Apr

22

Sorely Needed: Page Guides On Forms!

Filed Under Bento Issues, Editorial 

Besides the new label printing in Bento 4 and several helpful printing options, Bento has a very basic flaw when it comes to printing:
No Page Guides on Forms! That makes it very hard to get the most important kind of printout: The famous WYSIWYG!

You are taking great care designing a form that looks great on your particular screen – be it a 13″ Macbook or a 27″ iMac. Then, big disappointment: the printout looks horrible. Why? Because Bento automatically squeezes any screen layout into whatever paper size is selected in the print dialog, therefore often making text sizes much smaller. In most cases that kind of printout is frustrating and not usable at all!

Bento needs page guides that should fetch the current print settings. It should be possible to switch them on and off.

Dear Filemaker: Thanks for listening.

Comments

6 Responses to “Sorely Needed: Page Guides On Forms!”

  1. C Merlin on June 10th, 2011 10:07 pm

    I totally agree. I am a graphic designer and I have been striving to create a time tracking docket for all the jobs that come in. I’ve managed to get all the fields I need in – after hacking around and stealing pieces from other templates I liked – only to discover that when I print the whole thing out to file for record keeping – all the information is much smaller than I wanted. I was going to write in and ask how to make a template print and fill up a page ( 8.5×11) – but now I see that I am not the only one with this issue. I thought perhaps I was just a novice template designer and a picky graphic designer wanting even her paperwork to look pretty- but I guess this is a downside of this program. I’m pretty crafty though – so I’ll let you know if I come up with a work-around.
    I’m going to try and play more with the spacers or even the print settings – maybe we can trick it to think the page size is different causing it to fill the page……
    Thanks for all your hard work on this blog – it has really helped me get moving forward with implementing this program in my everyday work day.

  2. Laurence on December 28th, 2011 7:43 am

    I just purchased Bento 4 and spent hours putting info in only to discover when I print out invoices it is unreadable. I called Bento and they told me to find out how to print readable invoice I would have to pay them $45.00 for support. Now that is the quickest way to lose a customer. Why introduce a function that is not working. Oh well. American customer service at it’s best.

  3. Florian on December 28th, 2011 7:54 am

    Bad deal, Laurence. I emailed you to offer my help. Bento support should at least have told you about the free Bento forums which are moderated by Filemaker employees.

  4. glidagida on February 15th, 2012 5:18 pm

    Totally agree.

    A simple oversight, but drastic in its implications for the frustration of lost work hours etc., etc.

    It can be one of those simple things that can put a person off the product forever.

    Silly when it can be solved so easily.

  5. CabbageBnB on February 15th, 2012 10:19 pm

    Laurence’s comment suggests there is a method to print readable forms. Is this true?

    Are there any Applescripts, or apps, one can purchase to print a useable invoice from Bento 4?

    Using Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, HP OfficeJet Pro 800 A809 Wireless inkjet printer, I am able to print a usable invoice with Grab creating a Tiff of the Bento 4 window.

    It works, however it is highly convoluted.

  6. Florian on February 15th, 2012 10:24 pm

    Who is Laurence? But yes, it’s possible to design anything on a Bento form. I’ve printed a very nice looking invoice for my music lessons from a form I designed in Bento. But it’s a little bit hit-and-miss. Once you’ve done it, future projects are much easier.
    No, Applescript does not work with Bento, nor do other apps.

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