FAQs & Troubleshooting

This pagetopic answers some of the most frequently asked questions about [Name of Software Product] and provides some troubleshooting tips in case you get stuck.

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Further Assistance

For assistance please contact the Printcost Support Desk.

In Australia, please phone 1800 127204 or email care@printcost.com.au

In New Zealand, please phone 09 360 9182 or email care@printcost.co.nz

In the UK & Europe, please phone 0800 074 1016 or email care@printcost.co.uk

Frequently Asked Questions


What can I do with Printcost?
Can I use Printcost with MYOB, Quickbooks or other accounting packages? Yes. Printcost supports a range of other applications. With Printcost, you can update the customer file daily from various accounting systems, which adds new customers and removes old ones.
Also, once invoices are created in Printcost, the accounting link module can send the invoice data to any one of a range of accounting systems including MYOB, Sage, SAP, Quickbooks, Pegasus Opera, Access & Agresso.
Can I export customer records to MS Excel? Yes, with Printcost, you can export a list of customer records to the CSV file format. You can open CSV files with spreadsheet applications such as Microsoft Excel and Apple Numbers. You can also open CSV files with a text Editor such as MS Notepad.

For more information, see the online help: Customers > Customer Record Maintenance > Exporting Customer Records:
Can I access Printcost through a firewall? Yes, however may need to install the appropriate software, for example VPN. See your System Administrator for assistance. If you are using a Macintosh computer, you will also need remote desktop software, for example Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection which can be downloaded from Microsoft's web site. Again, see your company's System Administrator for assistance.

How do I?
How do I sign on? Ensure you have your, user code and password ready when using the Sign On window. Enter all codes then click OK.
How do I sort a list of records, for example, a list of customers in the Customer File? Click any column's header to sort the records in ascending order. Click the same column header again to sort the records in descending order, and again to sort the records in ascending order again.
When filling out a field, how do I display common phrases that I can use. Place your mouse cursor into the relevant field, then on your keyboard, press Ctrl-T. this will display a list of common phrases. Select the phrase that you want and it will automatically be placed into the field you are editing.
How do I set up a new computer to run Printcost? To set up a new computer to run Printcost:

  1. Set up the network drive mapping. To do this:
    • From a computer that already has Printcost installed, right-click an existing Printcost desktop shortcut, choose properties and make a note of the drive mapping.
      Note: The drive mapping is usually designated by a single letter, e.g. 'P'.
    • On the computer that you want to install Printcost, click the Start menu and click My Computer. On the My Computer window, from the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive...
    • From the Drive drop box, select the letter that matches the drive you made a note of earlier.
    • Click Browse and locate the parent folder of the Printcost folder.
      Example: If the address of the Printcost Folder is //servercomputername/P/pc9, locate and choose //servercomputername/P
  2. Run the Printcost installer.
    Note: The installer is called setup.exe and is located on your server in the pc9 folder. Typically, the filepath to this folder is P:/PC9/, however your system administrator may have specified a drive other than 'P' for hosting Printcost. If so, see your System Administrator. Alternatively, download the installer from http://www.printcost.com/customercare.html.

    For more information, see:

  3. Add a Printcost shortcut to your computer's desktop. To do this, right-click the pcost9.exe file, choose Send to and click Desktop (Create Shortcut).
How do I update Printcost to the latest version? For information on how to update Printcost, see the online help: Printcost > Backups / Updates.:
How do I add a logo to a quote letter or form? The process of adding a logo to any form is the same as adding a logo to the forms used for quote letters and quote group letters.

For more information, see the online help: Quotes > Quote Letters > Adding a Logo:
How do I set up Printcost for sales staff? A number of tasks need to be performed in order to successfully set up Printcost for a Salesperson to use. These are:
  • The sales person's details must be added to Printcost. This involves importing the salesperson's signature into Printcost which will be used for printing on quote letters.
  • In Printcost, the relevant customer records must be assigned to the salesperson.
  • (Recommended) Forms that require sales staff signatures and names to be printed, should be set up to display and print signatures automatically.

For more information, see the following topics:

  • Adding a Salesperson's Details to Printcost (below)
  • Assigning a Customer to a Salesperson (below)

Also, see:

  • the online help: Quotes > Quote Letters > Adding Salespersons' Signatures to a Quote Letter Form
  • the online help: Quotes > Quote Letters > Adding Salespersons' Names to a Quote Letter Form

Adding a Salesperson's Details to Printcost

Before you begin

Ensure that you have:

  • prepared a signature file.
    Note: A signature file is a scanned signature. Save the scanned image as a Jpeg, e.g., salesrepsname.jpg into the pc9data folder which is located in the Printcost Folder, and make a note of the filepath and filename.
  • (if relevant) the GL and Department codes for 'Customer Salesman' or 'Job Inventory Salesman'.
  • determined the discount rates that Printcost can apply to the sales made by this sales representative.

