Printing Ranges in OS X

[strell]

In OS X (10.1 or 10.2 doesnt matter) in filemaker 5.5 or 6.0, when I print a range starting after page 1 (example 2-20) the printing prints either blanks or not at all. The Which database doesnt matter, the layout doesnt matter, the computer and printer doesnt matter (I admin 20 computers and 3 printers and 3 databases with always those results). This problem does not happen in the OS 8.6-9.0 with filemaker 5.5. If the range starts with page 1, (example 1-20). I have had no luck on Filemakers knowledge base finding any answers.

[kennedy]

What I see is similar:

If you print to start at page N, it doesn't skip the first N-1 pages... rather it blanks the first N-1 pages. So, if I do Print in FMP 5.5, select pages 3-4 (of the 45 possible), and then hit Preview (OS X's, not FMP's), then I see two blanks followed by 3 and 4 properly. So, other than flipping through paper needlessly, it would seem to at least do what you want.

But if you print directly, I've noticed it only prints the number of pages its supposed to. In the above example, since its only supposed to print two pages, it would just print the two blanks. Had I selected to print pages 3-5, then it would print two blanks plus page 3 properly. Weird and damned annoying.

The workaround: Fill in the Print Dialog as you want, but then hit Preview in the Print Dialog (not Print). What you want should appear in Preview, preceded by blank pages. Select Print from OS X Preview's File menu and select the same print range as before... but this time you're using OS X Preview's functionality rather than FMP's. It'll skip those blank pages.

Hope that works for you.

[strell]

Thanks for the work around. What I would also like to know is why there is this problem and if filemaker is going to correct the problem? Seems they have lots of problems with printing that they knew in 5.5 but did not fix for 6.0. The other problem they know about and have no fix for is that printing is very slow as it doesnt batch print, instead filemaker sends each page as a separate printing to the printer.