Need help making envelope with MS Word

[weldiger]

My wife & I each have an iGloo iMac G4.  I have OS X.4.0 and she has 10.3.9 and also boots either OSX or OS 9.

We both have MSWord X for Mac.  We each have Canon Pixma iP4300.
She has been learning to use the iMac.  We have had only Apple [Canon] printers, and HP printers before.  Neither type lent itself to easy envelope printing, and most of what I wrote needed no envelope, or was to be for a mass mailing, and I used printed labels.

I confess that I have not learned how to print envelopes, or how to set MSWord to do envelopes with letter.  She has been doing individual letters, and individual envelopes for two or three months.  Learned and did it herself, and was doing well till a couple days ago.  Now the printer won't print envelope.  She wants me to fix it for her.

I have tried with her set and with mine, and the letter document will fill in  the information for envelope correctly.  Everything appears to behave normally, and the letter will feed and print.  The envelope will feed properly, but the printer does not print anything on the envelope.

I have tried all the settings available for placement of envelope, and used landscape and portrait views, and set for generic printer and for Canon Pixma, and have not been able to print an envelope from scratch, or from letter form either one.

Thanks for any help you can give.
[She has started to send Birthday wishes to nearly everyone we know, and is getting behind]  

If I don't get the problem fixed for her soon, I won't be getting a Birthday card either!    

[pendragon]

Well, Sir Diger,

I don't use MS for my envelopes, so I had to experiment.

In the process, a few thoughts (well, guesses)...

1. When your wife tries to print the envelopes, are the print heads working? I ask because it may be that the page orientation is such that the print is not (printing) on the paper.

2. Perhaps you need to "Use Custom Settings..."

3. Maybe my screenshot below will help...

4. If this is Mail Merge situation, going to MS Help and searching on Mail Merge provides step-step instructions.

[attachment=562:screenshot__2.jpg]

But in case my help is not, HB anyway.

[weldiger]

Sir Pendragon
Thank you for your reply.

1. Her print heads work, as do mine.  We each have iMac G4 with Canon Pixma printers.  Except for the OS number, we have identical equipment, and set ups.  Neither one will print envelopes now.  Hers printed till the other day, and when I tried to print on mine for the first time, [and many subsequent tries]  neither would print envelopes.  Each printer prints everything it did before – just not envelope.
2. I tried all the Custom settings – your printer has more choices of pages than the Canon.
3. Thanks for the screen shot of printer choices, it confirms that  I am at least not overlooking those options.
4. It is not a Mail Merge, as she had only been doing one letter at a time, and envelope with it.  [she doesn’t know about mail merge, because I have never set up the MS address book – no point in adding that to the mix L ]
5. I checked ink level on both printers, and it shows that there is enough ink, and of course each printer is still printing full page on anything else we either one try to print.

Thanks so much for your work, and for the BD wishes, [I fear that I will have to print yours – have little hope of getting one from her.
Shalom
weldiger

[pendragon]

Since neither of you can print envelopes, and it is unlikely (IMNHO) that you both have a corrupt MS Office with identical symptoms simultaneously, I turn to the printer. (Easy for me to do since I have no knowledge of it.)

Ergo, do you have all this stuff installed? (Perhaps you need all four.)

See following screenshot.

[attachment=563:Canon_7.jpg]

Just curious... Can you print envelopes from Address Book or other address/envelope programs? If so, the above may be a futile effort.

Also, it may be time to begin looking for someone (else) to blame, as I am quickly running out of guesses

 

[dboh]

I use MS 2004 and have had no problems printing envelopes (except for being able to establish a default return address). I reallly didn't have to do any set-up (and I've got a 10-year-old printer). Can you share exactly what you've been doing to print the envelopes?

[kimmer]

Have you printed these same brand envelopes before?

If not, check the "card stock".

I always found that it differed from manufacturer to manufacturer.
It differed based on color and texture from the same manufacturer.
It differed because some envelopes are slightly thicker and/or slicker than others.

I'm afraid I long ago got frustrated and gave up envelope printing ... but it's a worthy quest.

[jepinto]

It sounds like the print area is out of range of the printing media.  In plain speak, can you do a print preview and see where you've told it to print?  I find that no matter which way I turn my head, a program will (particularly Filemaker-but that is a moot point) will position the print area outside of the envelope's parameters.

[Paddy]

Further to Jennie's reply, have you checked the actual position of the text? See Harv's screenshot - the "Position" button on the right hand side is what you want to click. You'll then see exactly where the text is supposed to be positioned, in inches from the left and the top. Perhaps this is out of whack?

I've had things print in weird places on envelopes, or half off the envelope if I forget to check that.

However, I suspect that you've already checked those things...