To add a sales person's details to Printcost:

  1. On Printcost's left-menu, under Miscellaneous, click Misc Data.
    • Note: The Miscellaneous Data window is displayed.
  2. On the Miscellaneous Data window's left-menu, under Sales Person, click (Add New).
    • Result: Fields for entering the salesperson's details are displayed.
  3. Complete all fields.
    • Note: In the Signature File field, type the filename of the signature file prefixed by [data]. For example: [data]joebloggs.jpg
    • Note: Where relevant, on the right-side, type in the discounts that Printcost will applied to the quotes prepared by this salesperson.

What Next?

(Optional)Assign customers to the salesperson.
How do I assign a customer to a salesperson?

Before you begin

Ensure that the:

  • relevant customer record's details are displayed, and
    Note: You can access a customer record using the Customer File. To display the customer file, on the left menu, under Work, click Customers. To display a record's details, select the relevant customer record from the list, and click Details.
  • salesperson's details have been added to Printcost. To do this, see Adding a Salesperson's Details to Printcost (above)

To assign a customer to a salesperson:

  1. On the Customer File window, Details frame, under Analysis, click the Salesperson dropbox and select the relevant Salesperson.
How do I add a Salesperson's signature to a Quote Letter For more information, see the online help: Quotes > Quote Letters > 'Adding Salespersons' Signatures to a Quote Letter Form':

What's This?
What is a Filter? A filter is a tool that you can use to produce a useful list of records. Use a filter to exclude records that are not relevant to your search.

For more information, see the online help: Printcost > Search / Fiter.:
What is CSV? Comma Separated Values (*.csv) files are ASCII comma-delimited files. Printcost exports files to CSV format so that you can import the file's content into any spreadsheet application including Microsoft Excel or Apple Numbers.
  • Each record in a CSV file is on one line.
  • Commas separate fields within a record.
  • Each record when imported into a spreadsheet starts on a new row of the spreadsheet.
  • Each field within a record is imported into its own spreadsheet cell.
  • CSV files can also be opened using text editing applications such as MS Notepad.

Note: If opening the file in MS Excel, double-quotes, if present in the file, may not be displayed.

About CSV

Letters, numerals, decimal point, single quote marks, colons, dashes and spaces, can be imported into MS Excel, however, spaces and special characters (including double quotes) are are only imported into Excel if encased by double quotes. When generating a CSV formatted report, Printcost automatically encases each field within double-quotes.

For example, if the field in the CSV file is ,"General Manager", the space is imported because the words are encased by double quotes.

For example, if the field in the CSV file is,General Manager, the space is not imported because the words are not encased by double quotes. In this case, in Excel, the cell's contents would be imported as GeneralManager.

Troubleshooting


Problem Possible Scenario Solution
I can't sign on. The letters 'O' or 'I' were used instead of the numerals '0' or '1' (or vice versa) when entering the user ID and/or password. Check and correct your client ID, user ID and password for misrepresented letters and numerals.
Your user code has been disabled. Contact your supervisor about activating your user code.
I can't update a quote. The quote record might be locked. Select the quote record or display the quote record's detail, then on the top of the Quote File window try deselecting the Lock this Quote checkbox. If this doesn't work, it will be because you have not been granted the right to unlock quotes. See your supervisor about unlocking the quote record.
I can't print. The printer may not be connected or turned on. Try printing from another application, such as MS Word. If you can't print from the other application, check to make sure that the printer is connected and switched on. If you are still having problems see your System Administrator.
Right-clicking my mouse does not display the Set Default option. You have not beeen assigned the relevant rights. See your supervisor about obtaining the right to use the Set Default option.
Printcost works on some computers in the office, but not my colleagues. The Printcost workstation software is not installed on your colleague's computer. For more information, see 'How do I set up a new computer to run Printcost', earlier in this document.:
The manual changes I make to quotes keep disappearing. When Xpert performs its calculations, it automatically reverses any modifications you have made to a process, deletes automated processes that you have added, and reverses any rates and quantities that you have modified. Prior to Xpert calculating (or recalulating) the quote, you can turn some of the automation off — automation that would otherwise overwrite and reverse the manual changes that you have made to the estimate.

On the bottom left of the last Xpert Screen there are a number of check boxes that are normally selected (ticked). Three of these check boxes are:

  • Update Stock Prices
  • Reread Default Rates
  • Reset All Quantity Overrides

Important: These settings affect all rates in Xpert Results.

To stop Xpert from re-applying the rate for paper (sourced from the rates file), de-select 'Update Stock Prices'.

To stop Xpert from reapplying rates from the rates file (other than paper rates), de-select 'Reread Default Rates'.

 

To stop Xpert from clearing manual overrides, that is, changes that have been made to quantities (and reflected in the Qty and o/r columns on the Xpert Results frame of the Quotes File window), de-select 'Reset all Quantity Overrides'.
After Xpert re-calculates, it displays a window that identifies which items will be affected. With ths window, you can prevent these changes from being implemented by de-selecting the relevant checkboxes.
In Printcost, there are two types of process. These are:
  • automated processes, and
  • manual processes.

Available ProcessesAvailable Processes that can be Added to an Estimate

Automated processes are added (and removed) by Xpert. If you add an automated process (that is not required by Xpert) to your estimate, Xpert will remove it when recalculating.

You can also add manual processes. Manual processes will not be affected by Xpert when recalculating.

To add a process to your estimate, click the relevant process, then make the relevant changes to it.