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Free Online Support - BSA Bill Printing Issues

QUICK TIPS: The following will solve most printing problems:
1) Re-boot the computer;
2) Install the current, correct printer driver for your operating system;
3) Make the printer the "Default" printer for Windows.

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BSA Bill Printing Issues
B1 - Bills/Reports Won't Print Correctly	B9 - Print One Page
B2 - Bill Columns	B10 - Type Mismatch
B3 - Custom Bill Format	B11 - Memo Doesn't Print
B4 - Current Charges	B12 - Aging Summary - how does it work?
B5 - Current Charges II	B13 - Biller Summary won't Print or Prints Wrong Hourly Rate
B6 - Blank Pages Print	B14 - Entries scrambled after page break
B7 - Custom Letter Head	B15 - Print Spool Error
B8 - ASCII text file/PDF bills/email Bills	B16 - Trust entries / Balance won't print on bill / summary
B17 - Bill Summary 'Other Charges' doesn't print

BSA Bill Printing Issues

B1. Problem: The printer won't respond to print job requests or the bills/reports print with strange symbols or only part of the bills print or other problems are occurring when I try to print.

Solution:

QUICK TIP: If you can see a page in Print Preview, press Ctrl + P and see if one page prints. Also, press Ctrl + A to print ALL the pages. If printing occurs, then you can print bills this way while you troubleshoot the problem. You can Print Drafts from the 'preview' screen this way and then 'Finalize without Printing' for finalizations.

VISTA USERS: If you're using Vista and having printing problems, you may need to upgrade to the latest version of BSA Pro. You need at least BSA Pro version 4.9v1 (Conflict Checker needs 2.3v1) or greater for Vista compatibility. CLICK HERE for more on Vista.

BLANK PAGE PRINTS - If the program is printing a blank page, check to be sure the Matter is not on HOLD by selecting Change/View Matter | Change Matter and selecting the Matter in question. Then, look to see if the HOLD option is checked. Also, check to be sure you haven't put it on a 'No Activity' Hold. Select Set Up | Bill Printing and look to see if you've told BSA to NOT PRINT bills when there's no activity, no balance due or both. If you have selected one of these options, check carefully to be sure the bill has activity a balance due or BOTH.
Also, check to be sure there's activity in the DATE RANGE you're choosing for the cut off date. If you choose a Cut Off Date for the bills that precedes all of the entries, there will be nothing to print.

STRANGE SYMBOLS or LARGE FONTS PRINT - If your printer is printing strange looking symbols or very large fonts on parts of the bill, there's a chance you have, for some reason, selected the Wingdings font (which prints only symbols) or some unusually large font size for the parts of the bill that look strange. If that's the case, select a font that prints letters and numbers (such as Times New Roman) in a normal size (such as 10)rather than Wingdings or 48 point font. Reports are printed with a fixed font size and use the same process as bill printing. So, if bills are printing correctly, reports should print correctly. For reports with large fonts, check to be sure bills are printing correctly. Chances are that neither is printing correctly and this would indicate your printer driver is not correct. Be sure to install the proper printer driver or try selecting a different printer or printing to PDF file, etc.

PRINT PREVIEW CHECK - As mentioned above, if you can see a page in Print Preview, try pressing Ctrl + P and see if a page prints. Also, try pressing Ctrl + A to try to print ALL the pages. If printing occurs, then you can print bills this way while you trouble shoot the problem. You can Print Drafts from the 'preview' screen and then 'Finalize without Printing' for finalizations. It's a good idea to print drafts first anyway, so this may well be the way you always do it.
If you can print from 'Print Preview' but not the 'Print Draft' or 'Print and Finalize' options, then your printer driver is most likely the problem since this shows the program is able to print the bills but the printer driver is not responding to all the print job request from the program. To solve this, you'll need to get the latest printer driver from the printer manufacturer that is compatible with your printer AND operating system.
If you're using Windows Vista, the printer manufacturer may not yet have available a driver that is fully compatible with Vista. This problem should get better over time as printer manufacturers get more familiarity with Vista. This is one of the problems presented by Vista and is not a problem that can be directly addressed by seaBILL in our programs since it is a problem between Microsoft and the printer manufacturers.
If your printer is made by Hewlett-Packard, HP has tried to address this problem by releasing a Universal Printer Driver. Here's a link where you can learn more about HP's Universal Printer Driver: HP UPD

PRINT ONE PAGE - Again, try printing just one page of a print job. To do this, try Previewing a print job and pressing Ctrl + P to see if the printer responds. If it does, then you know the program is able to talk to the printer and there is some local setting or problem (such as a memory error) that is causing larger jobs to fail.

