ClickBook 12

By Dale Farris Reviews Coordinator Golden Triangle PC Club February 2009 Overview Ever wish you could output a computer file in one of those handy tri-fold booklet or landscape dual-fold size documents that are so easy to manage and seem to only come from offline printers? Well, with Blue Squirrel's ClickBook 12 you can. ClickBook 12 is the latest upgrade to this well known print utility that has been so essential for so long for its many features that allow a user to do all sorts of special things with the layout of a file. This latest version 12 comes along after a long history of success with this solid utility, and all users of any prior edition are encouraged to consider this upgrade. I've been a long time user of ClickBook, and think this utility is one of the more essential utilities on the market. Once you get used to being able to reformat a standard Word document, for example, in one of the many included layout designs in ClickBook, you will just not ever again run a computer system without it. Since so many copiers today DO NOT allow you to take standard 8 1/2 x 11 size documents and do anything with them other than make copies onto the same size 8 1/2 x 11 size paper, ClickBook can be used to output the document to a printer into all sorts of modifications that allow you to control the display, the number of columns, the layout, and numerous other means of reorganizing the data onto the paper. After a few uses of ClickBook 12, you too will likely wonder how you ever got along without it. What is ClickBook? This handy utility provides added print layout features a user can activate that will make a file as mobile as you like. The program is an easy-to-use printing utility that also lets you gather information from different sources to create customized, printed portable publications. Think of ClickBook as a super-sized, extra-special print driver. When you begin to use the ClickBook features, you will likely soon begin to wonder how you got along without it all those years. With ClickBook you can turn any Windows, CD ROM or Internet file into books of many sizes and styles, day planner pages, greeting cards,  CD ROM jewel cases, brochures or leaflets, business cards, tiled printouts (several pages on each sheet of paper), and double-sided or single-sided. You can print a booklet composed of one document or several collected from different applications. In addition, the program lists the many layouts in categories, such as books, favorites, brochures, or cards. What's New in Version 12? 64-Bit OS Compatible Image removal saves time and expensive ink Reverse printing New ZINE layout Updated PDF converter Improved preview with magnified zoom - up to 800% Keyboard shortcuts Updated macro security Create custom letterhead Create custom forms to print Create custom backgrounds to print your planner or booklet pages Other Features Quick Click Printers to instantly print booklets, brochures and pdfs Vista Compatible Instantly e-mail PDF files to family, and friends Works with any Inkjet or Laser printer Hand Fed Tray - Now you can use the hand fed tray instead of the printing drawer Convert booklets to PDFs Rearrange print order of each mini-page in a booklet Print multi-page Banners and Posters Use 75% less paper with booklet printing Walks you through double-sided printing Prints 170+ different styles Rotates, reduces & realigns documents automatically Combine files from different applications into a single printout Save time and money One-click to Add or Delete a Page Sample documents One-click booklet printing from Microsoft Office applications 170+ Layouts Including Booklets Posters (Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Vista only) Banners (Windows XP, 2000, 2003, Vista only) Business Cards Photo albums Address Labels Tri-folds Day Planner Pages CD Covers Table-tops Bookmarks Post Cards Thank You Cards Doorknob Hangers Stickers Presentations Greeting Cards Avery labels Price $49.95 $24.95 Upgrade price System Configuration P-100MHz or faster processor 64MB RAM 15.5MB free hard disk space Laser or inkjet printer How do I Install ClickBook? To install ClickBook, you run the ClickBookSetup.exe that you can download, or from your purchased CD. After installation, each printer must be set up to work with ClickBook. The installer will start the "Add Printer Wizard" which will step you through adding a printer. If your printer is a "known" printer, then it will be set up automatically. If not, you step through a quick and easy wizard which prints two sheets on your printer and asks some questions about what you see. From these answers, ClickBook determines how your printer prints and can generate custom instructions for inserting paper back into your printer to print the back of the pages. Comments About Use To use ClickBook, you choose File->Print from any application. Then choose the "ClickBook Printer" and hit "Print." ClickBook will appear and you will have a preview of your document. If you want to change the layout to a brochure, or a n-up document, choose a different layout. Hit PRINT from ClickBook. If your printer prints on both sides of the paper, just wait for your booklet to appear, otherwise wait until the first side has printed, flip the pages over and insert them back into your printer and hit "Print Second Side" from ClickBook. ClickBook will take anything you can print and turn it into a book of any size, a poster of any size, or a PDF file. There are 100+ layouts to make books, brochures, door hangers, tri-folds, table-tops. The poster wizard lets you make posters of any size using regular paper and a regular printer. The PDF feature lets you make PDF files using any of the layouts. ClickBook works like a printer. You will have a new printer called "ClickBook Printer." When you print to the "ClickBook Printer," ClickBook will appear and you can choose the type of booklet, brochure, poster or PDF that you would like. Then ClickBook will print to your real printer to make the book, poster, business cards, cd cover, etc. ClickBook handles all the details -- including shrinking the pages for a perfect fit, rotating the pages to fit the book layout you've chosen, and printing on both sides of the paper when necessary. It really is that easy. With the literally hundreds of different print drivers now on the market, if you are having no problems with your existing print driver, ClickBook will likely work fine. However, since the number of drivers and driver versions is near impossible to keep up with, folks are encouraged to get information from the always updated www.bluesquirrel.com web site about these printer and print driver issues. Users of newer printers just hitting the market, or very low priced printers that have relatively unknown vendor names may find more difficulty with this program, than those using more common, standard printers and drivers from such well known vendors as Hewlett Packard, Canon, Epson, etc. During the installation process, you will be asked if you want ClickBook to set up its drivers to work with existing print drivers on the machine. If you wish, you can bypass this step during the install, and invoke it after you open the ClickBook program. This process has been made more simpler in the later versions of the program. The technical support staff and program coders are diligently working hard to always update this program, driven by the never ending addition of new printers and drivers and especially updates to print drivers constantly showing up on the market. About Blue Squirrel Blue Squirrel has been developing and selling software since 1995. Their original product was SQURL (Search and Query URL's) which has been replaced by WebSeeker. In early 1996, Grab-a-Site and the Internet Automation System was released. In March of 1996, Blue Squirrel was acquired by The ForeFront Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFGI) and in 1997 became ForeFront's Internet Content Management Division responsible for development of ForeFront's entire line of Internet and Content Management products, including WebSeeker, WebWhacker, and ClickBook. In June of 2000, Blue Squirrel became a privately funded independent company and acquired technologies of Wintronix, Bookmaker, and ForeFront. Blue Squirrel now develops and sells more than 15 innovative software titles direct-to-consumer, and through a variety of distributors and resellers around the world. Their first product was called SQURL (Search and Query URL's), so we used a squirrel as our company logo. We wanted our squirrel to stand out from the crowd, so we made him blue, and now their mascot is the one and only Blue Squirrel. Contact Michael Irizarry Director of Marketing Blue Squirrel 686 E. 8400 South Sandy, Utah 84070 801-352-1551 1-800-403-0925 FAX: 801-912-6032 sales@bluesquirrel.com www.bluesquirrel.com