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How to change the Default Printer on Workstations

Issue
Unble to print, or send files to printer for print. Message comes us saying 'Converting flash paper' on Macromedia.

Reason
FlashPaper is a software that lets anyone instantly create web-ready Flash documents or secure, compact PDF files from any printable document in just one click. This is installed automatically when Adobe Contribute is installed on a local machine.

Once installed, Flash Paper automatically makes itself the default printer on the PC preventing users from printing documents straight to their Printer.

Solution

1. Go to Start > Settings > Click on Printers and Faxes
2. Right hand click once on the printer you want to make the default.
3. Select Set as Default Printer. This is now the default printer.

Linking to local files with many dependencies with Contribute

Issue
When publishing local files that have been linked to documents in a Adobe Contribute site (Insert > Link > File on My Computer), the files themselves and all linked documents are transferred to the server.

For instance, if you are editing a page in Contribute and you make a link to an HTML file on your computer, Contribute will upload that file to the web server, as normal. If the page to which you linked has links to 20 other pages on your machine, those 20 pages will also be uploaded.

Reason
In order to prevent broken links, Contribute will upload dependent files to the server. Dependent files are files that are referenced within a web page, such as images and Flash movies. Likewise, Contribute treats linked files as dependent files and therefore includes these files when a page is published. As a result, more files may be uploaded than originally intended.

Solution
When linking to web pages on the local hard drive, be aware that all linked images and HTML documents will also be transferred to the web server when the page is published. To avoid the automatic transfer of these dependent files, upload the file to the server before linking it to pages in the Contribute site.

Formatting is lost when pasting from MS Word into Contribute

Issue
When copying or cutting from a Microsoft Word document and pasting into Contribute web page, some formatting might be lost.

Reason
There are invisible elements within Word that define paragraphs and other formatting elements. If you do not select these formatting elements when copying or cutting the text, they will not be pasted into Contribute. This may lead to formatting inconsistencies.

Solution
The best way to ensure that you are copying all needed elements is to make the invisible elements visible. To set this preference in Word navigate to Tools > Options and click the View tab. Check the All option in the Formatting marks section. This will show all formatting marks and give a representation of how the page is laid out. Once you get a feel for these formatting marks they can be disabled.

These invisible elements can also manifest themselves when the formatting marks are turned off. When making a text selection, Word will extend the selection past the last character as an attempt to select the closing paragraph marker. It is possible to deselect this empty space, which will deselect the paragraph marker and lead to the inconsistent formatting!

MS Word and Excel documents will not insert into Contribute

Issue
Microsoft Word and Excel documents will not import into Adobe Contribute and may fail with the following error message:

You have selected a document that is too large for Contribute to import. You can copy and paste portions of the original document into multiple web pages instead.

Reason
There is a 300 kb size limitation of the HTML that can be imported into Contribute. If your Word document generates an HTML page that is greater than 300kb, the import may fail. While the size of the HTML is dependent on the content of the document, it is usually somewhere around 25 pages. Items such as large tables will generate more code and may reduce your available page count.

Solution
Contribute gives you the option of either importing the contents of the Microsoft Office document into a web page, or creating a link to the actual document. It is recommended that you link to the document if it's a large file.

You can also split the Office document into separate, smaller documents and import the document using Insert > Microsoft Word (or Excel) Document. The files can then be linked together to easily navigate through the document.

You can control whether Contribute automatically adds the content, makes a link, or prompts for the choice. This option can be set by navigating to Edit > Preferences and selecting the General category. In the "Insert Word or Excel" section select the option that you wish to use.

Note: If you are importing a file that will create more than 150 kb of HTML, Contribute will present a warning that the import may take a while to process. The import will still work properly but the program may appear to have stalled. It will work after the importing is done.

Cannot publish drafts or change connection information

Issue
If the location of the web site changes, or the permissions group to which you belong is deleted or changed while you have an open draft, you will not be able to publish the draft or change the connection information. This situation creates a closed loop because the draft can not be published if the settings have changed and changes to the settings can not be made if you have an unpublished draft.

Reason
This is to maintain the integrity of the web site and also to ensure that drafts and lock files (files with .lck extension) are not abandoned. Contribute will not allow pages to be published to the web without a valid permission group or if the web site location is not correct. It determines this by looking for the draft's locked file on the server. If it is not found (because the site location has been changed the file can not be published.

Solution
You will need to delete the draft and the lock file from your local hard drive. This will remove the draft from Contribute so you can change your connection information. If you wish to save changes that have been made to the draft click File > Export to save a copy of the page. To prevent this scenario from happening site administrators should ensure there are no outstanding drafts before making changes to user groups or site locations.

To delete the drafts and locks:

1. Close Contribute.
2. Within the Sites folder on xena (server) and your local drive will be a series of folders that contain the local drafts for your connections. Find the folder that contains your site files. There you will see the draft file and the .lck file associated with it. (contact the webteam if you do not have access to this folder)
3. Delete these files (and any other drafts and locks you have for this site).
4. Restart Contribute and edit your connection information.

Note: For every local draft there is also a lock file on the server. These lock will still prevent others users from editing the file. If a draft is deleted locally, the lock file on the server should also be manually deleted.

Contribute sites and drafts are not available with a different login

Issue
Adobe Contribute sites, settings, and drafts are not available when the program is launched.

Reason
You may be logged in as another user. This can happen on multi-user operating systems, such as Windows NT, 2000 or XP. If logged in as another user, settings for this user, including Contribute sites, drafts and permissions, will not be available.

Solution
Make sure that you are logged in as the same user that set up the Contribute sites. If you are logged in as admin or another user, log out and log back in as the user who set up the sites.