Configuring Printing

Overview

In order to print most Aeon documents used in the course of processing Special Collections requests, Aeon uses a combination of document templates (Word documents) and Excel output data files (.xls files). During each print process, the data files and the document templates are merged together to create the new, complete document to be printed. Merging of the two types of files is handled by the Aeon Client internally and the result is printed.

The printing process within the Client does not display the Word templates during printing unless you choose to view the template as explained below. It simply and automatically merges the document and prints it to the default printer on that Client. This makes printing significantly faster for staff as there is no need to click through templates and merged documents for each print job. You can edit the Microsoft Word template at any time to change the formatting and content of the printouts.

All Word templates are stored in the following location unless another path is specified by the PrintDocumentsPath key:

• Aeon 5.0: C:\Program Files (x86)\Aeon\Print\
• Aeon 5.1 or later (per-machine Client installation): C:\Program Files (x86)\Aeon\Client\Print\
• Aeon 5.1 or later (per-user Client installation): C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Apps\Aeon\Client\Print\

The .xls files are stored in the logged on user's My Documents file in the Aeon\Print\ directory by default.

Printer Setup

The first time you print something using the Aeon document templates, the client will display the Aeon Printer Settings screen to confirm, for each particular template, your printing options. You can specify:

• If you want to view the merged document before it is printed.

• The printer you want to use for the template.

  Note: More specific printing preferences such as whether documents should print single or double-sided are not configured in Aeon and must be configured through the local settings for the printer selected.
• Whether you want to be prompted to make these selections each time you print using this template.
• Whether you want to specify a sort order for your printed documents, using the Sort Columns field.

If you select to view the document, both the Word file and its associated template will open when you click Print. You can then view and edit the Word file and print the document from within the Word file. If you do view and edit the merged document, close the template and merged document without saving your changes. If you chose not to view the document it will print automatically when you click the Print button.

Sort Columns

The Printer Settings screen includes a Sort Columns field that allows you to specify a sort order for your documents based on values from the worksheet in the document's Excel file. For example, if you are printing Loan Slips (PrintRequestLoan.doc) and choose the sort order from the Legacy Queue values of Location, CallNumber your Loan Slips will print in the sort order of Location and then Call Number. The Sort Columns feature also displays on the Print Configurations screen and retains the last values entered. You can change the values for future print jobs from here.

Print Configurations

Once you have printed using a document template you can change future template printing options manually by going to Print Configurations and selecting the printer, edit and prompt settings there. Click the Aeon/Main Menu icon () and choose Printer Setup. The Print Configurations window opens. Change the Printer, Edit, and Prompt settings and then click the Save icon. These settings are stored in the QueryAdditions.xml file and saved by default in the Aeon\Print directory under the user's My Documents folder or in the location as designated by the PrintSettingsPath in the Customization Manager. This setting allows staff to have personal settings for sorting or filtering while sharing the same template with other staff.

PrintDocumentsPath Key

The PrintDocumentsPath key, located under System | General in the Customization Manager, can be used to change the directory that Aeon looks in to find print templates. If this key is blank, Aeon will use the default directory path for print templates.

You can change the location by changing the PrintDocumentsPath key value. Other print keys in the Customization Manager specify which document should be opened when a print process is invoked. See Customizing Printer Templates for more information.

The Print Request and Print Callslip Buttons

The Print Request button allows you to select and print request slips from a Request form or from multiple requests from a request list viewed from a queue or search results. Print Callslips allows you to select and print a callslip from a Request form or from multiple requests from a request list viewed from a queue. See Printing Callslips and Request Slips.