OverWrite Lite for Windows User Guide Copyright 1992-1995 Alligator Software Post Office Box 606 Tahoe City, California 96145 (916) 583-5236 Fax (916) 583-8880 The Shareware Concept: Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. The Shareware system makes selecting software easy, because you “try before you buy.” Software developers use the Shareware concept to keep advertising and overhead costs low, thereby keeping costs low as well. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register your copy. OverWrite Lite is a "shareware program" is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. You may share it with others, but do not give it away altered or as part of another program. If you find OverWrite useful and continue to use it after a 30 day trial period, you are expected to register your copy. You will then receive a complimentary upgrade to the full version and be eligible to receive technical support. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all or to a specific group. Anyone distributing OverWrite Lite for any kind of remuneration must first contact Alligator Software at the address below for authorization and to assure that only the latest version is being distributed. WHAT IS OverWriting? OverWriting is the effect you use with your word processor, spreadsheet, or almost any other program to print transparent backgrounds telling others that your documents are DRAFT, FOR DISCUSSION ONLY, CONFIDENTIAL or subject to ATTORNEY CLIENT PRIVILEGE. INSTALLATION: You should have already installed OverWrite Lite from the compressed distribution file. If for some reason this has not been done, review the included README.1ST file. QUICK START: 1. Before you start Windows, you must load the OverWrite driver. This is done by typing OWLITON at your DOS C Prompt. If you forget to do this, when you start OverWrite from within Windows you will be reminded and it will be necessary to exit Windows, load the driver, and restart Windows. If you use this file within a batch (.BAT) file, such as AUTOEXEC.BAT, you must use the command CALL C:\OWLITON. 2. Once Windows is started, start OverWrite by double clicking on the OverWrite Lite Icon in the Alligator Soft- ware Group. OverWrite will appear and float above all other applications. USING OverWrite: The OverWrite Main Window: When you start OverWrite you will see the main window. Initially the box below 'Message Selected' will say 'Nothing Selected' and the Do Not Print and Delete buttons will not be visible. As messages are selected, the current message will be displayed in the box below 'Message Selected' and the two buttons will be visible whenever a message is active. The main window allows you to select from pre-created (or Standard Messages), to create your own three line Custom Messages on LaserJet 3 or 4 compatible printers, and to get on-line help. On-Line Help: If you want help on any OverWrite command, select Help from the menu and select Commands. A help screen will appear. You can scroll through the text or go directly to a topic by using the 'Go To' box. Selecting Standard Messages: First click on the Message Selected box below 'Message Selected' in the main window with your mouse. A list of installed Standard Messages will appear. Using your mouse, move to the message you want and click on it. A window will appear indicating that the message is being sent to your printer, and progress will be shown on a bar. You can cancel the process by clicking on the Cancel button. It takes a few seconds to load a message into your printer the first time. Once loaded, a message stays in your printer's memory until it is deleted or the printer is turned off. After the message is loaded into you printer the OverWrite title will change to indicate 'OverWrite: STAN- DARD' and the first 10 characters of the message's name. The icon title will also say this. Whenever you see STANDARD and a name, you know that a standard message will be printed with your output. Standard Mode messages cannot be changed or relocated on the page. Also displayed are the Do Not Print and the Delete buttons. If you click on the Do Not Print button, the message will not be printed but will remain in your printer. The OverWrite window and icon titles will switch to OFF. If you select the Delete button, the standard message will be deleted from your printer and the Window and icon titles turned to OFF. As standard messages are loaded into your printer, several things happen. The current message appears in the Message Selected box with an '!' in front of it. Also, the number of messages selected and printer memory space used appear in the Status Box just below the Message Selected box. If you click on the Status Box you will see all those standard messages which have been loaded into your printer, and you can switch between them easily. Creating Custom Messages: If you have a LaserJet 3 or 4 compatible printer you can use OverWrite to create custom messages of up to three lines. These can be scaled to a size you like, made as light or dark as you wish, rotated, placed at your preferred location on the page, and saved for later use. To create a Custom Message select the Custom Message command from the command line of the main window. The Custom Message dialog box illustrated on Page 8 of this Guide will appear. Using your mouse, select the options you desire. Available options are: Text - type from one to three lines. Blank lines are ignored. Printer - select LaserJet 3 or 4 compatible, as appropriate. Size - this is the size of your background text. If you select AUTO the text will be made as large as possible and centered on the page. Selecting FULL will allow you to select the Horizontal and Vertical location and will make the text as large as possible using that starting location. Selecting a number will use that point size for the text. Horiz and Vert - these set the locations of the lower left corner of the first letter of the first line of text with Left Justification. If you have selected Auto Size they will both be set to Auto. They are in inches and are measured from the top, left side of the paper. Angle - this is the angle of the text in degrees. 