RE-BOOT - Any time your computer is acting strangely, try a re-boot. This means to quit all programs, exit Windows and shut the computer power off. Then re-start the computer and try again. This is just a Windows 'feature' and doesn't have anything directly to do with seaBILL Products.

WINDOWS 2000 USERS - For Windows 2000 users, try entering the following command from the RUN window:
net use lpt1: \\servername\printer_share /persistent:yes
Open the RUN window by selecting the START button from the Windows Desk top and selecting RUN. Then enter the above line in the box and press Enter.

PRINTER DRIVER - A "printer driver" is a piece of software written by the printer manufacturer that allows the operating system (Windows) to talk to the printer in a language the printer can understand. For example, if the operating system wants the printer to print text in italics, it tells the printer driver and the printer driver translates that request into terms the printer can understand.
This means that nearly all printing problems in BSA Pro and Conflict Checker are caused by an improper, obsolete or bad printer driver or printer installation and have nothing directly to do with BSA Pro or Conflict Checker. BSA Pro and Conflict Checker use the built in Windows Printing System and do not directly control the printer. If you can see the bills properly in BSA Pro in the 'print preview' screens, then you know BSA Pro is working properly. And, if the operating system is properly installed and the correct printer driver is installed and the computer and printer are working properly, the printer will respond to the print job requests fully and properly. But, if you can see the preview without problems and the bills won't print, this means there is a problem with either the operating system or the printer and/or driver that accompanies it. In almost all cases, it will be the printer driver.
The fact that other applications print to the printer is not an indication that something is wrong with BSA Pro or Conflict Checker. Many other applications do not call on the graphics aspects of printers and printer drivers to produce their text output. BSA Pro uses some graphics routines in order to make the bills look better. This means the printer driver must be able to fully talk to the printer. These minimal graphics calls pose no problem where the driver is fully talking to the printer but can cause problems if there is an incomplete or incompatible printer driver.
Also, if you can print from a Microsoft application such as Word or Excel, understand that Microsoft bypasses its own printing system that it makes available to other applications such as BSA Pro. This is a typical Microsoft technique and it means that printing may work from Microsoft applications but not other applications unless the printer driver is current and correctly written and installed. Since this requires that the printer manufacturer and Windows talk to each other, we at seaBILL have no control over this.
Be sure the printer is installed correctly by selecting "Printers" from the Start|Settings option in Win95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP and printing a test page in Windows from the printer in question. Then, make sure it is set as the default printer and that the default printer is being selected when the print dialog appears in BSA.
If that does not solve the problem, you should obtain and install a current printer driver from the manufacturer of the printer. Nearly all printer manufacturers make their latest Windows printer drivers available for free download from their web sites. You need to get the correct driver for your printer and your operating system. So, for example, if you're using the Windows XP operating system with an Epson CX4800 inkjet printer, you need to go to the Epson web site and download the CX4800 printer driver for Windows XP.
In the past, we have found that HP routinely shipped obsolete drivers with printers. So, just because you installed the driver that came with the printer does not mean that you have a current, correct driver for your printer/operating system. Also, HP often makes 2 drivers for each printer: a PCL (Printer Control Language) driver and a PS (PostScript) driver. Be sure to try both drivers and be sure you install the driver for your operating system. A driver for Windows 98 may not work if you're using Windows XP. We've seen that some people have better luck with the PS driver.
Install the correct driver for your printer and operating system according to the manufacturer's instructions and reboot and try again. There is a free site that helps you find and install printer drivers at: DriverGuide.com. Or, you can also try: DriverFiles.net.
Also, as mentioned earlier, the Print Preview feature in BSA uses the printer driver to generate its output to the screen in the same way it does for the printer. So, you can install and test a printer driver using Print Preview in BSA rather than actually printing a bill. This might be faster if you're troubleshooting.
If that does not solve the problem, try installing and printing/previewing to a different printer, if possible (or just a different printer driver) as a test. Also, try the free demo on another computer to see if it prints/previews. BSA Pro and Conflict Checker have been in use in thousands of offices for over 10 years all over the world and we have not yet found a printing problem in a properly functioning stand alone computer system that was not solved by installation of the correct printer driver.

