Lose Your Mind Development
Font Manager Tools for Microsoft Windows
Font Manager Tools for Microsoft Windows
If this FAQ does not answer your question, you can send a Technical Support request using our email form.
1. When will Printer's Apprentice 7.5 be released?
If you are a registered user of Printer's Apprentice 6.5 or 7.0, the upgrade will be free. You can get the software from our download page.
However, your registration key from PA 6.5/7.0 will not work with 7.5. We will be emailing new registration keys to users in our database during Fall 2002. If you have not received your key, you can use our Request Form to get one.
If you are a registered user of PA 6.1, 6.0 or earlier, the upgrade will cost $12. We will deliver via email a registration key so you can "unlock" the downloaded copy of Printer's Apprentice. To get your registration key, send a check payable to Lose Your Mind Development, P.O. Box 184, Berwyn, PA 19312-0184. If you have questions about the upgrade, send email to salesinfo@loseyourmind.com.
2. How much will the upgrade for Printer's Apprentice cost?
If you are a registered user of Printer's Apprentice 6.5 or 7.0, the upgrade will be free. You can get the software from our download page.
However, your registration key from PA 6.5/7.0 will not work with 7.5. We will be emailing new registration keys to users in our database during Fall 2002. If you have not received your key, you can use our Request Form to get one.
If you are a registered user of PA 6.1, 6.0 or earlier, the upgrade will cost $12. We will deliver via email a registration key so you can "unlock" the downloaded copy of Printer's Apprentice. To get your registration key, send a check payable to Lose Your Mind Development, P.O. Box 184, Berwyn, PA 19312-0184. If you have questions about the upgrade, send email to salesinfo@loseyourmind.com.
3. What changes are included in Printer's Apprentice 7.5?
Please see the Printer's Apprentice Product Sheet for information regarding new features. A list of changes in the development version can be found in this text file changes.txt.
4. Does Printer's Apprentice support Adobe Type 1 and OpenType fonts?
Printer's Apprentice does support Type 1 (T1) and OpenType (OTF) fonts. However, that support is based on the operating system. Use the chart below to determine what features are available based on your OS.
| Windows 2000/XP | Windows 95/98/Me | ||
| View installed Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | Yes | |
| Print installed Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | Yes | |
| View uninstalled Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | No | |
| Print uninstalled Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | No | |
| Install Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | No | |
| Uninstall Type 1/OpenType fonts | Yes | No |
Why are most Type 1 and OpenType functions not available on Windows 95/98/Me? If Adobe Type Manager is installed, Printer's Apprentice uses its published Application Programing Interface (API) to handle the previewing and font management functions for Type 1 and OpenType fonts. Under Windows 9x, Adobe Type Manager is implemented as a 16 bit application. Printer's Apprentice is a 32 bit application. A 32 bit application cannot call a 16 bit application without a complex translation layer. This is also called a thunking layer. We are investigating ways to add 16 bit support in a future version.
5. Does Printer's Apprentice include an uninstall utility?
Printer's Apprentice includes an uninstaller that can remove the software from your computer. This includes deleting both application and system files, INI files, removing directories and Start menu items. To run the uninstaller, select "Uninstall Printer's Apprentice" from the PA group on your Start menu. The uninstaller will ask you if you wish to use Automatic or Custom modes. We suggest using the Custom mode so you can review files and other items that will be deleted.
6. How can I manually uninstall Printer's Apprentice?
Follow the instructions below to manually uninstall Printer's Apprentice -
If needed, Printer's Apprentice does install the VB 6.0 (SP5) runtime libraries. We recommend leaving these files installed as other applications may be using them.
7. How can I submit an idea for Printer's Apprentice?
If you have an idea for Printer's Apprentice, please feel free to forward it to one of the addresses in the Technical Support section. All requests are carefully evaluated for possible use in upcoming versions. If more information is needed, we will get in touch with you, so please include your contact information.
8. Is there a version of Printer's Apprentice for the Macintosh?
There is currently no version of Printer's Apprentice for the Macintosh. You might want to take a look at Suitcase from Extensis.
9. How do I report a problem I problem with our Printer's Apprentice?
We strive to produce the best software possible. However, problems can and do occur. In order to help you quickly, you need to provide as much information about the situation as possible. Otherwise we will not be able to help you.
Please use our web based information form when contacting us bout a problem with Printer's Apprentice.
Again, we can't stress how important it is to include as much information as possible. Thank you!
10. When loading Printer's Apprentice, it crashes with this error message: un-time error '453': Can't find DLL entry point InitCommonControlsEx in Comctl32.dll.
To fix this error, you need to download an updated version of the Windows Common Controls. Download and install COM32UPD.EXE from Microsoft. Then restart Printer's Apprentice.
11. Printer's Apprentice hangs or crashes when I start it. What can I do?
If the software hangs or crashes on startup, please try the following
To enable the startup log
12. I am having difficulty printing catalogs and sample sheets on my laser printer. What can I do?
One printer used in development was a Hewlett Packard LaserJet 5L. Like many low end printers, this model only has 1MB of memory. Because Printer's Apprentice often builds complex pages made up of many different fonts, it is easy to send too much data to the printer and get a Memory Overflow error. Changing the printer settings will often get around this problem. Listed below are settings for an HP 5L or similar printer that can affect printing.
Resolution - Printing at 600 DPI takes much more memory than 300 DPI. Lower your resolution to use less memory when printing.
Graphics Mode - On many HP printers, you can send graphics as Raster images. According to the HP help files, complex pages will print faster in graphics mode.
