____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Don't forget to prepare your paper --if you are using pre-perforated blanks, always "work" your stock so that air is introduced between the sheets.

In the Duuh Category, remember to check your stock to be sure it is feeding into the printer correctly (errors happen, so be careful when you add more stock to the printer tray).

Printing Problems:
If you are using graphics, the file may too big, causing your printer to "choke" in the middle of printing.  Even if the graphic is very small on your ticket, the file size may still be large.  Every ticket you print will contain the graphic, so multiply your graphic size by the number of tickets -- it adds up. To avoid this problem, most graphic programs allow you to change the resolution or width of the the graphic to the size you want to use.  And remember, a graphic four inches wide may not even by recognizable when reduced to one-half inch wide!

Printer Settings:

Laser Printers:
Heat can be a problem. Your stock may be so badly curled that it cannot be cut or even separated easily when using fully perforated sheets. If stock must be cut after printing, stack sheets as evenly as possible, then weight down for at least two hours.

InkJet Printers:
If you are using an H-P printer, try "Draft" mode for printing. Often the quality will be fine for a raffle ticket, and the speed will usually double. Test your printer in draft mode first -- some printers such as Epson do not have a suitable draft mode for printing, but H-P almost always does.

Using Various Types of Blanks
Some software allows you to choose between "stacked" numbering or "page sequence" numbering -- if you will be printing 1,000 or more tickets, it may make sense to buy partially perforated stock which contains a perforation for stub. After printing, when stock is cut apart into tickets, each stack will automatically be in the correct numeric sequence.  If you are using fully perforated blanks which must be separated by hand, you will want to use "page sequence" (0001,0002,0003,0004, 0005 on first page, etc.).

Using Pre-numbered Tickets
Pre-numbered blanks are available from some office supply stores. All of these numbers are in page sequence.  When printing, divide the number of tickets per page by the total number of tickets furnished (500 -- 5 tickets per page = 100 sheets).  Use your File>Print menu and select 'Number of Pages' as 100.  Although these blanks are convenient for small quantities, you cannot buy consecutive numbers past the quantity in each package.

Using Graphics:
If you are using a program based on Microsoft Word, you can add a graphic to your ticket by using Picture>From File>Insert>Link To File.
This procedure will only use on copy of your graphic, not hundreds of copies. The result is a much smaller print file.

Help File From Popular Program
Although these notes were created by the technical support staff of a popular raffle ticket program, they will try to answer any questions you may have if you cannot get help elsewhere. Some of these answers may be helpful to you.

PrintBox has a series of ticketing programs, the most popular of which is TMpro.  The program is hosted by Microsoft Word, meaning if you know Word, you know TMpro.  There are a few things which Tech Support gets calls on all day long:

'All I get is a blue screen."

That is because you have not enabled third-party macros to run on your machine.  To do so, go to tools>macro>and set the security level to Low.

"I don't see any ticket extensions..."

That is because your settings are hiding file extensions.  To fix that, go to Control Panel>Tools>Folder Options and select the View tab. Uncheck the box 'Hide File Extensions for known File Types'. Press Apply then OK and exit.

"Graphics don't show on my tickets.,"

Put your graphic in a Text Box (be sure Drawing toolbar is active) and use Send To Back.  Test it by selecting the ticket cell and do a Copy.  Then paste into a new document.  Can you see your graphic?  You have set it correctly!

"My graphic only shows on the first ticket."

Double-click on your textbox back in your single ticket. In Positioning>Advanced, be sure vertical positioning is 'from line' or 'from paragraph' NOT Absolute 'from top of page'.  If you set from top of page, all your graphics will pile up at the top of each page!  [Check it by dragging your graphic down.  You will see other copies stacked below.]

"My tickets are taking hours to print"

If you are trying to print 5,000 tickets at a time, that can be a one-thousand page document!  Break your job up into sections and set the start number accordingly. It is a good idea to rename the print file which is named 'mytkts.tmp' with your own name such as clubtks1000, clubtkts2000, etc.

If you have a graphic in your ticket and you are printing 1,000 tickets, you are placing 1,000 copies of your graphic into the print file!  To avoid that, when you insert picture>from file, use the 'Link to File' option available from a drop-down box, just to the right of Insert.  Now you will only have one copy of your graphic -- 'Link to File' manages the placement for you.

I can't find my ticket!'

Use the TMpro module 'TktSave' on the TMpro Toolbar.  When you open that style of ticket later, your ticket will always be on that list.  If you cannot remember what style you used, press View All from the TMpro Ticket Selector, which is the first screen in the program. If you have saved it somewhere else, open TMpro and select a style, the press Cancel to see a new blank ticket.  Then find your ticket and open it, and use 'TktSave' to save it where we can display it for you.

More?

Send your ticket to Tech Support Staff at support@printbox.com