If you do not feel comfortable doing what is in this set of directions, it is strongly recommended that you call in for live technical support so that we can walk you through these steps.
The sudden inability to print properly - either not at all, or with incorrect formatting - usually means that the main file of the set of 9 files that comprises your Invoices information (in particular, the file with the "*.inv" extension) is damaged or is not usable in your current computer/printer configuration. Often, switching printers on a system can cause these kinds of problems, but this is not necessarily always the case.
Before you continue, make sure that you have your invoice design set up right in the program. Do this by checking what your settings for the current Invoice Design are on the Customize tab. If you have the right settings in the program, and the print preview screen shows the format correct, but the actual printed invoice is incorrect (lines missing, design elements missing or in the wrong place or style), then proceed with the information below
The following has helped other customers fix problems similar to yours. It is recommended that you make a Backup of your current working invoices file before proceeding. To make a Backup file:
- Open your program
- Click File and then Backup
- Click Browse to make a backup to a different location, or just click Yes to backup your files to the default location.
Here is a set of steps you want to follow that may alleviate your printing problem in the Invoices program:
First, you will need to create a new invoices file with the same name as your current invoices file, but create and save it to a folder other than the Data folder (for example, your My Documents folder). Please make a note of the exact name of the file name for later use, which will look something like "Some Filename.inv".
- Click File and then New File
- Change the Look In box to be C: or Local Disk C: by clicking the down arrow.
- Once the Look In box says C:, click on the New Folder button to create a new folder. (This button is located three buttons to the right of the Look In box and it looks like a small yellow folder with a start on the corner of it.
- Once this new folder has been created, double-click on the New Folder so that the Look In box says New Folder.
- In the filename field, enter in the name of the file that you were using. This must be the EXACT same name as your current working invoices file. If it is not exact, this will not work at all, so be sure as to what your invoices filename is.
- Click Open to make this file and then Cancel the Setup wizard that starts.
- You should now have a blank, new file with the same name as your previous invoices file that actually contained your data.
- Close the invoices program. Do not make a backup if asked.
- Click Start and then My Computer or double-click on the My Computer icon on your Desktop, and navigate to:
C:\New Folder
- Click View and then Details
- In this folder you will see 9 files that have the filename you just created. For example, if my original file was called "Some Filename", when I make another set of files with the same name,in this folder would be the following set of files:
- Now we must locate the one that is called ".inv" (it would be the ONLY one with the icon that looks like cash coming out of an envelope).
- Make sure that the Type of this file is INV File or Proventure Invoices Database
- Right-click on the .inv file, and click on Copy from the menu that appears.
Now you will need to paste this copied ".inv" file in your program's Data folder, replacing the ".inv" file that is already there. This will re-set your invoice format to match your computer's current printer configuration, and fix most printing problems. However, doing this sets the Invoice Design back to the program's default design (you will need to re-customize it's look on the Customize tab in the program once everything's working again).
- Close the program and any other programs running on your computer. In Windows (using either My Computer or Windows Explorer), go to the Data folder containing your invoices files. If you used the default Data folder that the program automatically chooses as the invoices file directory, your Data folder is as follows:
C:\Program Files\MySoftware\MyInvoices\
- Double click on the Data folder
- Click Edit and then Paste and this will paste the copy of your file from the "C:\New Folder" folder here, and therefore over-write the existing .inv file that has the formatting problem.
- You should get a message asking you if you want to replace the file to which you will answer Yes. If you do not get this message, then you did not get the name of the file to match exactly when you created your replacement file. Start again from the beginning if this is the case.
- If you successfully over-wrote the bad file, immediately double-click on the .inv file (the file with the envelope with cash in it) in this window.
This will re-open the program. When you open your program, you should be able to print again and see correct formatting. As stated before, any customization you might have done to your Invoice Design will be reset to the default design, but this can be recreated on the Customize tab in the program.
If your invoices print fine again, then you are done. You can later go back to your "C:\New Folder" folder and delete the 9 invoices file you created there, since they are no longer needed.
If you do not feel comfortable doing what is in this set of directions, it is strongly recommended that you call in for live technical support so that we can walk you through these steps.