PRINT TO PDF FILE - You can print to a PDF document rather than to the printer. Then, you can open the PDF document in a word processor or Adobe Acrobat and view/print it. Here are links to PDF printer driver files. You can download and install them and then select the PDF printer to print your bills to a PDF file:
PDF 995
Cute PDF
Primo PDF

CLICK HERE for detailed help using a PDF driver to print to a file.
NOTE: Be sure to re-boot your computer after installing any driver including these PDF drivers.

NETWORK PRINTING -
If you're using the program on a network, be sure that all the workstations and the server/shared drive have current, correct drivers and are set up to print properly across the network. Here is a link to the Microsoft Knowledge Base that addresses network printing issues. Microsoft Network Printing Troubleshooting
Among other things, the above article discusses capturing the printer port as follows:
Capture a printer port for the network printer rather than using a universal naming convention (UNC) connection:
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers.
2. Right-click the printer you want to use, and then click Properties.
3. Click the Details tab, and then click Capture Printer Port.
4. Click the port you want to capture (such as LPT2) and the path to the network printer (such as \\server name\printer share name).
NOTE: If you want this connection to be available each time you start your computer, click to select the Reconnect At Logon check box.
Here is another link to a Microsoft article about printing problems in Windows: Windows Printing Problems

B2. Problem: Dates, Billers, Descriptions, Codes, Times, Amounts, Aging Summary, etc. on bills don't print.

Solution: The feature or column for the item in question is turned off on the bill format you've associated with the the matter. Check the Bill Format associated with the matter as follows: Home Menu | Change Client/Matter | Select the Matter (not the client). The Bill Format associated with the matter is shown next to the Bill Format button. Then, Go to Home Menu | Set Up | Biller Formats | Add or Edit Bill Formats | select the bill format in question from the list of formats | 5. More Options. Then, select the button for the category of charge you want to work on. For example, click on 'Fee Info.' This will show you the columns that are available for that type of charge. If a column is turned on, it will have a check mark in its box. Check the columns you want to print. For other features, such as the Aging Summary, select the appropriate tab to see whether the feature in enabled.

B3. Problem: Matter doesn't print using Custom Bill Format/Consolidated Format.

Solution: The Custom Format is not associated with the matter/client in question. Make the association for Bill Formats with Matters as follows: Home Menu | Change Client/Matter | Select the Matter (not the client) | Select Bill Format | Select the Custom Bill Format from the list of formats.
For Consolidated Formats, you must associate the format with the client (not the matter) as follows: Home Menu | Change Client/Matter | Select the Client (not the Matter) | Select Consolidated Summary Format | Select the Custom Format from the list of formats.
Also, you can associate multiple matters with a Bill Format by selecting Home Menu | Set Up | Bill Formats | Matter Bill Formats. Then, you can select the Matters you want to use a certain format and select Continue Bill Format Set Up to select the Bill Format you want these matters to use.

B4. Problem: Current entries show in Change/View Bills but don't show on draft/preview of bill.

Solution:
1) The date for the entries is not within the cut off date. When you select Print Bills, you must note the bill cut off date. If an entry's date is after the cut off date, it will not print on the bill. Occasionally, for some unknown reason, people have entered dates for billing entries that are VERY far in the future. Pick an entry that isn't printing and carefully check its date in Change/View bills. If the entry date is after the cut off date, it won't print. Either change the date of the entry or the cut off date.
2) You have all the columns turned off for the charge(s) in question. Select 'Setup' from Home Menu and then Bill Formats | Add or Edit Bill Formats | select the bill format from the list | select "5. More Options" | select "Fees Info" [or Expenses, Other, Payment, Trust] | check the columns you want to appear | Return to Home Menu and SAVE your changes.

B5. Problem: The matter has current entries but won't print.

Solution: The Zero Balance/No Activity or Hold Bill features are probably turned on. From Home Menu, select Set Up | Bill Printing and check to see if the matter is not printing because one of the 'Don't Print' options has been selected. Also, check the matter's Hold status: From Home Menu, select Change Client/Matter | select the matter (not the client) and check to see if the Hold Bill option is selected.

