Avery Cards back to back

[Daniel Shanahan]

Does anyone know how to print Avery Business Cards (really, any kind of label) back to back or two-sided? The issue, of course, is that after I print side one and put the printed paper back into the printer, it is reversed. To illustrate, see attached .pdf files. The print flow is by row rather than column. So, I would like all odd pages to print its rows from left to right and even pages to print from right to left.

I am using an HP Deskjet D4260; I did not see a reverse direction option in the printer dialog.

Thanks.

cards_side1.pdf

cards_side2.pdf

[Peter (duksis3)]

You need 2 different layouts.

I have wrote some description how to make Business Card layout yesterday or day before.

You comment - to difficult.

No - not difficult. At least it is worth to try to learn.

[comment]

Obviously, you need to re-sort your records before the second print. And since the records could initially be in any state of found/sorted, you will need to note the original order first.

One way to do this:

1. Define two fields:

• InitOrder - Number

• cRow - Calculation = Div ( InitOrder ; 2 )

2. After finding the records you want to print and sorting them the way you want them, do this before printing the front side:

Replace Field Contents [ Contacts::InitOrder ; Serial numbers: Initial value: 0; Increment value: 1 ]

3. Before printing the back side, sort the records by:

cRow - ascending

InitOrder - descending

Note that replacing field contents is problematic in a multi-user scenario (a record could be locked by another user). You should probably import the records into a temp printing table, where you can control each user's found set.

[Daniel Shanahan]

Thanks, Peter and comment, for your replies.

@Peter, I appreciate your interest in my question. Just a minor clarification - I wrote that having two different layouts seems like a lot of work, not that it is too difficult. I also admitted that finding the correct measurements by trial and error (the method I used) was time consuming. My qualm is that FileMaker does not offer an Avery business card template (at least, I could not find one).

@comment, I came up with a slightly different method, though it looks like it is a little more work than yours. I have a front number (order_front) and a back number (order_back). For the front number, I replace the field contents with a serial number, starting with 1. For the back number, I replace the field contents with the following calculation:

If (

  Mod ( Table1::order_front ; 2 ) = 0 ; Table1::order_front - 1 ;

  Table1::order_front +1

)

If the front number is even, subtract 1. If the front number is odd, add 1

Also, if my found set is an odd number, then the last card will not print in the correct spot on the back. To fix this, I add a spacer card if the found set is odd, then remove the spacker when the script is over.

Finally, I appreciate your remarks about using Replace Field Contents in a multi-user environment - certainly something to keep in mind.

For anyone interested, I'm including a file.

Card_back2back.fp7.zip

[comment]

If the front number is even, subtract 1. If the front number is odd, add 1

Or, if you prefer:

number + 2 * Mod ( number ; 2 ) - 1

However, the advantage of my method is that it can be easily adapted to any number of columns.

if my found set is an odd number, then the last card will not print in the correct spot

True, I forgot about that. One more reason to use a temp table for printing.