How to use the Drake PDF printer

Overview

The Drake PDF printer is a way to print tax returns, reports, and other documents in Drake Tax to PDF documents. It does not, however, function outside of Drake Software, so it cannot be used with other software programs such as Microsoft Office. See below for some common settings, options, and troubleshooting for the Drake PDF printer.

Limitations

A few functions within Drake Software do not allow printing to the Drake PDF printer, such as:

• The client “Quick View” screen

• Email messages sent or received from within the software

• Screen shots of data entry screens (See Drake Tax - Print or Copy a Data Entry Screen)

• Drake Software Screen Help or Line Help from data entry or Drake Tax Help from the Help menu

To print some of these functions to PDF, or to be able to print to PDF from other software programs, you can install another PDF printer from a third-party software company (such as Adobe Acrobat). An installed PDF printer typically appears as an available option on your print dialog box, along with your other office printers, but creates a PDF file as the print output rather than printing a hard copy. The PDF file can then be viewed and printed in a PDF reader (such as Adobe Reader).

Password Protection

By default, a password is assigned each time you print to the Drake PDF printer or email a document from View/Print, to ensure your PDF print files are secure. On the dialog box for each job, the Password Protect option is selected by default and an editable password is displayed.

To change or clear the password at the time you print or email, on the print or email dialog box for each Drake PDF printer job, you can:

• Manually edit the displayed password.

• Enter a new password in the password field.

• Clear the Password Protect option to prevent assignment of the displayed password.

To change or clear the password globally, go to Setup > Options > Administrative Options tab and make the necessary changes in the Drake Printer PDF Password Options section of the tab.

• Default Password drop list:

  • Select from three different password formats.

  • A selection here determines the format of the default password displayed in the print and email dialog box password field.

• Automatically password protect files box:

  • Clearing this selection in Drake Tax sets the printer and email dialog box to clear the Password Protect option by default so that a password is not automatically applied when you print.

Adobe auto-display of a Drake PDF

By default, Adobe automatically displays a document printed to the Drake PDF Printer. You can disable the Adobe auto-launch feature in two places, and the change remains effective for the Drake PDF Printer until you enable it again.

At the time you print selected documents or sets:

• With the Drake PDF Printer selected, click the Print button on the toolbar to display the Print Selection dialog box.

• Click the Settings button to display the Edit Drake Printer Settings screen.

• Clear the option box Launch Adobe after creating a ‘Drake PDF.’

• Click Save to return to the Print Selection dialog box.

• On the Print Selection dialog box, click either Print to complete printing the document selection, or Cancel (which cancels the print job, but not the setting change).

At the Setup > Printing > Printer Setup > (F8) Edit Printer Settings tab:

• Use the Select Printer drop list to select Drake PDF Printer.

• Clear the option box Launch Adobe after creating a ‘Drake PDF.’

• Click Update to save the setting.

• Exit the Printer Setup screen by clicking Save.

Drake PDF Printer Does Not Support Full Justification

The Drake PDF Printer supports only left justification. In the Client Communications Editor (Setup > Communications Editor), you can format using the four top toolbar buttons Align Text Left, Align Text Center, Align Text Right, and Align Text Fully Justified. The selected letter format appears in View, but the letter is printed aligned left by the Drake PDF printer. You may be able to print full justification if you have another PDF printer installed on your computer, such as PDF995.

Print a Return to a CD

When you print the return, select the Drake PDF printer. When the Save As dialog box appears, select your CD drive and insert an appropriate blank CD. Drake creates a PDF file and copies it to the CD. If you have already printed the return to Drake Documents, you can right click the document in Drake Documents and select Copy to CD.

Print Returns to PDF

Returns can be printed to PDF using the Drake PDF printer in View/Print mode. In View/Print mode, select the forms to be included in the PDF:

• if you are using Enhanced mode, put a check in the box by the form name. Once all forms have been selected, click Print.

• if you are using Basic mode, you must first click Print, then click on each form to be included in order to select it, then press the space bar. Once all forms have been selected, click Print.

The Print Dialog screen will appear – in the Printer drop down box, choose Drake PDF Printer. At the bottom of the Print Dialog screen, you will have the option to Password Protect the file. If you do not want a password, uncheck the Password Protect box. Click Print.

A Save As dialog will appear. By default, the software will try to save the PDF into the client’s Drake Documents folder,* however, you can use this screen to select a different location for your file to be saved (for instance, on the desktop). Once you click Save, the PDF document will automatically open for your review.

*If the default location is somewhere besides Drake Documents, close the PDF printer dialog box and return to Setup > Printing > Drake Documents > check the box Allow Drake to set up Drake Documents client folders (Recommended) > Click Save. This will reset the default save location to Drake Documents rather than the last known save location.

Drake PDF Printer - Letters Show a Gray Pattern

If you are using a Brother all-in-one multi-function printer as your Windows default printer, you may see a gray pattern instead of the forms when you attempt to print using the Drake PDF printer. Drake Tax uses some settings from the default Windows printer driver for Drake PDF Printer functions.

When set as the Windows default printer, some of the Brother all-in-one printers (such as the MFC-7360DN) have a setting that can cause this pattern in letters printed with the Drake PDF Printer:

Follow the steps below to correct the problem.

1. Open the Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers.

2. Right-click on your Windows Default printer.

3. Select Printing Preferences.

4. On the Basic tab (first tab) change Printer Settings to Manual and click the Manual Settings… button.

5. On the Manual Settings window, un-check the Improve Gray Printing check box.

6. Click OK.

7. Click OK to close the Printing Preferences window.

8. Close or minimize the Control Panel.

9. Go back into a return and print a letter to Drake PDF.