B6. Problem: The printer keeps printing 14 [or some large number of] blank pages.

Solution: If re-booting the computer doesn't solve the problem, there may be a problem with a bill memo #3. Sometimes, if a bill memo #3 isn't terminated with a carriage return, certain printers will print multiple pages for that matter. Look for a matter that is in the print job that has a bill memo 3. When you find it, go to the memo and add a return to the end of the memo. The memo can be examined and changed by selecting: Home Menu | Set Up | Bill Formats | Add or Edit Bill Formats | select the format with the memo #3 | Memo #3. Then, simply go to the end of the memo and press the Enter (or Return key) once. Then, select Home Menu and save your changes.

B7. Problem: How do I create a blank letter head and/or the Custom letter head / Memo I created doesn't print the same way it looks on the monitor.

Solution: To create a blank letter head, you can either make the 'Firm Information' blank which will cause a blank letterhead to print for all matters with the Default bill format or you can create a Custom Bill Format with no information for the letter head in it and associate that Custom Bill Format with the matter(s) in question.
1) Blank Firm Information approach - From Home Menu, select 'Set Up' and then 'Firm Information'. Be sure all the fields are blank. Then, associate the Default letter head with the matter(s) in question as follows: From Home Menu, select 'Change Client/Matter', 'Change Matter Information', click on the matter, click on the 'Bill Format' button, select the 'Default Bill Format'.
2) Custom Bill Format - From Home Menu, select 'Set Up', then 'Bill Formats', then 'Add or Edit Bill Formats', select the 'Add a New Bill Format' button in the lower right, select 'YES', Enter a Bill Format Code in the box provided at the top (e.g., 'BLNK') and describe the Bill Format for future reference (e.g., 'Blank Letter Head'), select 'Custom' under the Letter Head tab, press the space bar once or twice and select 'Home Menu' and 'Save' the new bill format.
Then, associate the new Custom Bill Format with the matter(s) in question as follows: From Home Menu, select 'Change Client/Matter', 'Change Matter Information', click on the matter, click on the 'Bill Format' button, select the new bill format you just created.
Note: If you want to associate MULTIPLE MATTERS with this new, blank letter head, you can speed up the process by selecting 'Set Up' from Home Menu and then select 'Bill Formats' and then 'Matter Bill Formats'. Then, you can select as many matters as you want and then select 'Continue Bill Format Setup...' and then select the Bill Format you want to associate with all the selected matters.
It can be tricky at first to get the printed output to look exactly the same as the format looks on the monitor. This is usually because the printer driver has to deal with certain issues that the print preview function does not (such as actual printable area). With some experimentation, however, you'll quickly see what's going on and be able to adjust it to your needs.
Start by removing all the tabs from the word processor screen where you create the letterhead. Then, use the space bar for spacing. When you place information at the extreme right margin, it can wrap to the next line and completely destroy your spacing. So, leave a little room at the right side. After the letterhead/memo looks about right, save it and do a print preview of it. If the space bar doesn't work, try the tab key since different printer drivers will react differently to these kinds of inputs. And, please note that you can click and drag the tab markers (at the top) anywhere you want FOR EACH LINE. This allows you to control the placement of the text by putting the tab where you want the text to appear.
The blue arrow below points to the TAB characters in the Custom Bill Format screen.

EACH LINE of the letter head shown above has a DIFFERENT tab setting. As you move to each line of text in the actual program in this screen with such tabs, you'll see that the tab layout changes. This allows you precise left/right control.
The Print Preview will more closely resemble the actual printed output than the Custom Bill Format screen simply because the print preview has the printer driver loaded and the Custom Bill Format screen does not. If it looks good in Print Preview, print a draft to see how close it is. If it looks off, go back to the letterhead/memo and make an appropriate adjustment in the spacing. Then, go back to the preview. Keep going back and forth until it looks about right in the preview. Then, print a draft and make any final adjustments.

B8. Problem: I want to print Bills/Reports to a file for use with my word processor/email, PDF file, etc.