0 is horizontal and 90 is vertical. Only LaserJet 4 printers support intermediate angles. Density - this is the density of screen printing. 1 is very light and 8 is solid black. Justification - Ctr will center each line in the space available for the message. Left will start each line at the left border of the space. Style - LaserJet 3 printers support Screen or gray level printing. With a LaserJet 4 printer you can also select outline printing, or outline filled with a screen. If you select a location or size which will not allow your message to fit on the page, OverWrite will warn you and cancel the custom selection. After you have made your selections, select the Custom Message dialog OK button. OverWrite will load the selection into your printer and change the Window and icons to say CUSTOM. This is a very fast procedure. SAVING Custom Messages - You can also save your custom message for later use. Just select the Save Custom Message command from the Options menu and enter a file name of up to 8 letters. Do not enter an extension as it will be ignored. You do not have to close the Custom Message dialog box to do this. The Custom Message will be stored in the same location selected for OverWrite files during setup. If you choose a name which was previously used the old Custom Message will be changed. When you save a Custom Message the titles of the OverWrite window, the Custom Message dialog box window and the icon titles will be changed to indicate the selection name and the selection will be loaded to your printer for use. OPENING Custom Message Files - Previously saved Custom Messages can be retrieved by using the Open Custom Message command from the Options menu. A list of choices will appear with the .OWC extension used on all OverWrite Custom Messages. Just double click on the selection you want and it will be loaded into your printer and the titles of OverWrite windows and icons changed to indicate what will be printed. This can be done with the Custom Message dialog box open. If you want to verify or change a retrieved Custom Message just open the Custom Message dialog box. You can make changes. If you just select OK the changes will be temporary and the file on disk will not be changed. If you select Save Custom Message from the Options menu - and this can be done while the Custom Message dialog box is still open - you will see that the old file name is pre-typed and you can update the disk file and the message to be written just by clicking on the OK in the Save dialog box. ERASING Custom Message Files - When you are through using a Custom Message file you can remove it from your hard disk by using the Erase Custom Message command in the Options menu. As a safety factor, you must first select the message to be erased by using the Open Custom Message or Save Custom Message commands. You are asked if you are sure before the erasing is completed. As a second safety factor, the erased message remains in the Custom Message dialog box until you either modify it or quit OverWrite. You can re- save it under the same or another name. When a Custom Message is active the Do Not Print button is displayed. If you select the Do Not Print button the active Custom Message will not print and any file reference to the Custom Message dialog box is removed. No file is erased however. Use this feature to get a 'new slate' to create new or modify old Custom Messages. After Choosing Your Message: After you have made your OverWrite selection, you can minimize OverWrite by clicking on the arrowhead at the upper right corner of the OverWrite main window. This will reduce OverWrite to an Icon which will float above all other applications. When reduced to an Icon, OverWrite will tell you the first 10 characters of the name of a Standard mes- sage which will be printed, the file name of a Custom message which will be printed, or OFF if nothing will be printed. This allows you to know the status of OverWrite at all times. You can move the Icon to a convenient spot on your screen (such as the end of another application's button bar) by dragging it with your mouse, and restore OverWrite to full size at any time just by double clicking on the Icon. FINISHING YOUR OverWrite SESSION: When you are finished using OverWrite, close it through the Options menu of the main window or by double clicking on the upper left corner of the main window. Your printer will be reset. After you have finished your Windows session, you can unload the OverWrite driver by typing OWLITOFF at the DOS C Prompt. This is not necessary if you plan to turn your computer off anyway. QUESTIONS FREQUENTLY ASKED: How do I make OverWrite turn into an icon? This is called 'minimizing'. Just click on the upper right corner of the OverWrite main window. How do I move the OverWrite icon to a convenient location on my screen? Place your mouse cursor on the icon and hold the mouse button down while moving the icon. We suggest you place the icon near your application's controls so you can instantly see OverWrite's status. After I have minimized OverWrite, how do I make it full size again? Just double click on the OverWrite icon. How do I turn the OverWrite effect off? Select either the Do Not Print or the Delete buttons. The Delete button also removes the message from printer memory. Why are Custom features different for different printers? OverWrite