Common Printing Issues in On-Screen Takeoff (OST)

Cannot Print "ALL" Pages in Project

When printing a large project, the output is garbled or the program stops responding (crashes) or your computer locks up.

Cause

When printing multiple pages from an On-Screen Takeoff^®, some computers may run low on system resources. This causes some pages to print incorrectly or not at all.

Resolution

Break up very large bids into smaller chunks in order to not overload your Windows or Printer memory capabilities.

In this example, the project contains 360 pages yet only the first 50 or so will print correctly. You have therefore determined that 50 pages is approximately the most your system can print at any one time.

• So, duplicate the project 8 times
• Open the Cover Sheet for each copy,
• in duplicate copy 1, delete all pages except pages 1 to 50
• in duplicate copy 2, delete all pages except pages 51 to 100
• in duplicate copy 3, delete all pages except pages 101 to 150
• in duplicate copy 4, delete all pages except pages 151 to 200
• in duplicate copy 5, delete all pages except pages 201 to 250
• in duplicate copy 6, delete all pages except pages 251 to 300
• in duplicate copy 7, delete all pages except pages 301 to 350
• in duplicate copy 8, delete all pages except pages 351 to 360
• Print the pages from each of these broken out duplicates - Windows should now have sufficient resources to complete the printing process
• Once you have printeda all pages from each of these temporary Bids, delete the duplicates (do not delete the original bid)

What do I do if the printer is printing strange characters or blank or partial pages?

Resolution

(try printing after each of these steps)

• Turn the printer on and off,
• Turn off the printer and reboot the PC,
• Close all other open programs and try to print again,
• Try printing from different software,
• Check that the printer cable is connected firmly to the printer and the computer,
• Print a test page to see if your printer is mechanically sound,
• Set your plotter as the Windows Default printer,
• Try to print a test page from the properties menu of the printer,
• Check your free disk space, you need approximately 32 megabytes (MB) of free disk space to print a simple text-only document, a single full-size page may take 300-500MB of memory to print.
• If the printer is connected to a scanner or other device, disconnect the printer from the device and plug printer in directly to PC,
• Reinstall the printer driver,
• Test with a different cable,
• Test from a different computer that has the same printer drivers installed,
• Have a technician reinstall the printer port,
• Contact your printer manufacturer's technical Support.

I can print from other applications but not from Quick Bid or On-Screen Takeoff

Resolution

• Download and install the latest printer driver from the manufacturer's web site.
• Check the paper size settings when printing in On-Screen Takeoff. They must be large enough to account for the hard code margins in the final printout when compared to the actual dimensions on screen.
• Check the Advanced options for "Spooling" and "Memory": "After last page is spooled" and "Computer Memory" should be selected.

Printing the Bids, Takeoff, or Worksheet Tabs Ignores Print Setup Options

When printing any screen other than the Image Tab (where your plans and takeoff are shown), OST uses Crystal Reports to generate a printable output. Crystal Reports then sends this information to your printer (whether that's a PDF generator or physical printer). However, Crystal Reports does not apply selections made to the "Print Setup" dialog box (such as paper size, color/Band W, print quality). This is a known issue with Crystal Reports.

Resolution

The best solution is to print the Crystal Reports generated preview to a PDF and then use your favorite PDF viewer (such as FoxIt, Adobe PDF, or Microsoft Edge) to send to the final print destination.

Alternately, you can adjust the Printer defaults using Windows Printers and Devices. These defaults affect all programs and will affect how Crystal Reports prints your Bids, Takeoff, and Worksheet Tabs.

Additional Troubleshooting from Microsoft

Please refer to the following Microsoft® Help and How-to articles for assistance with troubleshooting general printer issues. This troubleshooting tool will help with driver and print spooler issues.

Printer problems in Windows