Copyright: Copyright Garry A Prefontaine, 1996


Patterns

The following patterns may be selected for rectangles, round rectangles and ellipses. When first created, the pattern is Clear. If a color is selected, the pattern defaults to solid. A pattern takes on the item color, so if the color is red, the lines in the pattern will be red.


Dragging and Dropping

To drag a label item from the Tool Palette onto the label, press the item button with the left mouse button, and hold it down while dragging the mouse cursor over to the label. (the mouse cursor changes to reflect the item you are dragging). Position the mouse cursor over the label and release the mouse button to drop the item.

To cancel drag and drop, simply release the mouse button over anything other than the label area.


Tool Palette Selected Object Tools

 Select an item on the label and click this button to get the items property menu

Select an item on the label and click one of the arrow buttons to move it. If the Move All box is checked, the arrow buttons will move ALL ITEMS on the label

 Select an item on the label and click this button to delete the item. You will be asked for verification.


Text Item

 Text

The text item is a block of freeform text that can be placed anywhere on the label surface, and which has many properties to choose from, including font, color and rotation.

Text Item Properties


Counter Item

 Counter

The counter item is an incrementing number which you can set the starting number for. This is good for serial numbers, for instance. You can also set the number of labels each number is printed on before increasing by one. The counter item can also have various fonts, colors and can be rotated.

Counter Item Properties


Graphic Item

 Graphic

A graphic item is a BMP (bitmap) or WMF (Windows Metafile) file. The graphic file is not stored in the Visual Labels database - only the file name and path. If you delete or change the graphic file, it will be changed in the label.

We strongly recommend 16 color, smaller ( less that 10K) image files.

Graphic Item Properties


Symbol Item

 Symbol

A symbol is basically a member of the WingDings font set, which is installed with all copies of Windows. The symbol item can be resized by selecting it and resizing it. There are quite a number of interesting symbols to select from:

Symbol Item Properties


Vertical Line Item

 Vertical Line

This is simply a vertical line which may be moved and sized. You may set the line thickness and line color as well.

Vertical Line Item Properties


Horizontal Line Item

 Horizontal Line

This is simply a horizontal line which may be moved and sized. You may set the line thickness and line color as well.

Horizontal Line Item Properties


Round Rectangle Item

 Round Rectangle

The round rectangle item is similiar to the rectangle item, except it has rounded corners. It can be moved and sized to any round rectangular shape, and may have various colors, line colors, line thicknesses and patterns.

Round Rectangle Item Properties


Rectangle Item

 Rectangle

The rectangle item can be moved and sized to any rectangular shape, and may have various colors, line colors, line thicknesses and patterns.

Rectangle Item Properties


Ellipse Item

 Ellipse

The ellipse item can be moved and sized to any elliptical shape, and may have various colors, line colors, line thicknesses and patterns.

Ellipse Item Properties


Image Dialog

This dialog helps you browse your computer for graphics files (BMP, WMF) that you can use. As you highlight an image, it is shown in the box to the right.


Symbol Dialog

You can select the symbol you wisth to use from this dialog. You may also set the color of the symbol using a standard Windows color dialog.


Set Rotation Dialog

With this dialog you can set the rotation or angle of the text from 0 (normal) to 359 degrees.


Counter Dialog

The counter dialog asks for the starting number - any number you like, and how many labels to print for each number before moving to the next number.


Counter Item Properties

Counter Values	Set the starting number and repeat values with the Counter Dialog

Font	Set the font for the counter using a standard Windows font dialog

Font Color	Set the font color using a standard Windows color dialog

Rotation	Set the font rotation (angle) using the Set Rotation dialog

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Graphic Item Properties

Image File	Select the BMP or WMF image file with the Image Dialog

Stretch to Fit	If true, the image will stretch to fit the size of the item

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Symbol Item Properties

Symbol	Select the symbol to use with the Symbol dialog

Color	Select color using the standard Windows color selector

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Horizontal Line Item Properties

Line Color	Select line color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Thickness	Select line thicknesses from one to ten points

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Vertical Line Item Properties

Line Color	Select line color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Thickness	Select line thicknesses from one to ten points

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Ellipse Item Properties

Color	Select inside color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Color	Select line (outside) color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Thickness	Select line thicknesses from one to ten points

Pattern   	Select solid, transparent, or one of six other patterns.

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Round Rectangle Item Properties

Degree of Rounding 	Sets the rounding percentage of the four corners

Color	Select inside color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Color	Select line (outside) color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Thickness	Select line thicknesses from one to ten points

Pattern   	Select solid, transparent, or one of six other patterns.

