Printers

Account Ability delivers print jobs to your system's printer in the form of journal records. How these journal records are created depends upon the configuration you specify in the Configure for group of the Printer Preferences dialog. If you haven't already done so, click on the Configuration Help? link for an overview of these configurations prior to completing this dialog.

•	Pressure seal forms require the GDI configuration.

•	SSA approved Copy A W-2 and W-3 returns require the GDI configuration.

•	Continuous forms require the Dot Matrix configuration and a generic dot matrix printer configured for a Vertical Motion Index (VMI) of 6 lines/inch and a Horizontal Motion Index (HMI) of 10 characters/inch.

•	Preprinted 4-UP W-2 forms require the PCL configuration.

Account Ability supports both 1-Wide and 2-Wide continuous W-2 forms. When printing 2-Wide W-2 forms, some dot matrix printers cannot tab past column 132, making it impossible to accurately report Local information. If you experience this problem, try physically shifting your forms to the left a few columns. Next, indicate the number of columns (0-3) by which you have shifted your forms in the Offset field. Each column will result in an additional character for the locality.

General reports (Client Master, Activity Report, Control Reports, Register Listings) print on the specified Reports printer. Information Returns and Annual Wage Reports print on the specified Forms printer.

Every printer has a well defined region within which printing can occur. This region, also referred to as a clipping rectangle, varies from printer to printer. Attempts to print outside of a printer's clipping rectangle generally results in a loss of printed output (this is known as clipping). When printing on preprinted forms, there is a good possibility that clipping will occur, especially on inkjet printers. If you select this preference, Account Ability forces all printed output into the clipping rectangle. If a clipping adjustment is necessary, a clip adjustment message will be displayed in red on the status bar.

•	Use the Print a Clipping Rectangle button if you want to see your printer's clipping rectangle.

Registration refers to the relative print positions of images that are printed at different times. For example, when you process preprinted forms, the registration is good if the text aligns correctly with the preprinted image. Text that extends beyond preprinted box edges and text that overlaps other preprinted text are examples of poor registration.

If, when printing on preprinted forms, the text of the first form on a page prints fine but that of subsequent forms on the same page prints higher, your printer may require an adjustment to its Vertical Registration. If this is the case, use the Vertical Registration control to increase the vertical registration (1-75) and try printing again.

•	Registration will vary from printer to printer. So, if you change printers, always set the Vertical Registration to zero to see if an adjustment is necessary.

•	Vertical Registration is used only by the GDI Printer configuration.

•	If the text of the first form on the page prints too high or too low, set the Vertical Registration to zero and try adjusting the Laser, GDI Offsets instead.

When printing tax forms using the GDI configuration, Account Ability spools an entire print job to disk before actually printing it. Since each spooled page is approximately 300KB, the size of the spool file can grow rather large when there are many pages to print.

If disk space is limited, you may want to consider breaking the spool file into batches. Then, as Windows is processing one batch, Account Ability can be spooling the next. As each batch is completed, the spool file associated with that batch is automatically deleted thus freeing up the needed disk space on a first-in-first-out basis.

Use the Batch Size control to specify the number of pages (1-100) per batch. Account Ability will pause between batches for a specified number of seconds (Time Delay) in order to allow Windows ample time to process the batch. A Time Delay Control, shown below, is displayed during the printing process.

The minimum time delay is 10 seconds; the maximum is 60 seconds. During a timeout period, an animated printer, shown below, will be displayed.

If checked, Account Ability prints the Employee's Control Number and/or Dept. (Payment Entity) on the mailing stub of pressure seal W-2 forms.

If checked, Account Ability assumes blank 4-UP Horizontal W-2 forms (PS1288, L87B). Otherwise, blank 4-UP Quadrant W-2 forms (PS1289, L4BL) are assumed.

•	Non pressure seal item L87B requires envelope DW387

•	Non pressure seal item L4BL requires envelope DW4S

Indicates if Account Ability should release the last printed page of a PCL job. In general, you should leave this option selected. If you are using an older Hewlett Packard LaserJet Series II laser printer then remove this option (you will have to release the last page using the printer's form feed button).

In order to draw tax forms on blank paper using the PCL configuration, a special set of laser fonts (IDMS Laser Fonts) must first be downloaded to your PCL printer. Once these fonts have been successfully downloaded, many, but not all, PCL printers eject a page with an arrowhead (è) in the upper left hand corner. Since IDMS Laser Fonts generally remain resident in printer memory until the power has been turned off, it need not be necessary to download them with each session. This preference enables you to intervene by confirming each download.

•	Although rare, some applications may erase the IDMS Laser Fonts from your PCL printer's memory. If this should happen, either use the selection Prepare Laser on the Module menu to queue the fonts for downloading once again or exit and restart Account Ability.

Click this button to visit the Account Ability Forms Division on the web. The Account Ability Forms Division carries a complete line of ACA (1094, 1095), 1098, 1099, 3921, 3922, 5498, W-2G, W-2, and W-2C Tax Forms, Companion Envelopes, Income Tax Presentation Folders, and Labor Law Posters.

•	Regardless of the printer configuration you choose, have your system administrator check your printer's properties in order to ensure that (a) Print jobs are spooled so printing finishes faster, and (b) Printing begins after the last page has been spooled.