Tips and tricks for using Schedule Star to your best advantage.
*** Have you made a backup today? ***
In this issue...
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NEW NETWORK SETUP GUIDE
MIRRORING
UPGRADE YOUR PRINTER DRIVERS
COMMENTS? SUGGESTIONS? E-MAIL US
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NEW NETWORK SETUP GUIDE
A revised and expanded Network Setup Guide is now available for download from our website at the following address...
http://www.schedulestar.com/PDF/network.pdf
The guide provides detailed instructions for setting up Schedule Star to be networked to multiple users across a Local Area Network like you probably have in your school.
Even if you are already running Schedule Star from a network, we recommend that you still download this guide for the new sections on troubleshooting and tips for increasing network performance.
If you have any trouble opening or downloading this file, check to make certain your computer has Adobe Acrobat Reader installed. The program is free and can be download from...
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
Acrobat Reader is useful on our website, and thousands more. We are confident you'll find it a useful addition!
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MIRRORING
Perhaps the single most time-saving tool in Schedule Star's arsenal is the Mirror utility. Mirror can take your current athletic schedules from this year and copy them to the corresponding dates into the next year.
MAKE A BACKUP BEFORE RUNNING MIRROR! Since Mirror copies entire schedules, it can be difficult and time-consuming to undo its effects if you accidentally mirror the wrong schedule.
To access the Mirror feature, click on UTILITIES then MIRROR. Read the warning screen and click the appropriate button to proceed.
A yellow screen will appear. Notice the two dates at the bottom of the window. These denote the dates that the Mirror feature will use as a source. When you perform a mirror, events between these two dates will be copied to the corresponding days next year.
Above these dates are pull-downs to specify gender, level, and sport. Checking the "Swap Place" check box will flip-flop the home/away settings for mirrored games if your regular games with league opponents are home one year and away the next. We recommend you mirror ONE SPORT AT A TIME.
To mirror, select a gender/level/sport, check the "Swap place" box as necessary, then click OK to perform the mirror.
After mirroring a particular gender/level/sport combination, you should exit the Mirror utility, move the calendar ahead, and verify that the events mirrored properly. If they did, make another backup and proceed to the next sport. If they didn't mirror properly, restore from your backup and try again. In this manner you can check on each sport as you mirror, and you always have a backup to erase any mirroring mistakes.
The four buttons across the top allow you to further adjust mirroring functions. The AHEAD ONE WEEK and BACK ONE WEEK buttons will offset the mirrored schedule by one week forward or backward, respectively. The AHEAD ONE YEAR and BACK ONE YEAR buttons change the source dates in a similar manner, letting you mirror forward or backward by several years. Typically, you will not need to use these buttons for normal mirroring operations.
Please remember that the AHEAD ONE YEAR button DOES NOT mirror your schedule, it only changes the source dates. Clicking OK actually performs the mirroring operation.
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UPGRADE YOUR PRINTER DRIVERS
Our tech support team usually fields several questions per day regarding report and contract printing. We also receive the occasional call regarding printing problems and printer errors.
Nearly every printer error that we've ever encountered on our users' machines has NOT been Schedule Star's fault, but caused instead by corrupt or outdated printer drivers. This is because Schedule Star itself DOES NOT perform any printing operations whatsoever. Whenever you print a report or contract, Schedule Star hands the data off to your Windows operating system, which in turn spools it to your printer. As soon as Windows receives this data, Schedule Star's involvement in the printing job ends.
To test whether your printing problem is Schedule Star or a problem with your printer drivers, print the report that is causing a problem to the screen by choosing "Screen" under the "Send to:" setting on the Print Reports screen. You may also print the report to a different networked printer by choosing "Prompted" under the "Send to:" option.
If the report does not appear correctly, the problem is within Schedule Star and you should contact our tech support team.
If the report prints to the screen fine, then your problem is outside of Schedule Star, most likely a printer driver problem.
Always be sure to check the basics first: Is the printer plugged in? turned on? online? loaded with paper? Is the cable connecting your printer with your computer plugged in tight? Missing "Away" games? How about your color ink cartridge? (if you installed the program in color, away games print in red)
Most printers come with troubleshooting software that can test your cable connection and other likely causes of printer trouble.
If you are experiencing a printer driver problem, we will help you diagnose the problem. Unfortunately, there are far too many different types of printers for us to assist you with downloading and/or installing updated drivers. It's best for you to contact your system administrator or the manufacturer of your printer for assistance.
We have spent countless hours on the phone with users and system administrators who argued that a printing problem was Schedule Star's fault. As evidence, they mention that Schedule Star is the only program that is experiencing print problems. In the case of outdated and/or flawed printer drivers, Schedule Star is usually the first program to reveal problems because we pass graphics and non-standard fonts to printers that spend 99% of their time generating word processor documents in standard fonts.
Trust us, we want your problem solved quickly and easily.
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COMMENTS? SUGGESTIONS? E-MAIL US
The most important source of input regarding changes and improvements to Schedule Star is you, the user. We estimate about 90% of the improvements made to Schedule Star for Version 4.1 arose from user feedback.
We want to hear your comments, suggestions, criticisms, and advice so we can incorporate the features YOU want into Schedule Star. Tell us how you are using Schedule Star. Tell us what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd like to see added. We keep a running "Wish List" of every idea. Even if we can't make a change right away, it's something we can possibly incorporate into a future version.
Drop an email in our "Suggestion Box" at ideas@schedulestar.com .
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