Printing partial reports from MLS

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ffrsqpilot
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Printing partial reports from MLS

#1

Post by ffrsqpilot »

I have discovered what appears to be an apparent glitch in communications between MLS and attached printers - or perhaps just between our stake computer and the attached HP printer.

I wanted to print page 9 of the Ward-Branch audit form. I didn't need the other pages, just page 9. (I was using it to draft a tutorial for new clerks on how to fill out the form and where and how to get the information). When I selected either Print "Current Page" or "Range of Pages" the entire audit form (all 12 pages) printed. I backed completely out of MLS and restarted the computer and tried again to print only page 9. However, no matter which selection I chose, all 12 pages print.

Is this just my computer/printer connection or have other folks encountered a similar situation?

I sent a message via MLS stating the issue but thought I would mention it here on the site to see if others have seen this problem.
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#2

Post by lajackson »

Pilotfly wrote:I . . . tried again to print only page 9. However, no matter which selection I chose, all 12 pages print.
I do not recall that I have every been able to print just one page of a report directly from MLS to the printer. And I agree that it should not be that way.

Because of this, I usually print to a PDF file (CutePDF) and then open the PDF file to send the single page or pages to the printer.
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aebrown
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#3

Post by aebrown »

Pilotfly wrote:I have discovered what appears to be an apparent glitch in communications between MLS and attached printers - or perhaps just between our stake computer and the attached HP printer.

I wanted to print page 9 of the Ward-Branch audit form. I didn't need the other pages, just page 9. (I was using it to draft a tutorial for new clerks on how to fill out the form and where and how to get the information). When I selected either Print "Current Page" or "Range of Pages" the entire audit form (all 12 pages) printed. I backed completely out of MLS and restarted the computer and tried again to print only page 9. However, no matter which selection I chose, all 12 pages print.
This is an unusual case. It is not what I would call "printing reports." Rather, this is a special interface used in MLS for printing PDF files. Internally, the audit reports, as well as the financial statements, are PDF files. The way MLS handles these static files has nothing to do with all the other reports that are actually generated by MLS.

And yes, I have noticed those same limitations with printing. It's particularly annoying with the audit forms, where you may want to print the pages double-sided, or print selected pages, since you don't need to print multiple copies of the instructions.

What I did to get around it is to extract the PDF files from modaudit.jar (using 7-zip). Then you have nice compact PDF files that you can print using Acrobat Reader and they work quite normally. But that's not necessarily easy for everyone.
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aebrown
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#4

Post by aebrown »

lajackson wrote:I do not recall that I have every been able to print just one page of a report directly from MLS to the printer. And I agree that it should not be that way.

Because of this, I usually print to a PDF file (CutePDF) and then open the PDF file to send the single page or pages to the printer.
Printing specified pages of an MLS report works just fine. When you press the Print button, you'll see a print dialog. It will have the usual Print Range options: either "All" or "Pages from 1 to 9" (for example). You can choose to print just page 4, or 4-6, or whatever range you want. There's no need to use a PDF file as an intermediate step.

Of course, your comment and my reply have nothing to do with the topic of this thread, which is the printing of internal PDF files from MLS, which applies only to audit forms and financial statements. That's an entirely different user interface.
lajackson
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#5

Post by lajackson »

Alan_Brown wrote:Printing specified pages of an MLS report works just fine. When you press the Print button, you'll see a print dialog. It will have the usual Print Range options: either "All" or "Pages from 1 to 9" (for example). You can choose to print just page 4, or 4-6, or whatever range you want. There's no need to use a PDF file as an intermediate step.
I used the word "report" generically to mean report, form, or anything else printed from MLS.

My own experience has been different than yours. I can make any selections I wish in the Print dialog box. It makes no difference.

Most of the time, I get the whole report no matter what I do. Sometimes I do not get anything, and I have to start over.
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ffrsqpilot
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#6

Post by ffrsqpilot »

Sometimes the obvious reaches up and grabs you. And, then at other times things aren't so obvious. It never dawned on me that the Audit forms and the Finance reports were internal PDF files.

I guess I never tried printing just one page of a "report" before and just was guessing that there was a problem with the computer-printer interface when I tried printing just a single page from the Audit form.

We learn something everyday, but now I am beginning to wonder what else I have missed in MLS. It sort of worries me as I am the stake clerk and I am supposed to have a fair understanding of how to use MLS so I can help other clerks within the stake. Thank goodness there are some of you folks out there that help clarify the oddities contained in MLS.
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ffrsqpilot
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#7

Post by ffrsqpilot »

When I first encountered this problem, I sent a message off to support via MLS messages. I received a response today that included instructions on how to print just a single page of the audit form.

First, call up the audit form in MLS and scroll down to the page you want to print (in this case it was page 9) and click on it. Second, instead of clicking on the print button on the bottom of the screen click on the small print icon in the tray immediately above the screen. The typical print pop up box comes up and you can click on "Current Page" or "Range of pages". Select your choice i.e. Current Page and the individual page prints instead of the entire report.

Thought I would pass this on to close the loop in regards to the original question I posed.
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