Sage 100

Customer is purchasing a Zebra 105SL Plus to print shipping labels from Sage 100 standard. The person selling him the printer says he needs an additional $ 800 Bartender software package to print from Crystal in MAS. Does anyone know if this is true? I saw another post about the Zebra Big Z4000 that implies it prints directly from Crystal MAS. I can't however find that printer. Is there a newer model? What new printers are your customers using?

I can't say whether this specific printer model will support printing from Sage. I have been able to use thermal printers previously to print from Sage via Crystal. There's a decent amount of trial and error but usually you can get it to work.

Thanks!

I'm not sure about that one specifically, but the number of hoops you normally have to jump though to get Crystal to print directly to a Zebra printer is a pain. The only way I've ever gotten it to work properly requires the Zebra printer to be the Windows Default Printer and almost no one ever has a machine they can do that on reliably.

Hm. I've never had to have it be the default, but do have to make the default paper size be the size of the label. But in one case I was able to setup the printer 3 times with 3 different defaults and that worked...

I have always had to make it the workstation default printer.

I'm beginning to believe this is a crap shoot at best. I think I'll tell him to buy the printer - he can always buy the additional software later if necessary.

Attached is a 4""w x 6""h BOM production label that was designed for the Zebra 105S. The key to getting it to work correctly is to make sure the Crystal form is slightly smaller than the label size. for example, if the label is 4w x 6h then, in Crystal: right click in the right margin, section expert, details, layout tab, set the width to 3.5 and the height to 5.5. This label has a bar code on it, so make sure the Azalea fonts are installed from the wksetup\azalea folder.

So how many hours at the crap shoot table does it take to justify buying the bar code software. Do yourself a favor, go with the bar code software and an Access PTQ table (@ShawnSlavin couldn't resist) so you have time for a real casino. Reminds me a client who wanted to use the rest of their dot matrix checks. I warned them ahead of time, charged them $600 to try it, no go. They bought the laser jet........ Sometimes you have to say NO!!!!!

@JeffSchwenk the choir is with ya Brother! Preach on! Saving the few bucks not buying the software will cost a whole lot more creating custom EVERYTHING in the end.

But what about the customer who wants to print labels from within Sage - am I missing something or does Bartender facilitate that? I thought Bartender was standalone - or could hook to the Sage tables but would not run as a native form/report.

They would print from Bartender. However, can't you launch an outside program from a custom menu within Sage 100?

I normally put the bar code software on the desktop or under my tasks so you could technically launch the BC software from within Sage (you do have to have the software loaded on the WS). If you go this route, you will want to put in an Access PTQ db as the BC software has issues with multiple tables (at least Label Matrix does)

I understand all this - however the customer who is insistent on using the Sage menu option for printing receipt labels would not appear to have a solution in using Bartender since it's an external application and not integrated to Sage 100 posting process.

@BethBowers Crystal is strange sometimes. It amazes me how changing the default printer affects reports that are never printed to that printer.

@RobertWood - understatement of the year (but it's still early in 2014)...

I'd like to open this conversation back up - to Wayne's point, what about printing PO receipt labels using the built-in logic in Sage? Would Bartender work with this or is it best to just go through the trial and error and try to get Sage/Crystal to communicate directly to a zebra label printer. My experience is that it's a nightmare trying to do this - but as far as i know the only other option is to spend thousands on Scanforce or Scanco label printing that integrates directly with the Sage program. Looking for a cost effective way to Print inventory and PO receipt labels with bar codes from Sage.

Really, if you go by @DougHiggs note about making sure the label size in Crystal is a little smaller, it's not THAT bad. The only bad ones are the ones that require printing at a 90 degree angle. But even printing the number of labels equal to the number of items (or doing some formulas using UDFs to figure that out) isn't bad using a technique @DanBurleson showed me. I never consider an outside program because then it's one less thing to worry about during upgrades, etc.

thanks @BethBowers - I also bounced this off @JosephBisaha and received some good feedback ((in double parentheses)) which I thought might be helpful to post here. Sounds like direct Sage to Zebra label printing is the way to go in this scenario. Hi Joe, Quick question for you. We have a prospect that would like to print bar code labels from Sage inventory label printing and PO receipt of goods (using the standard Sage program parameters). It seems like there are a few options: 1. Struggle with a direct crystal label from Sage to Zebra printers. My experience is that this is a pain but can work sometimes. ((this is stable. The trick is to use a native printer drive not the universal printer driver from Zebra. I have nearly no issues with native print driver.)) 2. Use something like Bartender but I'm assuming this would be completely outside of Sage no integration with the standard Sage label printing functions. ((correct unless you buy ScanForce or Scanco and they integrate with MAS but they trigger printing from their app.)) 3. Purchase integrated label printing software from you? Or Scanforce/Scanco? But this might be a little too pricey for the prospect. ((again yes. best bet is your first option. ))

I implemented loosely integrated BarTender solution that is driven from Custom Office buttons. One solution was for Shipping data entry and one for PO receipt of goods. A button queues the labels and can be run from any Sage 100 or Advanced workstation. Another button prints the queued labels via the BarTender API to a local printer. A single button could do both I suppose if the printer were network attached. A check box was used to repeat a label for the line quantity.

@DanBurleson What would you budget something like you have specified. In my case I have a client on V2013 . they have 2 Zebra Z4M printers and need Item labels and ROG labels. printed from 2 workstations. Note, they had been using MASprint on V4.3 but maintenance is expired and the cost of repurchasing it is $4k. (plus is is a new version and procedure with MP2)

The kicker is that they have the 90 Degrees labels so printing from inside Sage is going to be TOUGH!!

@JimWoodhead My solution uses scripting to create a CSV file and then invokes BarTender to print it using its templates based on the module and program (RoG or invoicing). Queuing of the labels is a separate button from the printing so that multiple workstations can queue labels and those workstation with printers can print them. I chose to create a csv file instead of using a PTQ so that I could optionally handle a variable number of Lot/Serial records per document record. I'm in the $2k neighborhood not including the purchase and install of an appropriate BarTender license. The BarTender Automation software starts around $600 for 3 printers and unlimited users.

@DanBurleson - What is your definition of variable number of lot/serial records? I have successfully used PTQ's using a select query which will print lot/serial information as well as non L/S labels using Label Matrix so I am sure you could do it also in Bar Tender. User launches Label Matrix prior to updating ROG to print the labels. Works very well.

You got me - this was 4 years ago - so I just reviewed the code. A CSV file was used as input to the label software instead of a direct ODBC connection so that user's without the Zebra printer could queue labels to print.

Whether you use Bartender or not, Seagull Scientific, the makers of Bartender, have by far the BEST printer drivers for Zebra and many other label printers and they are FREE! The advancements in these drivers overcome a whole host of issues, including label size and orientation. Here's the link for the drivers: http://www.seagullscientific.com/drivers/windows-printer-drivers-download.aspx