Product Info

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SP Series Info Central: Production e-Guide
Card Production
To use a card creation application, such as Datacard’s ID Works™ or Preface™:
1 Follow instructions for the card creation application to capture, format, and save the card data.
2 In the card creation application, send cards to the printer (usually, use the Print button).
The printer driver receives and processes card data, places cards in a queue, and sends the next card
to the printer.
To use a PC application such as Microsoft Word:
1 In the application, select the SmartDriver as the current printer. (Your printer might have a different
name.)
2 Select the printer settings that correspond to the cards. See Setting up for the card design for details.
3 In the application's page setup feature, set the paper size to CR80 Card 2.13" x 3.38" and set the
margins to match the driver.
4 Format the text to print using TrueType fonts. Text formatted as Black will print using the K (solid black)
ribbon panel. All other colors are printed using the color panels (if you use a color print ribbon).
5 To encode magnetic stripe data,
do one of the following:
a Type the magnetic stripe data on the front of the card and format the text using one of the following
fonts:
• Track 1—Magnetic Stripe
• Track 2—Magnetic Stripe
• Track 3—Magnetic Stripe
• Track NTT—Magnetic Stripe (PC must run a Japanese language Windows operating system)
b If your application does not allow you to select fonts, use magnetic stripe escapes to identify data.
See Magnetic stripe setup for details.
6 When the card data is ready, select Print to send the card to print. The printer driver receives and
processes card data, places cards in a queue, and sends the next card to the printer.
Tips for success
• Developers can write applications using the SmartDriver™ Software Developer’s Kit. This kit can be
downloaded from www.datacard.com
.
• If you use magnetic stripe fonts or escapes, keep data for one track in one line of text, and only
have magnetic stripe data on the line. (Use a small font size if needed.)
• Do not use character formatting (such as kerning) or formatting characters (such as tabs) with
data intended for magnetic stripe encoding.
•
Whenever you encode magnetic stripe data or program smart cards, the card can include confidential
data that you cannot see. In addition, used print ribbon contains negative images of data printed on cards.
Handle used print ribbon and incomplete cards according to your policy for handling the confidential data
that might be on the card.
• For the most current information about messages, see the online help for each message.