ACC2000: Changing Printer Port Resets Printer Setup Information

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This article was previously published under Q208912

Novice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.

Symptoms

The printer settings for forms and reports (such as a custom paper size or paper source) are reset if you change the printer's port in the Printers dialog box in Control Panel.

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Cause

Microsoft Access saves printer port information along with the form or report. Changing the printer port causes Microsoft Access to reset the printer settings for that object.

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Resolution

Make sure that all users are using the same port for the default printer so that there will be no need to change ports.

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More information

Additional things that cause this behavior:

�	Switching from one print server to another.
�	Copying a database from one computer to another if the printers on the different computer have different names, are connected to different ports, or are network printers. (This behavior may differ in Windows NT.)

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

NOTE: Because there are several versions of Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, please consult your product documentation to complete these steps.

1.	Start Microsoft Access, open the sample database Northwind.mdb, and then open the Sales By Category report in Design view.
2.	On the File menu, click Page Setup.
3.	Click the Page tab.
4.	In the Paper Size box, select Legal 8 1/2 x 14 in, and then click OK.
5.	Save, and then close the report.
6.	Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Printers. In the Printers dialog box, click your printer. On the File Menu, click Properties.
7.	In the Properties dialog box, click the Details tab. Add a different port. Click the Apply Port button, and then click OK.
8.	In Microsoft Access, open the Sales By Category report in Design view.
9.	On the File menu, click Page Setup.
10.	Click the Page tab. Note that the paper size is reset to "Letter 8 1/2 x 11 in."