current version.

Btw. Apple have recently released 10.5.2

[rtezell]

Thanks,

 

I was beginning to work that part out-actually spent an hr on the phone with HP support (Mac) and his version of 8.5 prints it on their printers.

 

if I download a trial version of 9 to test, and if turns out that the version is not the problem, can I go back to 6? My 'support" is using 7 and having a higher version than she does means (I think) that she will not be able to open my higher version files.

 

Rhoda

[Maarten Witberg]

I don't know what your support does for you but if she opens your v6 file using her copy of version 7, it will be converted and can't be opened in version 6 anymore. to the best of my knowledge you can't export back to version 6 from version 7 and up. If on the other hand you upgrade to version 9 she will be able to open your file in version 7 - only any features that are present in version 9 (tabs, conditional formatting, script variables and many other functions) will be disabled and thus make the solution buggy or unusable for her.

[AHunter3]

What he said; except that FileMaker 7 (or 8 or beyond) will not literally CONVERT your FileMaker 6 files; it will preserve the old files (optionally renaming them) and then create new modern-format ones FROM them (appending the silly word "converted" to the end unless you tell it not to), leaving you with a FileMaker 6 version and a FileMaker 7+ version.

 

Of course if you use the FileMaker 7 version for a few days and then go back to the 6 version, your data will be a few days out of date. And you'll have to export to tab-delimited text or Excel format and then import from that into FileMaker 6.

[Maarten Witberg]

yes that is true, sorry for the confusion. but assuming a support person makes changes to the converted file for instance in scripts or field definitions, the unconverted copy will become obsolete.

[SantaCruzJimbo]

I've seen this before.

 

There is a simple workaround. Click on "Preview" in the FileMaker print dialog, then print from the preview window. This effectively displays the page in a "modern" Mac preview window (not part of FileMaker), and you can print from there.

 

-Jimbo