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Rectangle Item Properties

Color	Select inside color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Color	Select line (outside) color using the standard Windows color selector

Line Thickness	Select line thicknesses from one to ten points

Pattern	Select solid, transparent, or one of six other patterns.

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Text Item Properties

Text	Type in the text for the item

Font	Set the font for the item using a standard Windows font dialog

Font Color	Set the font color using a standard Windows color dialog

Rotation	Set the font rotation (angle) using the Set Rotation dialog

Send to Back	Places the item behind all other items

Bring to Font	Brings the item to the front of all other items

Center	Centers the item in the middle of the label

Center Vertically	Centers the item vertically in the middle of the label

Center Horizontally	Centers the item horizontally in the middle of the label

Delete	Deletes the item from the label (you will be prompted first)


Tool Palette Label Items

Text	Rectangle

Ellipse	Round Rectangle

Horizontal Line	Vertical Line

Graphic	Counter

Symbol

You may drag and drop any of these label items onto the label surface.


Tool Palette
The Tool Palette

The Tool palette is a floating window that contains two sections. The first section is the Label Items section. These buttons represent items that can be dragged and dropped onto the label.

The second section is the Selected Object section, which contains buttons for moving, deleting or changing the properties of the selected item

The button at the upper right corner with an up arrow and a down arrow can be clicked to close or open the Tool Palette window. When closed, only the title bar remains visible.


Creating a Label
Creating a New Label

Click on New Label from the File menu, or on Clone Label from the Label menu to create a new label.

If you clicked on Clone Label, you will be asked if you wish to 'clone' the current label. If you choose Yes, a new label will be created that is exactly the same as the current label, with the description changed  to 'Copy of ' and the name of the current label.

If you clicked on New Label, you are first asked to select a Label Template. (see Selecting a Label Template ).  A label template describes various attributes of the physical label, including its width and height, number across and number down, size of the paper, margins, etc. Visual Labels includes a large database of predefined Avery brand labels organized by their Avery numbers. You may select one of these predefined templates, or you may create a new template for a type of label that is not on the template list.

Once you have selected a label template, the label area on the screen (a white rectangle or ellipse) will change to reflect the shape and size of the label template, and will be blank. The next step is to add label items to the label. To do this, you simply drag and drop items from the Tool Palette onto the label. Once an item is dropped onto the label, it can be selected by clicking on it. When an item is selected, it will have 'handles' around it for moving and resizing. Example:

You can also change the properties of the item (color, font, etc) by clicking on it with the right mouse button, or by clicking the properties button on the Tool Palette .

When you create a new label, or make changes to an existing label, the Save and Cancel buttons become visible. Press the Save button to save your changes to disk. Press the cancel button to cancel any changes. (for a new label, the cancel button cancels the creation of the label as well).

See Tutorial for an example of creating a label.


Tutorial

We will describe here how we created the example 3.5 inch disk label.

Click on New Label from the File menu.

The Select Label Template dialog comes up.

Find and select Avery 5196 3-1/2" Diskette - White.  Press OK.

You should now have a blank 3.5 inch label on the main screen.

Now drag and drop a Text item onto the label - place it at about the middle of the label and about 1 inch down.

Select the text item by clicking on it with the left mouse button. You will see handlebars around it. Handlebars look like this:

Bring up the text item's property menu. (You can bring up an item's property box by clicking on the item with the right mouse button, or by selecting the item and clicking on the properties button on the Tool Palette.) Select Text from the menu. A dialog box will ask you to type in the new text. We typed in "Visual Labels". Now bring up the properties menu again and select Font. A Font Dialog box will come up.  We selected "Times New Roman", "Bold Italic", "22 points" and a color of dark blue. You may have to move the text item again to get it centered in the label.

You can follow this same procedure to place the other text items on the label, setting the font and text as appropriate with the properties menu.

The "New" text item has one more step. Choose Rotation from the properties menu. The Set Rotation Dialog will come up. Select a rotation angle of 45 degrees.

There are two symbol items. One is a small Windows symbol, the other a small telephone. For each of these, drag and drop a symbol item from the Tool Palette. the Symbol Dialog will come up, and you can select the appropriate symbol to be placed on the label.

Next drag and drop a rectangle item from the Tool Palette onto the label. From its property menu, select Color and set it to green. Now select a counter item from the Tool Palette. Dag and drop it inside of the green rectangle. When the Counter Dialog comes up, set the properties to 2000 for the starting number, and 1 for the number of repeats. Select the property menu and set its Color to white.

Finally, drag and drop a round rectangle item onto the label. Size and position it so that it covers the other items on the label. (you may have to move some of the other items around). Select Color from the properties menu, and choose a light yellow. With the round rectangle selected, bring up the properties menu and press Send to Back.