Solution: Add the Generic/Text Only printer or a PDF printer driver to your computer as a new "printer" and have BSA Pro Print to a file. In Windows 98, for example, select Start | Settings | Printers | Add Printer | use the print Wizard to add a GENERIC printer. When prompted for the Port you want to use, select FILE. Then, when you print bills in BSA, you can select this new 'printer' from the list of available printers and name the file you want to print to. Once you've done that, the file can be opened and manipulated in your word processor or attached to an e mail.
To preserve the bill's formatting (font, lines, spacing, etc.) you'll want your bills in PDF format. To print to a PDF format, install a PDF printer driver and use it to print to file. Then, you will have a PDF file that can be emailed and viewed by anyone who has the free Adobe PDF viewer. You can also edit the bill in newer versions of WordPerfect and other programs that support PDF files from Adobe.
Here are links to PDF printer driver files. There are many such programs on the web. You can download and install one and then select the PDF printer to print your bills to a PDF file:
Easy PDF
Cute PDF (this PDF driver works with Vista as well as XP)
Primo PDF

Again, the idea is to install the PDF driver as a new "printer" for your computer. Once you do that, the new PDF "printer" will show up as an available printer on your computer. This way, when you Print Bills in BSA Pro, you select the PDF "printer" rather than your normal printer. When you do that, you'll get a chance to save the output to a file that you name. Nothing will happen on your printer since you're not printing to the printer. After the output is saved to a file, you can then locate the file and do what you want with it. You can attach it to an email, open it in a word processing program or print it to a printer.
Here are 2 screen shots from BSA Pro to show how a PDF printer driver will look when you select it in BSA Pro after installing it:

PDFPrint1

After selecting a print function in BSA Pro, a "Print" dialog box will appear allowing you to name the printer you want to use. In this case, you'll select the new PDF printer driver you just installed.

PDFPrint2

After selecting the PDF printer driver, you will name the output file that will be created. Remember the folder and the name of the file so you can open it after the print job is done to review the bill as a PDF file.
That's it. Once the PDF file is created, you can use it just like any other PDF file; you can email it to someone or open it in a word processor that reads PDF files, etc.

B9. Problem: The program won't let me print just one page of a multi-page bill or print job.

Solution: Preview the bill. When you're looking at the page you want to print, press Ctrl + P. You can then print that page.

B10. Problem: The program gives me a TYPE MISMATCH or other error.

Solution: Look at how dates are displayed in the program. They should show up as month/day/year as in 10/15/1999 (October 15, 1999). If they don't show that way, you probably have your Regional Settings/Short Date style set to something other than English US. Our programs are written in the US and are designed for use primarily in the US. To change your Regional Settings, from your Desktop in Windows 95/98/2000/XP/NT, select START | SETTINGS | CONTROL PANEL, then select REGIONAL SETTINGS and make certain you are set to English(United States). Then select the DATE tab and check your Short Date style. It should be mm/dd/yyyy (for month/day/year) and the Date Separator should be a forward slash (/). After setting these options, select APPLY and then OK to close the small window. Then, you may have to re start your computer for the changes to take effect.

B11. Problem: Bill memos are not printing on the bills.

Solution:
1) Chances are that you have not checked the box labeled "Print on Bill" on the bill memo screen. From Home Menu, go to 'Set Up', 'Bill Formats', 'Add or Edit Bill Formats' and click on the bill format in question. Then select the 'Memos 1-3' tab and look at the memo buttons. If a button does not have a check mark in it, it is not set to print. Click on the button for the memo you want to print and check the box labeled "Print on Bill" in the upper left corner of the memo text screen. Then, select the 'Back' button in the upper right and you'll see that the memo button is now checked. Now, the memo will print on the bill with that format.
If you ever want to quickly disable the memo, turn off the Print on Bill option. That way, you don't have to delete the memo and it's still available to turn on if you later want it again.
2) It may be that you have not associated the Bill Format that has the memo with the Matter in question. For example, if the Matter is using the Default Bill Format but you have created the memo in a Custom Format, then the memo will not print until you associate the Custom Format with the Matter. To do this, select 'Change Client/Matter' from Home Menu and then select 'Change Matter'. Select the Matter from the list and then select 'Bill Format'. Finally, select the Bill Format that has the memo and the memo should print.
3) Finally, check to be sure you have not checked the option that will only print the memo if the Trust Account Balance is below a minimum amount.

