Frequently Asked Questions About
Now You're Cooking!

Print Troubleshooting

NYC fails printing to my printer. What is happening?

Some printers have trouble with NYC’s print instructions. In such cases, use ‘print-to-file’ checkbox on the file dialog, answer “Yes” at the prompt to open the file in Notepad, then use File… Print… in Notepad to print the file.

When I use File… Print… to print the shopping list by aisle, my Media Player program (or some other program) pops up. What is happening?

We have fixed the problem in v5.84 and higher. In NYC v5.83 and earlier, we use a hotkey to launch the Print button on the shopping list by aisle window for this print operation. This hotkey use apparently sometimes caused other programs to fire up.

Whenever I print from anywhere in the program, I get “Error 429” and something about “cannot display print dialog box”. How can I fix this?

We suspect you may have installed another program that overwrote or corrupted the “vbprndlg.dll file” (or one of its components) that NYC needs. We suggest you reinstall NYC (preferably the latest version, but any version after 5.75) to restore this critical dll file. The only user we have spoken to who had this problem resolved it by reinstalling NYC.

I have a color printer. When I print a recipe from v5.70, the color is fine. If I print from v5.77 or 5.80, the printing is almost black and white -- not quite gray scale, because there is a slight tint, but basically no color. My other programs seem to print fine.

We changed the print dialog engine between v5.70 and v5.77, so it is likely due to default settings being different with these two dialogs. One user having this problem was printing to a Canon PIXMA ip6600D and discovered a workaround. She said this:

“In v5.77 and v5.80 (bad color), the printer properties showed "fast printing" rather than "standard" selected, and the "Grayscale" setting is checked. In v5.70 (good color), the printer properties showed "standard" and "grayscale" is not selected. Before printing I can change this to "standard" and then I get good color printed. However, the setting does not stick, whether I set it just before printing or whether I set it using File… Print Setup…”

This behavior was found to be due to NYC not preserving the color mode setting between successive prints to the same printer. This problem was fixed in v5.81 and higher.

When I try to print, I get no response. When I close NYC, the printer starts and prints a partial output (NYC header info). I am using an Epson printer. What is happening?

If you have already tried rebooting your computer and uninstalling and reinstalling NYC and you still get this problem, we believe it may be due to a conflict with another program or your printer driver. The only one of our users who asked this question found a workaround by selecting “use print setup” instead of “NYC defaults” in the Select Recipe Print Format window that pops up while printing recipes from the recipe selection or recipe edit window. This workaround may work for other printers besides Epson.

I want to print on pages cut in half and then just punch it for a small binder, i.e., on 5-1/2 x 8-1/2 sheets and use the NYC Defaults. When I try this, it prints about half way down and leaves the bottom of the page blank. If the recipe is longer than that space, the rest is printed in another column to the right with half of it missing.

NYC will only print on 8.5x11 sheets (your Print Setup should be left at this setting). I suggest you explore the index card options to do the same thing, especially the 5.5x8.5 card image option for printing recipes. You can then cut the full sheets in half after the printing.

If you are trying to print a pretty cookbook, we highly recommend that you consider this: Use NYC’s File… Publish Cookbook… if you have Word 10 or higher on your PC. If you don’t have Word, export your recipes from NYC to a text file without line breaks. Then open the text file in another word processor and format to your heart’s content. A $30 recipe software simply will never be able to match the formatting capability of Word for publishing a pretty recipe cookbook.

When I select NYC’s Print Setup, I get “Active X component can’t create object.”

This problem seems to occur only for certain users who have Office 2000 (or some of its components) on a Windows 98 operating system. It has been fixed in NYC v5.55 and higher.

I cannot get Landscape mode to work in the Print Setup. I am using Windows XP (or 2000 or NT4).

This is a known problem in NYC related to how NT systems authorize administrative access to printer properties. The workaround is to set Landscape mode outside of NYC using Control Panel… Printers… This problem has been fixed in NYC version 5.70 and higher.

NYC seems to print fine on any printer except certain HP printers, such as HP DeskJet 672, 660c, 6sl, and 5L. Why is that?

