As a professional procrastinator , it ’s my job to see how badly thing intermit when put to the “ oh my gosh , I postulate it today ” test . give that it ’s the calendar week before Christmas , you may believably guess what my task was for this retiring weekend . No , not talent shopping — tons of clip left for that ! alternatively , it was vacation carte du jour fourth dimension . This intend sorting through the Address Book and printing out the envelopes . ( Envelope printing was quietly added in OS X 10.4 , so this hint apply only if you ’re using 10.4 . )
I recall try out this last year , then yield up for some rationality that I could n’t recall now . So I dove right back into Address Book this weekend to try again … and after again getting frustrated , I actually went out and ground a gratis program , Snail Mail , that did the job perfectly . But really , that ’s not today ’s soupcon ( though it ’s a good programme if you want to give it a try ) .
Instead , I thought I ’d deal my frustrations with Address Book , and the solutions to those frustrations — most of which I found after I ’d used Snail Mail to publish our envelopes . With the new knowledge I ’ve win , perhaps I ’ll be able to print our envelopes from Address Book next yr . ( Of course , we ’ll be black market OS X 10.5 by then , so who knows if this will still be applicable . ) There were still a duad of problem I could n’t solve , which I ’ll incubate at the conclusion of the tips .
The first defeat I melt down into was creating a customize gasbag profile , which is necessary for anything other than the predefined standard sizes . It seems childlike enough in construct — just choice single file - > Print with an address selected in Address Book , typeset the Style pop - up to Envelopes , and then select Define Custom from the Layout soda water - up in the Layout tab of the dialog box . Enter a name in the pop - up boxful that appears , fall into place OK , and you should be unspoiled to go . Should be , that is .
What I ’ve find out is that about nine fourth dimension out of 10 , the dimensions are n’t editable ; they simply highlight grey when click . Thankfully , the fix for this one is amazingly simple — just Command - Tab to another program and return back to Address Book , and the fields will be editable .
The second thwarting I run into had to do with controlling the size of the font in the income tax return address loge . There ’s a Font box in the Label tab of the Envelopes Print dialog , but you could only choose the font face and size for the master destination . The coming back savoir-faire habituate the same font , in a littler size of it . In my case , though , the size of it was n’t pocket-sized enough , and I could n’t figure out how to change it . Looking back on it now , it seems obvious , but that ’s only because I now get it on how it ’s done .
To convert the font size used for the return address , you have to shrink the corner in which the yield address is displayed . Go to the Layout chit , and change some of the dimensions in the Sender incision — I launch it easiest to but shorten the Height economic value .
My third frustration was related to the printing of mate ’ names on the envelope . Address Book includes this potentially very cool feature , whereby it will grab the economic value from the better half field and insert it into the print address . So an entry for Sally Sample with the Spouse field define to Steve Sample should print the first line of the destination as Sally and Steve Sample . In my examination , however , the outcome were spotty — sometimes it function , and sometimes it did n’t . I could n’t figure out why it worked sometimes and not others .
It take some digging onmacosxhintsand other land site to find the cause of the trouble , as well as a resolution . The job is make by Address Book ’s fuzzy matching on first names . In the representative above , if I have another unveiling anywhere in my Address Book with a first name of Steve , then the spouse data will be missing when I impress Sally Sample ’s entry . That ’s proper ; if a spouse ’s first name is not unique in the Address Book database , it will not be printed . This problem does n’t exist if you ’ve rally the individual as a pardner ( which appears as Sally Sample and Steve ) rather of a married person .
So what ’s the solution for this one ? You need to create an Address Book entry for the spouse , with the address exactly play off that used in the other disc . In my instance above , after creating a new plug-in for Steve Sample , and using Sally Sample ’s address on it , the name entry on the envelope printed correctly . It ’s a pain , but it does cultivate .
mark that you also must use full names in the Spouse airfield to make this work ; just entering the first name wo n’t operate , even if the spouse has a scorecard of their own . If you do n’t enter a last name in the spouse theater of operations , Address Book will print using the Partner data format , with and Steve at the end . Note that you may expend this fact to send cards to Sally Smith and Family — just enter Family in the Spouse ( or Partner ) field .
Unsolved frustrations
After work the above problems , I was left with only two frustrations I could n’t resolve . The first is comparatively minor , but something to be mindful of if you ’re working with envelope printing . I was experiment with the interesting Image pa - up on the Label tab , which lets you print a lowly image to the leftfield of the counter destination . After print an envelope with an image , I decided I did n’t care the issue , so I wanted to get rid of the image .
Unfortunately , that does n’t seem to be possible . The effigy button does n’t have anything like a “ no image ” or “ none ” option ; it ’s a simple “ single file candid ” dialogue . Clicking Cancel does n’t remove a delineate picture , nor can you select a leaflet or other non - image file as a workaround . The only mode I could remove a delimitate image was to delete the impost layout and start up all over — I’d love to hear that I neglect something obvious .
The second annoyance has to do with the return address field . or else of my name on the first crinkle of the return address , I want it to read The Griffiths . Address Book let you specify which entry from your batting order should be used as the proceeds computer address , but you ca n’t edit the return address field directly to customize it . I call this one unsolved , but I did recover a workaround — I just had to temporarily change my first name from Rob to The , and all was fine . But I scarcely consider this an ideal solution .
Being able-bodied to print envelope from Address Book is a skillful timesaver — just be aware of some of the quirks of the feature before you proceed . And if anyone cognise well workarounds for my two unsolved frustrations , please comment .
