FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

This is the next-most asked question. Your ability to print the entire form may be dependent on your printer. The CAP forms were originally typeset and have very close margin tolerances. This generates problems with printers that can't print to the margin of a page. Problems with size limitations are particularly prevalent with ink-jet printers. NHQ is aware of the problem and has specified more generous margins on future forms. Future editions will include reduction of the form size, where possible, to permit more printers to print the entire form. In the meantime, do the best you can with what you have. Try to use a laser printer, as ink-jet printers' seem to have larger margins. Most wing Admin and Personnel Officers are OK with forms with cut-off margins. After all, would you rather have a legible form missing the bottom "CAPF###" or a completely illegible 4th generation facsimile?

You probably entered a space to "blank" the field. If you simply tab past without entering anything, the form will work. Word interprets ANY string (even blanks) as an attempt to enter a date and checks the field. If you entered something in a field that you want to be blank, highlight the entire field and press <DEL> (delete).

I do NOT have a direct connection to NHQ, other than receiving original copies of forms that I faithfully reproduce. And, I use the online CAPF8 to do that! I do not ask for changes to the electronic version of these forms without a very excellent reason. You can submit your concerns about any form, through channels, to the fine people at NHQ. I assure you that NHQ does listen and learn from its members. Remember, however, that their goals and agendas for CAP may differ from ours. Your idea might not be adopted and you might not get feedback on it.

I do not ask for changes to the electronic version of these forms without a very excellent reason. I leave typos and grammatical "errors" to the authors at NHQ. So, before you tell me that you found an error on a form, see if you can compare it to the original. I faithfully reproduce even the "errors!" <grin> You can submit your concerns about any form, through channels, to the fine people at NHQ. I assure you that NHQ does listen and learn from its members. Remember, however, that your idea might not be adopted and you might not get feedback on it.

Forms at CAP are dynamic: They change frequently as different sections come up with good ideas. However, what is good for one section might really screw up another section. If CAP doesn't act as a unit, we will have chaos. That is where the forms management people come in. They make sure the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. As you know, we live by these forms; some of the forms are crucial. All of us must be sure that the form we are using is really the form NHQ is calling current. So, before you start using a form someone tells you is "better," check the CAPR 0-9 to see if it is "blessed" by NHQ.

BTW - Ordered means I do not have an original of the form. Coming soon means I have an original of the form but not built it yet.

The forms are not scanned in, as scanning seems to stretch or widen the form. Further, a scanned form is difficult to store, transmit across different platforms, and impossible to edit when forms are updated. Finally, it is impossible to turn a scanned form into an html (internet) document, which is the direction I believe CAP is moving toward. (Word documents can be translated into html.)

Creating a table, row-by-row, specifically defining the size and width of each column creates each form. Each border is individually defined by line type and line width. After all the boxes are identical to the original, the fonts are discovered and text entered. Kerning and paragraph formatting individually position each line. The form is printed on several printers and checked for correctness. I then go back and enter appropriate forms boxes to each entry area, adding a check for format, a one-line help, and a form_box name for later use in the National CAP database project. When NHQ defines some of these names, I use those (if I know them). Each entry is utilized and a test page is printed from each of my printers. The form is then Zipped and added to the webpage and the ALLFORMS zip document. The entire process takes 8 to 72 hours per form. (Thank goodness the newer forms are more standardized.) You can see why it has taken so long to create these forms.

I no longer accept forms written by others. You are welcome to write all the forms you like and put them on your own webpage. I am not trying to be aloof. It turns out it is harder to adjust someone else's form than it is just to write it from scratch.

Consistent with USAF standards, all forms are written in Microsoft Word. As of 15-Apr-97, I updated all my machines to Office 97 (AKA Word Version 8). While many other programs will read and convert these documents, I have found that the results are often unacceptably poor. There are no plans to rewrite these documents into a format other than Microsoft Word.

YES! The forms work transparently with new versions of Word. Most documents have been written to take advantage of the newer versions. All documents edited are modified to consider the added features of newer versions of Word. As of 15-Apr-97, all new or edited forms will be Word 97 documents.

All pages or sides are in one file. Most documents will print the first page, then pause to let you manually feed the back of the page. If this is not working, set your printer to manual feed or remove the paper tray, then feed pages individually to your printer.

Most of the time, this comes from using an ink-jet printer. They do not have the lower margin tolerances most laser printers have. Word will attempt to print as much of the form as possible. Most admin officers will accept these forms over third-generation thermal faxes and the like. NHQ is aware of the problem, and future forms will have more generous page margins. There are no plans as yet to convert all the forms to larger margins. I investigated "shrink-to-fit," but it didn't work well at all.

Calculations are done at the time of actual printing. "Print Preview" will not show the calculations. A button on the menu bar permits recalculating the fields for viewing prior to printing ("Update Totals"). Be sure Tools|Options|Print has the Update Fields box checked.

Simply open the template as a new document (see above) and print the document. Form 9 has no areas to edit; just print the form. Form 31 does not permit printing blank forms, at the request of NHQ. The reason is simple: CAPF31 (NHQ printing) has small character boxes that force you to print block letters clearly. I was not able to reproduce the little boxes. Hand-written forms must be done on forms that have those little boxes. Ergo, you can't use my form for handwriting the application.