Thread: introduction

Mark Parlee here

Michael Thomas made me aware of this site.

I am in the construction business as a home builder , and exterior renovation specializing in cement board application.
I do moisture intrusion and construction defect consulting.
We, in our exterior renovation, come across all kinds of areas that are improperly detailed and letting moisture intrude into the structure without being evident to a visual inspection.
I do a lot of posting and consulting details on the JLC site.
I have a question. When I do a report on the exterior of a home I use publisher to put my captioned pictures in then send it off to a PDF printer to get to a nice presentable document that I can print or email.
This process seems to be a good bit of work and I would like to find some report writing software that might streamline the process.
Any suggestions would be helpful.
I do not need all of the dialog boxes but just a template for the report.


Mark

I already posted this in another section but was directed here

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I have found it easiest to just create my own WORD templates. Jpeg Pixel sizes can be adjusted en masse before insertion into the docs to keep the docs manageable email size. The recipient can double click the images and enlarge, crop, etc as desired.

Or leave the pictures in original size. The entire doc can be converted to PDF for emailing.

It's your business. You will create the template most expressive of your business. Caution!!!!!! If you do this, stay away from Office and WORD 2007. What a dog!

I also use Word. Over time I have made templates for all kinds of insp types and situations. The doc's are easy to modify and print. Photos can be pasted in and the whole thing converted to pdf for email.
I have an HI software program that I never use.

I used Word Perfect and made a macro to insert an entire list of photos into my report with one click.

My macro created a table, inserted the first photo in the first column at the size I specified in the macro, created a second column and inserted the next photo, then created a second row in each column for me to go back and type in comments, then started over again creating another row - inserting the next photo, etc., until all photos were inserted.

The macro then stopped and I went back and typed in my comments.

I typically put all my photos in one location at the end of the report, however, I could insert them into the report wherever I wanted to, except that each photo had to be inserted individually by clicking another macro which would take me to where I put the photos, I would double click the photo I wanted and it would be inserted at the size I specified in the macro.

Like Word, you could click on the photo and edit it, adjust it size, etc.

I then printed to a .pdf file to send out.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Thom, Your idea is along what I had in mind.
I want to create a template but find myself going back to publisher every time an just grinding it out.
Do you know of any sample templates that are available?

Mark