Previewing pictures, Optimize the printing speed – QuickLabel Designer Pro User Manual
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Previewing Pictures
When you place a picture on the label, in design mode it is always shown in color-depth as defined
in the picture.
However, when previewing the labels on-screen, the preview of the pictures depends on the dith-
ering option set in the printer driver. All color pictures (except WMF and EMF files) are converted
to monochrome images. The illusion of colors and shades of grey is accomplished by varying the pat-
tern of dots. More dots close together will provide darker shade of grey.
The preview of the label will show pictures in the same way as they will be printed accordingly to
the dithering setting. More accurate print preview is guaranteed this way.
If the picture is not previewed as you would like to print it, change the dithering setting in the printer
driver.
Optimize the Printing Speed
There are many factors that affect the printing speed. By following the guidelines below you can dra-
matically increase the speed of printing:
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If your printer supports parallel and serial port, use the parallel port. Computer can send
data to printer over parallel port much faster than over serial port.
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Use printer's internal fonts instead of Windows' true-type fonts. True-type fonts must be
sent to printer as graphics and therefore the size of data sent to printer is much bigger
(couple of kilobytes). When using internal fonts, only the text is sent to printer (couple of
bytes). If you must use true-type fonts, use the NiceMemMaster program, to download
these fonts to printer's memory and later access these fonts as internal printer fonts (only
if your printer supports this).
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Avoid use of graphics on labels. If you must print graphics on labels, use the Nice-
MemMaster program to download these graphics to printer's internal memory (only if
your printer supports this).
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When using bar codes, make sure that you don't print bar codes as graphics, if your
printer supports printing bar codes.
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When using counters, the printer will internally increment the numbers if the internal
fonts are used. (if supported by the printer) This means, that the printer will only receive
the first number of object, and will later increment this number to print other labels.
Using this option also reduces the amount of data transferred between computer and
printer, but the difference is noticeable only with high quantity of labels.
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Set the printing speed to a higher value (if your printer supports it). Note that setting the
printing speed usually affects the quality of printing. The higher the speed, the lower the
quality. You will have to find an acceptable compromise for this.
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Don't print too much data on labels. If the speed of printing is an important factor, you
should consider using preprinted labels, and only print the data, that is different on each
label.