Press Save, and you are done!

Hint: While designing a label, you might find that because one item is in front of another you cannot select the 2nd item. All you need to do is send the 1st item to the back, and the 2nd item will be selectable. You may have to click outside of the label area to de-select all items, and then try to select the item you want to work with.


Selecting a Label Template

This screen displays a database of Avery and user-defined label templates. Each label record includes the complete technical specifications for that label.

You cannot change the Avery label specifications, but you can add and edit user-defined label templates.

New: Click the New button to add a user-defined label template. In the Description field, give the template any name you want, e.g., My First Template. Click Save to save your new label.

Edit: Click the Edit button to edit the specifications for any user-defined label template.

Delete: Click the Delete button to delete a user-defined label template.

Click the OK button to accept your selection and return to the previous screen.


Deleting a Label

Click on Delete button on the Label menu to delete the current label. You will be asked to confirm the deletion. Once deleted, a label cannot be recovered.


Printing Labels

Click Print on the File menu to print a page or pages of the current label. A Windows Print Dialog then comes up, where you should fill in the # of copies (pages of labels) that you want. Press OK to print, or Cancel to not print.


Print Setup

Click Print Setup on the File menu call up the standard Windows printer setup dialog.


Previewing Labels

Click Preview on the File menu preview a single page of the current label. The preview will show what a page of labels will look like once printed. (note: if you do not have a color printer, the labels will be printed in shades of black and white)

Click the magnifying glasses to zoom in or out.

Click the page buttons to make the width of the page fit into the preview, or to display the full page.


Select Specific Labels

You may want to print only certain labels on a sheet, and exclude others. For instance you may want to print only the first three labels on a sheet.

The Select Specific Labels dialog box lets you do just that. The dialog presents you with a 'checklist' representing all of the labels on a single sheet of the current label design, and refers to the labels by their ROW and COLUMN, just like a spreadsheet. On a label sheet that had 2 across and 3 down, for instance, the first label would be referred to as "Row 1, Column 1", and the last label would be referred to as "Row 3, Column 2".

Both the Print and Preview will skip any labels that are not checked, so you can easily test if you have selected the label position(s) that you really want to print.

Once you have selected specific labels to include/exclude using the Select Specific Labels dialog, both the Print and Preview will continue to include/exclude these labels until you change the setting otherwise.

To start printing all labels on each sheet again, click the ALL button and press OK.

WARNING: AVERY SPECIFICALLY WARNS AGAINST RUNNING LASER LABELS THROUGH YOUR LASER PRINTER MORE THAN ONCE, AS THIS COULD RESULT IN PAPER JAMS.


Main Menu Options

File

Select Label  	Click here to select a different label

New Label 	Click here to create a new label

Rebuild Indexes 	Click here to rebuild the Visual Labels indexes

Print Labels	Print a page of labels

Preview	Preview the labels

Select Specific Labels	Select specific labels to print/exclude for each sheet

Print Setup	Setup the Windows printer for your labels

Label

Delete Label	Delete the current label

Clone Label	Make an exact copy of the current label

Configure Label	Set the dimensions of the label and label page.

Help

Contents	Displays the main page of the help file

About	Displays an about box for the program


Selecting a Label
Selecting an Existing Label

Click on Select Label from the File menu  to bring up the Select Label screen. This screen presents a list of already defined labels. Select one from the list and press OK to use it.


Contents
Visual Labels

The complete Windows label and business card design program

Copyright Notice

 Introduction

 Getting Started

 Technical Support

 Tutorial

 Creating a New Label

 Selecting an Existing Label

 Changing the Design of a Label

 Deleting a Label

 Printing Labels

 Print Setup

 Previewing Labels

 Menu Options


Copyright Notice
Copyright © Garry A. Prefontaine 1996 - All Rights Reserved

Visual Labels for Windows is provided on an "AS IS" basis, with no implied warranty regarding merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose. RKS Software, Inc., and the author, make no representations or warranties with respect to the contents hereof, and specifically disclaim any implied warranties. By using this software you agree that RKS Software, Inc., and the author, will not be liable to you or any third party for any use of (or inability to use) this software, or for any damages (direct or indirect) whatsoever, even if RKS Software, Inc. or its agents are apprised of the possibility of such damages occurring.  In no event shall RKS Software, Inc. or the author be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damage, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential or other damages. The entire risk related to the quality and performance of the program is on you.


Help Notes

Visual Labels for Windows provides three levels of on-line help:

For program-wide help, click on Contents on the Help menu.