uses LaserJet hardware to create back- ground messages. LaserJet 2 printers do not allow scaling; LaserJet 3 printers do not allow print rotation other than 0 and 90 degrees; LaserJet 4 printers allow all of these. Is there a limit on how many custom messages I can store? No. And since custom messages take only about 50 bytes on your hard disk, storage will not use much space. Can I use WordPerfect for Windows printer drivers? Yes. When you set up the printer on WordPerfect, instead of printing to LPT1 (or LPT2) just print to a file which you name LPT1.DOS (or LPT2.DOS). Do this by choosing SELECT PRINTER from the FILE Menu, choosing SETUP from the SELECT PRINTER box, choosing FILE from the PORT alternative, and typing LPT1.DOS (or LPT2.DOS) and pressing the Enter key. You will get all of the WordPerfect driver features, PLUS OverWrite. How long will my selections stay in my printer's memory? OverWrite selections remain in printer memory until they are deleted by your command, the printer is turned off, or OverWrite is unloaded. What about other printers? OverWrite uses features built into LaserJet Series 2, 3 and 4 compatible printers. Success of use with other printers, even those which claim to emulate LaserJets, cannot be guaranteed, however printers with full LaserJet compatibility will most likely function correctly. Do I need anything extra on my printer? No. Standard LaserJet compatible printers have sufficient memory to permit several OverWrite selections to be loaded at once. If your printer does not have extra memory installed it is recommended that selections sent to the printer be limited and that unneeded selections be cleared using OverWrite periodically. How do I prevent a Memory Overflow error? Memory overflows are caused by loading too many selections in a printer. If you do not have extra printer memory and download fonts to your printer, limit the number of selections added at any one time. The OverWrite screen tells you how much of your printer's memory has been used by OverWrite. If you get a memory overflow error, just reset your printer. How do I print different OverWrite selections on different pages? OverWrite does not discriminate between pages. You can print different messages on different pages by selecting one OverWrite message and printing only the group of pages you want it to appear on. Then select another message and print the group of pages you want it to appear on. Continue until all pages are printed. Can I have more than one message per page? No. Your printer will only allow one message per page. What about legal-sized documents? Selections will print on legal sized (8 1/2" by 14") paper as well as letter sized (8 1/2" by 11") paper. What about "landscape" printing? Most Standard selections are in "portrait" format (the normal 8 1/2" by 11" page). Due to printer limitations, "portrait" selections will not work in "landscape" (an 11" by 8 1/2" page) mode. Custom selections work on both portrait and landscape, but you may have to experiment on placement. How do I get more OverWrite selections? OverWrite includes selections for business, the professions (Executives, Attorneys, Architects and Engineers, Contrac- tors, and Accountants), and government. Individualized OverWriting messages are available at reasonable charges. How about the use of OverWrite on multiple computers and networks? Each OverWrite package is licensed for use on one computer only. A separate license is required for each user on a network. Peer to Peer network use is possible. What about printer connections? In order to use OverWrite, you must print on LPT1.DOS or LPT2.DOS, as distinguished from LPT1 or LPT2. OverWrite will make this adjustment automatically for you. If you print to a COM port, you should restructure your system to use LPT1 and the MODE command at the DOS level. What restrictions exist in OverWrite Lite? OverWrite Lite comes with five standard messages, allows only one custom message to be created at a time, allows only one line custom messages, and does not allow diagonal custom messages. These features are only available in the full version of OverWrite for Windows. How do I get the full version of OverWrite? When you register your copy of OverWrite Lite, we will send you a complimentary copy of the full version of OverWrite for Windows. You can print an order form when you start OverWrite Lite. Your registration fees allow us to improve our products. Send your registration form to Alligator Software at Post Office Box 606, Tahoe City, California 96145, fax your form to (916) 583-8880, or call (916) 583- 5236. OBTAINING TECHNICAL HELP: Alligator Software is happy to offer technical help if you call (916) 583-5236 during business hours (Pacific Time). We hope that you understand that we cannot return calls to unregistered users. If you leave a message that you will accept a collect call, we will make every attempt to contact you. THE OVERWRITE ALLIGATOR SOFTWARE LICENSE AGREEMENT: Limited Warranty/Limitation of Liability This Software is licensed AS IS. These warranties are in lieu of any other warranties, express or implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event will Alligator Software be liable to you for damages, including any loss of profits, lost savings, or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of your use of or inability to use the Software, even if Alligator Software or an authorized Alligator Software representative has been advised of the possibility of such damages. Grant of Rights Alligator Software grants you the right to use the Software for a thirty day time period. If you desire to continue to keep using this software after the thirty day trial period, you are expected to register the software and pay the registration fee.