A long time ago, back in the early 1980's, I sometimes used a product called ClickBook
which allowed you to print little booklets from your printer. The benefit was to save
paper, and to be able to produce booklets for packaging, documentation, etc. I stopped
using it because it was a pain to use. It was a good idea, but it wasn't fully evolved.
So imagine my surprise when I was sent Fineprint
2000. At first glance it appeared to be ClickBook all over again. But after I
installed it, read the Read Me file, and started experimenting with it, I can honestly say
I have read the "fine print" and understand!
While it is true that not all users will be concerned with saving paper (and trees),
and that not everyone will want to take advantage of the ability to print multiple pages
on one page, Fineprint 2000 offers so many valuable features, that it is hard to imagine
not using it.
First, there is the page preview ability. Fineprint 2000 is a print driver which works
with all versions of Windows 95 or higher. It "traps" the print job after you
tell your application to print. It then shows you a screen preview so you can see exactly
how it will print. You can change the size of the margins to fit the page if you like. You
can also delete some pages from printing entirely. If you have ever printed a page from a
web site and wound up with a blank page at the end of the job, this tool will put an end
to it. This is a great feature since not all applications come with a Print Preview
ability, and it will save you wasted paper.
Second, Fineprint 2000 allows you to see how the document would look if it was printed
2 up (side by side), 4 up (side by side, on top of each other), etc. You can add borders,
print duplex (if your printer supports that feature), add a logo, add a watermark, or
stamp the header and footer with pertinent information like time, date, computer, printer,
etc.
In short, Fineprint 2000 offers an amazing amount of features. There is something here
for everybody. For instance, let's say you want to create your own letterhead for future
use. You design it in the package of your choice, and then send the job to print through
Fineprint 2000. It traps the job and shows you a preview. Now all you do is select the
Stationery Tab, and save the letterhead for future use. Next time you want to print
another document on your letterhead, you just send the job to print through Fineprint
2000, select the Stationery Tab and the letterhead design you created, and send the job to
print. Bingo. And Fineprint 2000 supports the ability to print a different second page.
Fineprint 2000 also supports the ability to store forms (like invoices) and to print
over the forms. Thus, if you scan or design a form you like, you can save it within
Fineprint 2000, and overprint it with data at a later date. Another valuable and innovate
feature.
For a test, we tried to print their Read Me file, as a booklet using the duplex option
on our Tektronix 840E, with a Bugs Bunny logo on the cover page, and a watermark of
"Internal Use Only." Within minutes, out popped the pages ready to be assembled.
Everything printed perfectly.
Another handy feature is that Fineprint supports duplex printing on all
printers, not just those that support it. It handles this by having the user insert the
paper into the printer to print the back sides. So now even if you don't have an
expensive, high-end printer capable of duplex printing, you can still print both sides of
a document.
Fineprint 2000 is a very useful tool and deserves to be a part of your arsenal. Our
advice: don't just read the "fine print", buy it! For more information, visit www.fineprint.com.
Fineprint 2000
