PDF Creator

I've installed PDF Creator to the reference desk computer. This program should help us capture error messages and weird computer and database behaviors without having to do print-screen and pasting to a word processing program.

I recommend using Firefox as a browser since it has a print preview function that allows users to examine before printing a document.

When you need to capture a screen or some other error data, follow these steps:

1. Select File>>Print or Ctrl+P. This should pull up the print window.
   
2. Select PDFCreator from the drop-down menu. PDFCreator will start and prompt you to save the resulting pdf file. Change the name of the file if need be and click save.
3. PDFCreator will then prompt you to select the location to save your pdf file. I generally use the desktop so I don't have to dig around.
4. After this, you will be asked if you'd like to view your file. If not, the default PDF viewer (Acrobat or Foxit) will just show you the file you just created.

Hope these steps help. If not, let me know. I'll create a quick guide with screen shots.

Melissa

Student-use scanner working again

Hello!

We finally have a resolution to unresponsive scanner and the disappearing scanner drive. Don Williamson came by, looked at the scanner and gave me some trouble-shooting tips.

The scanner apparently is not meant to be turned-on and -off multiple times in the day so sometimes it gets buggy.

When the scanner is unresponsive or will not shut off, it would be a good idea to check the Control Panel>>Scanners and Cameras to make sure that there is a scanner driver. For some reason, it disappears from time to time. Unplugging/replugging the scanner can resolve the missing scanner driver issue.

You can unplug-replug the scanner by detaching the power cord from the scanner or from the wall/surge protector plug. If that doesn't work, you can also try unplugging/replugging the scanner's USB connection from the back of the computer next to it. But be sure to plug it back into the correct port. Don said that we can try these strategies in the event that restarting the computer is not the best option. Restarting the computer should also take care of it, but can take a while.

The scanner can also take a long while (up to 5 minutes) when using the default HP scanner program. The default program is not as proficient in creating pdf files from multi-page documents beyond 6 pages. For speedier scanning into pdf files, please use Adobe Acrobat Professional.