I have a Canon MP600. Although I always use my HP laser printer for envelopes, I gave it a try on the Canon. I now have an envelope addressed to Donald Duck (!) - it worked fine. In your print window, are you selecting "envelope" in the Copies and Pages->Media Type->Envelope drop down menus?

[weldiger]

The biggest problem is that Sibyl was the first to start doing envelopes for each letter as she did the letter.  She figured it out on her own.  She had been doing it for more than a month.  Then suddenly, the letter still printed, but the envelope didn’t.
I have been unable to get envelope to print on either computer.  Each computer has it’s own  printer.  Both computers have their own printer.  I am not only unsure of which is proper grammar, I haven’t the foggiest notion –
1. Why her set up quit printing envelopes.
2. Why I can’t get my set up to start printing envelopes.
3. How to get her set up started printing envelopes again.

I really don’t care whether mine will print envelopes or not – since I don’t write letters anyway.

Each printer has only the software that came with it.
They were purchased about a week apart from the same location.
Both have worked flawlessly since setting up.
Hers works for everything else -

Thanks for suggestions.
So far no luck.

[Xairbusdriver]

What/how does the envelope appear if you select "Preview" in the Print dialog window?

[Paddy]

Weldiger, I guess we need some more specific answers - Jennie, Jim and I have all asked variations on the same question - how does the envelope look when you check the "Position" button (as I asked) and further, how does it look when you look at it in the Preview?

Then, when Harv asked if the print heads were working, I believe he meant that when you go to print an envelope, can you actually hear that little zip, zip, zipping sound that the print heads make when they're actually printing something? If that's happening, then my bet is still on it printing off the envelope.

Although it is unlikely that both set-ups would start to exhibit the same issues at the same time due to corruption of preferences etc., you might as well do the usual run of .plist dumping etc. There is a Word .plist and also there are usually a bunch of printer related .plist files (com.apple.print...)

Also, have you shut everything down and then restarted everything? Deleted the printer and added it back?

[weldiger]

Pendragon
Dboh
Kimmer
Jepinto
Paddy
Xairbusdriver


Thank you each and all for your efforts.
This is my latest update, and more specific answers.

QUOTE

Weldiger, I guess we need some more specific answers - Jennie, Jim and I have all asked variations on the same question - how does the envelope look when you check the "Position" button (as I asked) and further, how does it look when you look at it in the Preview?

See pictures

QUOTE

Then, when Harv asked if the print heads were working, I believe he meant that when you go to print an envelope, can you actually hear that little zip, zip, zipping sound that the print heads make when they're actually printing something? If that's happening, then my bet is still on it printing off the envelope.

There is no sound of printing when running envelope through printer.

QUOTE

Although it is unlikely that both set-ups would start to exhibit the same issues at the same time due to corruption of preferences etc.,

I Agree

QUOTE

you might as well do the usual run of .plist dumping etc. There is a Word .plist and also there are usually a bunch of printer related .plist files (com.apple.print...)

Also, have you shut everything down and then restarted everything?

Yes, and I Have run Disk Utility, TechToolPro 4 ,and  DiskWarrior 3.0.2

QUOTE

Deleted the printer and added it back?

Yes, unplugged and re installed software on both printers  after hunting for software disks for lengthy period

I have also tried every variation of printer settings for Canon Pixma,  generic printer, and Microsoft Word settings  on each printer and computer.
Checked ink levels and changed color of ink settings from black to other colors.
Same Paper, Same Envelopes,  all physical items the same,  all results the same.  No printed envelopes

Only the hair that was on my head, is not the same.

Thanks for all your suggestions, and patience with my lack of specific responses.
Shalom

And to all a good night.
wd


Sorry - it seems that the screen shots I took are never going to load - however they showed address position correctly and
 showed envelope correctly, but showed nothing at all in preview.

[chriskleeman]

Weldiger,

I read through all the posts, and unless I'm missing something, I didn't read anything about using the "Page Set-up option in the envelope window.

In my wife's  version of Office X for Mac, when you go to the Tools menu>envelopes, there is a page-set up option, clearly visible in Harv's screenshots.

I'd go there and make sure that the envelope orientation is correct for the printer, and that you've got the right size envelope selected.

If I missed something from the previous posts that already dealt with this, don't throw anything at me!

Chris K

[Paddy]

The fact that the print heads are just sitting there instead of printing (on or off the envelope) is fishy. Have you tried printing the envelope layout on a plain piece of paper? Does the printer do anything then?

[sandbox]

Hey wellDiger, we may not have the same software package but maybe you have these


Do you have Envelope Wizard? >Menu>file>project gallery>letters&envelopes>envelope wizard


Do you use a Envelope Template ? >Menu>file>project gallery>business forms> envelopes

To test a default envelope just try printing a Template

That may tell you if the problem is your envelope file.