Known problems - Printfil Manual

Chapter 14 - Known problems

Some mail client programs does not allow Printfil sending the print jobs via e-mail through them without showing a security alert message.

How to disable that message to send mail without user intervention depends by the specific mail client used. For example:

Microsoft Outlook Express:
1. Go to Tools -> Options -> Security
2. Remove the checkmark near the "Warn me when other applications try to send mail as me" option
Mozilla Thunderbird:
The first time Thunderbird is invoked by Printfil it shows you the warning and asks you if you want to see it again in future. Answering "no" will setup the mapi.blind-send.warn parameter as false. To change it programmatically:
1. Go to Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> Configuration Editor
2. Setup the "mapi.blind-send.warn" option to false (to disable the warning) or true (to enable it)
On some Windows systems, the network services do not immediately start at the PC bootup, but only when other services are started and/or a firewall software has been initialized.
So, Printfil could start before the networking services and, if it's configured to capture a parallel port in Mode 1, 2 or 3 (which makes use of those services), it could show an error message instead of capturing the port.
If your system is affected by this problem, you can solve it:

By capturing the port in Mode 0 (the default in Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022)

By changing the Startup program's order.

By the DelayStartup Printfil's option (please see Chapter 4)

By removing the shortcut to Printfil from the Startup menu and running it later on by the desktop icon or a batch file.

On some Windows 9x/ME systems, the LPT capturing option may takes a few seconds before completing the process. This may slow down Printfil's startup and you may experience a little delay if you are printing to a printer which is physically connected to the captured LPT port.
During the creation of a PDF file via GhostScript on some systems, "Error 1" may be shown.
The most common cause it the installed GhostScript version which does not like the CTRL-D character which is sent at the end of the PostScript job.
1. Go to Control Panel->Printers and Fax
2. Right click the "Printfil" printer and choose "Properties"
3. Click the "Device Settings" tab.
4. Set "Send CTRL-D after each job" as NO
5. Apply the changes.
On Windows 9x/ME systems some WMF background files which were working ok with Printfil versions 4.x might be not correctly merged on the page anymore. We experienced this problem neither when Printfil merges the very same WMF files on NT-based systems (Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022), nor with BMP (or other) background files on Win9x/ME.
The problem may be solved by opening those WMF files with a graphical editor (CorelDraw, Paint Shop Pro, etc.) and by saving them again.
On some Windows 95 and NT 4.0 systems, Printfil may show an error message at startup and close immediately. This is due to some Windows DLLs which are not updated on that OS. The easiest way to update them is by installing Internet Explorer 4 or newer on the old Windows machine (on NT 4.0 you also have to install the latest Microsoft Service Pack 6).