Troubleshooting Batch Printing

Batch processing is a very stable and valuable function of Collect! There are several steps you can take to check out your setup, examine the parts of the process and see if you can get the results you expect when you batch print your letters.

Please go through each step as described to complete this test.

1. Sign out of Collect! back to your Desktop.

2. Sign back in and stop at the Main Menu.

3. Verify that the pieces are in place so that the print batch can use them. To do this,

• Select Browse from top menu bar and select All Debtors from the drop down choices. When the list of all debtors is displayed, select a debtor that you know should have a Letter contact.
  
  
• While looking at the Debtor record make sure that the Address OK check box is checked and the debtor's Mode is ACTIVE.
  
  
• Select the Contacts tab to view the list of all contacts for this debtor. Look for a Letter contact in this list with "No" in the Done column and select it to view the contact.
  
  
  1. Make sure the contact Due Date is today or earlier.
  2. Make sure the contact is In Progress.
  3. Pull down the pick list on the Description field and confirm that the Letter Name is indeed in the list of all reports.
  
  
  With all these confirmed, exit back to the Debtor. If there is no contact for a letter, then create one for this test with all the above criteria confirmed.
  
  
• Exit back to the Debtor and then back to the Main Menu.

4. Verify that the letter is set up properly to print in the batch. To do this,

• From the Main Menu, select Print from the top menu bar and then select Edit Reports from the drop down choices. You will see the list of all reports in the system.
  
  
• Select the report with the same name as the letter chosen in the contact we just verified. This should open the report definition for this letter.
  
  
• Verify that the Start On field is set to DEBTOR, CLIENT or COSIGNER. Any and all reports that are to be printed from the batch process MUST start on Debtor, Client or Cosigner.
  
  
• Select the Options button at the bottom of the report definition dialog to display the Report Options form. Make sure the Destination is set to PRINTER. There are a few other things that may need to be looked at, but this all that is absolutely necessary to print a batch of letters. Press F8 once everything is verified and exit back to the Main Menu.

You have now verified all the necessary pieces. We would expect to get at least one letter printed, the one that we verified here. If it does work at least for this one that we verified, then you would have to verify each and every other debtor for whom a letter is not printing that should be.

You should be at the Main Menu with nothing else open, no debtors or anything else.

1. Select the Daily Administration button to display the Daily Administration form.

2. Select the Daily Batch Processes button to display the Daily Batch Processing form.

3. Select the Scheduled Batch Letters button to display a dialog asking to print reports or mailing labels.

4. Select Letters and the Batch Letters Options form will display.

5. Verify that 'Prompt when there's a choice' is dotted.

6. Verify that the Start Date and End Date are in the range of the Due Date on the contact we verified earlier.

7. Leaving everything else blank, select the Print button on the lower right to display the Batch Letters report output options and print destination.

8. Select the printer to print to and then select the Print button at the lower right of this dialog. Follow the prompts. When prompted to mark contacts done, please select "No" until you are sure you are satisfied with the results of the batch printing.

As a result of this test, you should have at least one letter produced. With this proof of concept, you need to take the steps outlined here and examine the other debtors to whom you want to print a letter.

See Also

- Batch Processing
- Batch Letter Options