For screen-specific help, click on the Help button and the Visual Labels help topic for the current screen will be displayed.

For help on a specific screen object, click on the Mouse Help button (the button with a question mark), and your mouse pointer turns into a question mark. Then, click on any screen object to display pop up help for that object.

If you still have a question after consulting these three levels of help, please contact us for technical support.


Technical Support

Visual Labels includes an extensive Help system. Before contacting us for technical support, please check Visual Labels' Help system first to see if it contains the answer to your question.

If Visual Labels' Help system does not contain the answer to your question, please feel free to contact us.If at all possible, we prefer to receive technical support questions by email, fax, or regular mail. We have found that writing the question down often produces a clearer explanation of the problem.

For technical support, please contact us any of the following ways:

•	email	rkssoft@erols.com

•	fax	703-534-4358

•	mail	RKS Software, Inc., 3820 N. Dittmar Road, Arlington, VA 22207

•	phone	703-534-1726


Introduction

Visual Labels is a professional quality label (and business card) design and printing program. Here are some of its features:

•	True drag and drop, WYSIWYG label design, with instant print preview

•	Design labels with:

∗	Text: placed anywhere on the label,  using any font, any color, and rotate text to any angle

∗	Shapes: boxes, ovals, lines and rounded rectangles with any color, pattern,  line thickness and line color

∗	BMP or WMF graphic files

∗	Counters: Numbers that increment with each label printed (can be used for serial numbers)

•	Can be used with most Laserjet or Inket printers, including color printers

•	Supports sheets of Letter, A4 and A5 labels

•	Includes a predefined database of Avery label and Business card  templates, or you can create your own

Visual Labels for Windows is designed to meet all your label and business card design needs. But nothing is perfect. If you have a suggestion for improving Visual Labels, please let us hear from you.

Getting Started

Technical Support

Help Notes


Getting Started

System Requirements

•	IBM-compatible personal computer.

•	Hard disk with at least 2 MB available.

•	Mouse or equivalent pointing device.

•	Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 3.1.

Installation

•	Visual Labels comes with an installation program named INSTALL.EXE. Simply run INSTALL.EXE and answer the prompts, and Visual Labels will be installed in the directory of your choice.

•	Visual Labels will be installed in the RKS Software program group by default, but you can change this during the installation.

Help

•	Visual Labels includes extensive on-line help. Select Contents from the Help menu, or click on one of the help buttons to get answers to any of your questions.

Technical Support

•    Technical support is available by phone, fax, email, and regular mail. Please contact us with any questions the on-line help does not answer.


Rebuild Indexes

Visual Labels keeps your records properly sorted automatically.

This sorting process is referred to as indexing.

Power outages, power surges, brownouts (voltage reductions), or other power-related problems can corrupt index files. If your records ever seem to be out of sequence, use this feature to rebuild the index files.


Add or Edit Label Template

The Add or Edit Label Template screen lets you describe to Visual Labels the physical characteristics of your template.

You may select units of 1000's of an inch, or millimeters.

Description

Please enter a unique description for the label template

Label Width

The width of the physical label

Label Height

The height of the physical label

Horizontal Pitch

The distance from the left edge of a label, to the left edge of the label next to it

Vertical Pitch

The distance from the top edge of a label, to the top edge of the label below to it

# Across

The number of labels in each row

# Down

The number of labels in one column

Left Margin

The distance from the left edge of the page to the left edge of the first label

Top Margin

The distance from the top edge of the page to the top edge of the first label

Paper Size

Select from the list of supported paper sizes

Label Shape

Select Rectangle, Round Rectangle (most common), or Round

The following diagram attempts to explain visually the various label dimensions:


Label Item Properties

Each item on the label has a properties menu that can be accessed by either:

•	Clicking on the item with the right mouse button

•	Selecting the item and clicking the properties button on the Tool Palette

Click below to find the properties for a specific Label Item:

Text Item Properties

Rectangle Item Properties

Ellipse Item Properties

Round Rectangle Item Properties

Vertical Line Item Properties

Horizontal Line Item Properties

Symbol Item Properties

Graphic Item Properties

Counter Item Properties


Changing a Label
Changing The Design of a Label

Items on the label can be selected by clicking on them. When an item is selected, it will have 'handles' around it for moving and resizing. Example:

You can change the properties of the item (color, font, etc) by clicking on it with the right mouse button, or by clicking the properties button on the Tool Palette

You can also change the label template by clicking on Configure Label from the Label menu.

When you make changes to an existing label, the Save and Cancel buttons become visible. Press the Save button to save your changes to disk. Press the cancel button to cancel any changes.