Problems printing standard avery labels

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Level 1

18 points

Problems printing standard avery labels

I've been trying to print out a list of addresses on a standard avery 8160 label template, which is one of the choices on Address Book's pulldown menu. I find that the preview window does not change to reflect that template. Printing to PDF also shows the wrong template. Tabbing after selecting 8160 in the pulldown menu also doesn't help.

Any ideas? After having migrated from Entourage to Mail and Address Book, I find repeatedly that Microsoft does a much better and more flexible job than Apple on these label lists.

macbook 13" core 2 duo, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Dec 22, 2008 12:21 PM

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Answer 1

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Dec 22, 2008 12:33 PM in response to mistermish

What version of OS X are you running? Your profile says 10.5.1, but if that's not correct you need to update it and keep it current. Many solutions are version-specific, so if we don't have the right information to work with, that can cause problems for you.

Have you repaired permissions, or considered that your preferences for Address Book could be corrupted? If that's the case, you would need to quit Address Book and remove the com.apple.AddressBook.plist file from ~/Library/Preferences, then restart Address Book to see if that helps.

Mulder

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Answer 2

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 22, 2008 2:05 PM in response to Mulder

Thanks for the prompt response.

OS is 10.5.6 as of today and that did not solve the problem. I have also already tried repairing permissions and trashing the addressbook plist. There is one other file in the preferences folder called: com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist. I have not tried trashing that because I don't know what it is.

Any help would be much appreciated. I can't think of any workaround for this, and it just reinforces my feeling that Address Book is not up to scratch when it comes to printing operations.

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Answer 3

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Dec 22, 2008 2:19 PM in response to mistermish

There is one other file in the preferences folder called: com.apple.AddressBook.abd.plist. I have not tried trashing that because I don't know what it is.

You don't have to Trash it; just move it to your Desktop. You can always put it back later if it has no effect on your problem.

Address Book is not up to scratch when it comes to printing operations.

I think that's a bit premature; I have no problems at all with mine. Your issue is a symptom of a problem somewhere else; it's not actually the problem.

Try this:

1. Enable the Debug menu in Address Book by pasting this command into Terminal and pressing Enter or Return; then quit Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.AddressBook ABShowDebugMenu -bool true

2. Export your groups (if any) of contacts to your Desktop as a single vCard for each group, or one vCard for all contacts.
3. Go to ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook and delete the AddressBook-v22.abcddb file.
4. From the Debug menu, choose "Revert from MetaData" and see if your contacts are restored; if so, then try printing again to see if that resolves the issue.

If it doesn't, create a new user account and drag & drop your vCards from your Desktop into Address Book and try printing there to see if the behavior still exists. If it does, then it's a system-wide problem; otherwise, it's limited to your primary user account.

Mulder

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Answer 4

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 22, 2008 2:40 PM in response to Mulder

I have many groups set up. Does it make any difference if I export the "All" group as a single group vcard or if I export each individual group (presumably including the "All" group?

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Answer 5

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Dec 22, 2008 3:24 PM in response to mistermish

If you want to retain the groups when you drag & drop them into Address Book in the test account, you should export each group separately. If you don't care, then just choose the All group and export that.

Mulder

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Answer 6

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 24, 2008 11:19 AM in response to Mulder

Mulder: I followed your instructions to a "T". The problem appears to be system-wide, since the restore from metadata didn't work and the problem remains with a new account. The one thought I had was that if the problem is with the data file, wouldn't dropping the data file into Address Book via the new user account simply re-create the problem in the new user account?

Also, I now have two files in Application Support entitled ADdressBook.data and AddressBook.data.previous. Do I need either of those or should I trash one or both of them?

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Answer 7

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 24, 2008 11:42 AM in response to Mulder

Mulder: I talked to Apple Support. Apparently the problem is with the preview pane. If you select less than the minimum number of addresses to fill three columns, the preview pane makes it look as though you've got a two column label template because AB basically fills the labels column by column, rather than row by row. The labels print correctly. Apparently others have complained about this too.

Now the second major problem, of course, is that you can't use less than a full sheet of blank labels because you can't specify what label to begin with, as you can for example in Word.

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Answer 8

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 24, 2008 12:15 PM in response to Mulder

Mulder: given the AB's label-printing limitations, I dusted off freeware pearLabelizer. Simple and not particularly intuitive, but it works and it's free. (Printing on partial label sheets is not a problem either.)

Thanks again for your help!

M.

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Answer 9

Mulder

Level 6

8,990 points

Dec 24, 2008 1:29 PM in response to mistermish

Hmmm…well, that peculiarity for Address Book is new to me, since it doesn't behave that way in 10.4.11 for me. Apple must have changed something, possibly inadvertently, to cause this.

Although it's not ideal, pearLabelizer does work, though it does have a default preferences that don't work for many US addresses, as it leaves out the state on them entirely and prints things out of order. But you can easily reorder those and add the state field and then it shouldn't be a problem.

In any case, if your problem is solved, be sure to close your post.

Mulder

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Answer 10

mistermish Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 27, 2008 12:46 PM in response to Mulder

I haven't had any problem with zips and state codes in pearlLabelizer. Another new program is Addresses and Labels by Belight Software. They make Swift Publisher which I like a lot, but their Address and Labels program is pretty expensive at $50. Thanks again for your help. I still maintain that Address Book has limited functionality compared to other PIM managers.

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Answer 11

Jan 12, 2009 6:57 AM in response to mistermish

I had the same problem printing to Avery 8160 in Leopard - I was able to select the label type but could not print to it. I stumbled on a workaround... and as such it is a little funky but it works for me. (fyi: deleting the .plist did not help.)

- In Address Book, select the group you want to print labels for
- Go to File, Print
- From the Style dropdown, choose Mailing Labels then click the Layout button below it. (If you don't see the Style dropdown, expand the dialog box display by clicking the triangle next to your printer list)
- Choose Avery Standard in the first dropdown below the Layout button and 8160 in the dropdown immediately to the right. (Note: the Preview pane will not change to reflect your new label choice.)
- Here we get to the funky part... in the bottom left of the print dialog box, click PDF and choose Open PDF in Preview. A two column, Avery 5161 formatted list will appear. Not what you want, so go back to Address Book and...
- Go to File, Print and you'll find your label preview in 3 column, Avery 8160 format. Print now or create a PDF for Preview.

If you create a PDF for Preview and print from Preview to your labels, be sure to select "No automatic page scaling" otherwise the addresses will not align properly to your labels.

Hope that helps someone.

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