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Status Not under consideration
Workspace IBM i
Categories IBM i Access Family
Created by Guest
Created on Jan 15, 2019

RELATED IDEAS

Refinements required to ACS print file downloads

When using Printer Output in ACS, depending on what we do, some users download print files as PDF and others as a .txt file. The problem we have is that the selection is not stored for the next time.


Use Case:

When downloading print files to a PC or network, my users specify the format they need the files downloaded as example: PDF or .txt. The problem is the selection is not stored and appears to default to use PDF. Whilst PDF is preferred, our users import these files into other applications such as excel, Monarch, etc. and they have to go through all the prompts each time. This is a major hindrance at month and quarter end when a single click cannot be performed and you have to step through the down options.


Idea priority High
  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Apr 29, 2019

    Please reconsider

    The problem is that some change are temporary. Example, most of the reports are downloaded as pdf's. However some reports need to be downloaded as .txt files so that the users can import them into another application for further processing. Example: a report which is a general ledger journal entry. The entry is them imported into another app which then processes the data into the general ledger.

    The users generally do this once a month but they then download multiple reports randomly, some as PDF and others as .txt. The sequence of doing this is random and they complain they make mistakes because they have to keep switching the set up flags to download a PDF or .txt. if they miss the change, they cannot always go back as the data has changed.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Feb 4, 2019

    In general, there seems to be a lack of understanding of how the ACS Printer Output preferences actually work. It sounds like your users believe they are setting attributes on the actual spool files themselves or the job associated with the spool file. That is not the case. ACS does not provide the capability to set preferences for a particular spool file nor for a job. Neither would we consider providing that kind of support.. The Printer Output preferences in ACS are strictly for setting (1) How do you want the spool file formatted during download (2) where do you want the spool files placed when downloaded. The preferences exist on the PC where they were set . They do not exist on the IBM i. As previously mentioned, the preferences are saved so the next time you start ACS or start a new Printer Output session they will be as previously set. They can also be temporarily over ridden for the current download using the "Download..." action.

    Your request to store the Printer Output preferences for a job (I'm assuming you mean IBM i job) does not make sense. They would be lost when the job ends. If you would like to pursue this request further, I'm going to suggest you contact our Service team and explain your situation to them. After contacting our Service team, please provide the PMR here and we'll re-evaluate if there is any additional support that should be considered.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Feb 1, 2019

    The problem is that one does not always want to use the stored default example PDF. We have users who download reports as PDFs during the month but at month end, they download multiple reports which need to be in a text format. The reports are not run from 1 user nor by the same job so the users are having to filter every time they need to download report and then for each report, they need go to the option to uncheck the PDF option.

    They are complaining this is time consuming and extremely annoying and leads to the unchecking getting missed or it not sticking and they have to download again. Doing this for 1 or 2 reports is not a problem but when you have to do this for 30 to 50 reports, its a problem.

    If you could change ACS to store the option for the job, that would allow the users to go in initially, set up there down location (which changes each month) and the option to print in PDF or text format. Then when selecting the download (first option on the menu) the reports would download as requested to the required folders. The folder does stick but the PDF option is the big nuisance.

    Hope this clarifies the frustration for our users which occurs at month end when they are under pressure to get the month end results out.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jan 31, 2019

    There are three ways to set preferences for Printer Output:
    1. From the main ACS panel, select Edit->Preferences. Then select the Printer Output tab. These settings will be saved for all future downloads.
    2. From the Printer Output panel, select Edit->Preferences. These settings will be saved for all future downloads.
    3. From the Printer Output panel, select Actions->Download... This download action was provided as a way for a user to temporarily override the current preferences for just that download. These settings will not be saved.

    It sounds like you may be using the Action->Download... which will not save any changed settings. The other two ways will save the set preferences. If there is some other scenario causing the issue, please clarify.

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jan 30, 2019

    Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - Power Systems
    Product - IBM i
    Component - IBM i Access Family
    Operating system - IBM i
    Source - Client

    For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
    Brand - Servers and Systems Software
    Product family - Power Systems
    Product - IBM i
    Component - Print
    Operating system - IBM i
    Source - Client

  • Guest
    Reply
    |     Jan 17, 2019

    This would be helpful even if the settings were static throughout a session. For example, I connect at the beginning of a day, set my options, and perform my downloads throughout the day. When I shut down for the day, the settings return to a default status. If we have to option to set our defaults, we could then perform "overrides" through a session as necessary on a case by case basis.

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