Whenever anyone has a problem printing from NYC, it almost always comes down to a HP printer driver issue. HP makes good printers but based on our experience, their drivers are lacking. HP drivers apparently do not expose the printer’s properties correctly to Visual Basic applications. The solution is almost always to use a different printer driver, or to adjust some of the printer properties (Control Panel… Printers… select your printer… Printer… Properties…). Here are some solutions that have been reported by other NYC users and by HP to resolve printing problems:

Printer Solution

HP 1170cxi OfficeJet Use the HP DeskJet 550c printer driver* (560c should work too)

HP 712c, 890c, and higher Use the HP DeskJet 550c printer driver* (560c should work too)

HP DeskJet 670 series (e.g., 672)        In the printer properties, check the ICM checkbox under the SETUP tab

HP 6sl NYC user says use HP’s PCL driver and disable (uncheck) the status check option

HP 5L HP says to use the HP 5si/sx printer driver*

HP Color 4500 DN Use Microsoft’s “HP Color Laserjet” driver

Any HP printer with problems Use the Windows printer driver for the printer (or one close to it), not the HP driver

*Add a new printer reference to the local machine, using the recommended driver and the same port as the original (LPT1:).

Authors of other VB applications I have talked to about HP printer drivers tell their customers to remove any HP print driver and only use the Microsoft driver from their Windows installation CD to avoid miscellaneous bugs, including crashing and hanging. These authors also have HP printer users remove the HP Print Status widget from their task bar. Food for thought.

I get these errors when I try to print recipes: “Error 28665 displaying Print Set Up dialog.” and “VB Error 28665 resetting printer setting fonts and orientation in cmdSetPrinter at location 1”, so I cannot print recipes.

That error indicates there is some kind of resource problem on your PC. The one person I know that had the problem solved it by reinstalling NYC – when you reinstall, make sure you have all other programs closed before reinstalling. Some temporary resource problems can also be fixed simply by rebooting, but we suggest reinstalling NYC in the case of Error 28665.

When I print a multi-page shopping list or menu, NYC only sends one page to the printer. What is happening?

Check the paper size setting in your print setup. You probably have an odd paper size specified.

I am using a HP 6sl printer. Half of the times that I try to print out a recipe, nothing seems to happen. Everything appears to be normal but I do not get a printout. If I shut down Windows95, I get a message that I have unprinted files but no printout. Is this some sort of a driver problem with NYC?

One of our users who asked this question resolved it.. Here was his resolution:
"I finally found the problem. It was a driver problem as you said. The manufacturer of this machine loaded the wrong driver. If anyone else has this problem, have them uninstall the printer, then re-install using custom installation. Install HP's PCL driver and disable (uncheck) the status check option. It completely cleared the problem."

This resolution may also be effective for other NYC users who have HP laser printer drivers and who experience the occasional "482 Printer Error" that must be resolved by rebooting.

I get "VB Error 6" when I try to print something. I am using Windows 95.

This error is an overflow that results from using margins that are too small for your printer to handle. You need to increase your margin settings in Print Setup..., making sure to properly indicate which units your margin settings are in (cm or in).

I get "VB Error 482 - Error initializing printer..." when I start NYC.

If you have just installed NYC on a new PC, you probably have no printer attached or specified in Control Panel. You don’t need a printer physically attached to the computer to avoid this NYC message, but you do need a printer specified in Control Panel. So just Add a Printer in Control Panel… Printers…

If NYC has been working without the error message and then it suddenly starts appearing, another program may be causing the problem. Exit NYC. Turn off other programs. Restart NYC. If that fails, then try this:

Windows 98/95 or higher:
Select a different printer using Print Setup. Exit NYC. Restart NYC, then reselect your original printer.

Windows 3.1x:
Turn off the Print Manager and restart it.

If that fails, reboot your PC and try launching NYC before other programs.

If you are using an HP laser jet, you may want to check your printer driver. You may need to disable or uncheck the "status check" option in the PCL driver, or download one of the HP drivers known to be widely compatible with other software (some HP drivers are not very compatible). See the HP printer driver guidance in another part in this Print Troubleshooting FAQ.

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Last Updated: 02/11/2020

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Frequently Asked Questions About Now You're Cooking!

Print Troubleshooting

Frequently Asked Questions About
Now You're Cooking!