We use our FM 5.5 to create form letters regularly. To facilitate this we have scanned in several common signatures as TIF files and have insterted them below "Sincerely".

Everything LOOKS aligned perfectly but when they are printed the image is shifted down nearly 2". This happens with EVERY printer we have Inkjet, Laser, HP or Xerox and even if it is printed to "Adobe Acrobat".

How can we lock those images in place??

Did you check the layout in Preview Mode?

In Browse Mode Filemaker is not really WYSIWYG.

Yes, the layout is correct in all on screen modes. (Browse, Find, Layout, etc).

I should also add that although we are currently using TIF for our file format we've also tried JPG and GIF, and the result is the same when printing.

I've encountered this so many times. The only solution that's worked for me is to fudge it around until it prints correctly. (And that's not really a solution at all.)

Exactly. And then when things get weird with the fudging, you can't really trouble shoot it because it's just a work around.

Does anyone know if FM6 corrects this?

Yes, this still happens in FM6.

I don't know of a fix, either. I just put the object up where it prints correctly (sometimes this means putting it over text). If you like, you can make this a print only layout, so the user doesn't see this rediculousness.

What is the resolution of the TIF files? What is the resolution of the printer?

The Tif files were scanned in at 400dpi. The printers are capable of 1200dpi and standard (default) resolution is 800dpi.

The specific issue that we're having with the work around is that even though we can get fairly decent placement by moving the signatures into the text area the image even with the picture "moved back" it still covers the text.

I was going to suggest playing around with the resolution, but considering that they are all exact multiples of 400 it probably won't make any difference.

This sounds like a problem I had a few years ago when I transferred some files from FM2 to FM3. FM2 was rock solid in its wysiwyginess, and FM3 was a disaster. I had to completely redesign the print layouts, and not just shift things around. I had to completely rethink what things could be put on the layout, and how to put them on.

PS: Just had a thought. I've noticed that sometimes if you open a graphic file in a graphics editing program, and then resave it, it may behave a bit better. The reason seems to be that the bounding rectangle may be set wrong by the original application, and opening it and saving it again with some kind of editor may fix it.

Is this a Windows machine or a Mac?

I've noticed that graphics put into a container field from our Windows machines behave differently from those from the Macs, and that if I optimize a layout for the Macs (and those are the graphics machines) it's fine until someone decides to do the same task from a Windows box. Then we get an odd result. I don't know why this is, but it is.

The Macs still aren't entirely WYSIWYG in FMP, but they seem to be a ******* sight closer. Just my observation.

-Stanley

"Then we get an odd result."

Make sure the "Store compatible graphics" option in the docu ment preferences is checked. Otherwise FMP only saves the images in a format suited to the platform the client was using when the image was inserted into the container field.