B12. Problem: Aging Summary/Report shows all Charges as 0-30 days or Not Finalized.

Solution: Aging is based on the Finalization date of a bill. When you print bills, you can either print Drafts of bills or you can Finalize bills. Finalization is the process whereby you tell the computer that the bill has been sent to the Client and is considered due and expected to be paid. At this point, BSA will start to age the balance due. If it is not paid in full, it will start to bear interest (if applicable) and will begin to show as past due in the Aging Summary/Report.
Charges that have not been Finalized are considered 'Current' charges and are shown in the '0-30 days' column in the Aging Summary on the bill and in the 'Not Finalized' column on the Aging Report. Balances due consisting of Charges that were Finalized more than 30 days ago but less than 61 days ago are shown in that column (31-60) and so on. Again, it is the Finalization date - not the date of the charge - that controls. If you never finalize bills, all charges are considered 'Current' and will appear in the 0-30 column on the bill's aging summary and the 'Not Finalized' column in the Aging Report. As you finalize bills, the unpaid balances will move to the 'older' columns as they age.
Also, when you set up a new matter, you can enter a Balance Forward (aka beginning balance). The set up screen also lets you indicate the age of the balances. This has the same effect as finalizing a balance entered in BSA since you're telling the program these amounts are already due and payable. So, such 'balance forward' amounts can also show up in an aging report as being 'Finalized.'

B13. Problem: Biller Summary Won't Print or Prints the Wrong Hourly Rate.

Solution: If you have manually entered a FEE Amount after the program has calculated the correct amount based on the hourly rate, the Biller Summary report will not reflect the fact that you have overridden the hourly rate calculation since there is no good way to correctly reflect such a temporary, manual change.

B14. Problem: Sometimes, a long entry at the bottom of a page will get scrambled up when it prints with part of it on the first page and another part on the 2nd page. What's wrong?

Solution: This can happen if the description is too long and at the end of a page where the page break interferes. It should rarely happen. If it's happening a lot, you may have unusually long descriptions as a matter of course or there may be a problem with your database. First, where you have such a description that is being cut across pages, try breaking the entry into two, shorter entries - one with the first part of the description and a zero dollar amount and the 2nd with the remainder of the description and the full charge for the entry. Second, you may have an unusual font setting for the bill format. Any change in the bill format set up will change the page break and can make a difference. So, you might take a look at changing the font size or a memo or the letterhead just a little. This will often help. Finally, if this is happening on entries with short descriptions and more than once or twice in a bill cycle, then there may be a problem with your database. In that case, try repairing the database and if that doesn't help, you can make a back up of your database and attach it to an email to us and we'll look at it for free to see if we can find the problem. If you do this, please complete the support form first to report the problem and, when we ask for the database file, please tell us which matters to look at and exactly what kind of printer you're using. Often, just switching to a different printer driver will cause the problem to go away so we'll need to know exactly what kind of printer you're using to duplicate the problem.

B15. Problem: Sometimes, when I print bills, I get a 'Print Spool' error. What's wrong?

Solution: A Print Spool error indicates a problem encountered by the Windows operating system during printing operations. It does not normally indicate a problem with your seaBILL program (although it's possible a corrupt database could cause this). The most likely problem is a hardware problem with your computer or printer.

B16. Problem: When I REPRINT finalized bills, the trust entries don't print and the Trust Balance doesn't appear in the Bill Summary. Why?

Solution: Trust entries do not print when you REPRINT a finalized bill for technical reasons. There are various Trust Account Reports that can get the same information so you can reprint the bill and then attach a trust account report. Reprinting finalized bills is not the normal way to print bills in BSA. The program was designed so you can preview the bills on the monitor or print drafts of bills for review. After review, you can make any changes and then finalize the bills. If the drafts are acceptable, you can finalize without printing. Reprinting would be done to show billings long after they had been finalized and sent and can no longer be located. You should always keep a hard copy of the bills in the file so reprinting should seldom be needed.

B17. Problem: Other Charges entries won't print in the Bill Summary when they are negative. Why?

Solution: You probably have turned on the option to NOT PRINT bill summary items that are zero (or less). Select 'Set Up' from Home Menu and then select 'Bill Printing' and deselect that option.