Text Mode - Most HP drivers give you the option of sending text as a bitmapped soft font or as a graphic. It is our experience that sending Text as Graphics greatly enhances the ability of Printer's Apprentice to send multiple pages of fonts to the printer.
You can find these settings by opening the Printers folder from the Windows Control Panel. Right click on your HP icons and select Properties. Click the Print Quality tab. Click "Manual Settings", then the Settings button. Your driver may have the settings located differently then the HP 5L driver. Please note, these instructions are for the HP 5L and other HP printers. If you have an HP compatible printer, there is a "Print TrueType as Graphics" option buried in the various printer settings dialog boxes.
Printer's Apprentice also has an option to reset the printer every few pages. Basically, Printer's Apprentice will break a large print job into several smaller jobs. Each smaller job is made of a user definable number of pages. To change the default, open the Font Catalogs tab in the Options dialog. If you are having difficulties printing more than a few pages with the software, please contact us for technical support.
13. Why does the number of fonts being read by Printer's Apprentice differ from the number of fonts Windows tell me are in my Fonts folder?
The number of fonts reported by Windows in the status bar of the Fonts folder is the number of font families installed. This includes TrueType, Adobe Type 1 and selected "device" fonts. A font family defined as a group of similar fonts. For example, "Arial" is a font family. This family might include four individual fonts, such as Arial Roman, Arial Bold, Arial Italic and Arial Bold. Depending on the print driver installed, the number reported by Printer's Apprentice may or may not include device fonts such as MS Sans Serif, MS Serif, fixedsys, etc.
14. While reading a font CD-ROM Windows displayed an "Invalid TrueType font encountered" message, and then crashed. What does this mean?
Not all fonts found online and on CD-ROM collections are valid font files. Fonts can get corrupted by being run through conversion utilities, being transferred from other operating systems, etc. Invalid fonts can crash the Windows TrueType font engine. If you get this error, you should reboot Windows and delete or avoid using this font. For more information, see Known Issues.
15. Why does my printer take so long to print catalogs and sample sheets? Why are the print jobs so large?
Depending on how you have your printer driver setup, fonts can go to the printer as downloaded softfonts, bitmapped fonts or plain bitmaps. Either way, fonts take up lots of space. Newer Windows print drivers have memory compression built in, causing less data to be sent to the printer.
The print drivers are also smart enough to send only the font characters used by the document. But the sample sheets sent by Printer's Apprentice frequently use all characters in the font, so there is a great deal of information being sent to the printer. We strongly recommend lowering your resolution from 600 dpi to 300 dpi. This cuts the amount of data being sent to the printer while retaining the detail in the fonts.
16. Why do some fonts display with jagged or "stair step" text?
If a font displays incorrectly or with big, blocky pixels, you might have a entry in the Registry for the font, but the physical font TTF file is missing. This could happen for any number of reasons. To fix the problem, you can do a few things.
Reinstall the font
-- or --
Remove the Registry entries for the font
17. How do I confirm all Printer's Apprentice support files are correctly installed?
Printer's Apprentice requires several OCX and DLL files to be installed in the windows\system (Win95/98) or winnt\system32 (NT) folder. The Printer's Apprentice setup program copies these files for you. All of our support files are produced by Microsoft. We always include the most recent version of these files when our software is compiled and shipped.
When our setup program runs, it will not overwrite any newer files that already exist on your machine. It is important to note that "newer" does not mean date. Most DLL, OCX, VDX, EXE and other Windows binary files contain an internal version stamp. We use the version stamps to determine if an existing file is older than a file to be installed. Using Windows, you can view the version stamp for a binary file:
To view internal version information
However, other applications may overwrite existing DLL and OCX files with older versions. If Printer's Apprentice fails to start or crashes, this may be the cause of the problem. The best idea is to reinstall the software. If this does not work, you should manually check that all support files are installed. However, duplicate OCX/DLL files can also cause problems. Follow these steps to confirm all support files are correctly installed if Printer's Apprentice won't start.
The rule of thumb is as follows - You should have only one copy of each DLL and OCX on your system. These files need to be stored in the windows\system folder. The version of each file needs to be the same as or later than the version number listed in our readme.txt file.
If you need any help with this, don't hesitate to drop us an email at helpdesk@loseyourmind.com.
18. What fonts should I not delete when cleaning out my system?
Reducing the number of fonts installed can increase your startup speed. If you want to clean out all fonts on your system, here is a list of fonts you generally should not remove.
Microsoft has an excellent page at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/default.asp that lists what fonts ship with various projects from the company.
19. Why are some fonts listed with an "unknown" filename?
In some cases, Printer's Apprentice does show "unknown" for fonts. This usually happens when a software setup program installs fonts and enters the incorrect entry in the Registry. PA reads installed fonts from memory using a Windows API call. It then tries to make a connection with the registry entry to determine the font name.
For example, "Arial" is installed. The registry entry is "Arial (TrueType)". Sometimes a software setup program will make the registry entry "Arial (True Type)" - note the space in "TrueType". Our software allows for this, but often the difference is significant.
For example the font name might be "Arial MT" but the Registry entry is "Arial (TrueType)" - without the MT. The error happens when there is miscommunication between the developers and setup program writers. If the developers give the setup program writers an incorrect list of font registry entries to make, then we get problems.
There is a solution:
20. How can I fix the "file not found" error when I try to start Adobe Type Manager from Printer's Apprentice?
By default, Printer's Apprentice launches the Adobe Type Manager 4.x program file. If you a different version installed, you need to point Printer's Apprentice your Adobe Type Manager program file. To do this, follow these steps -
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