Home :: Software :: Home & Hobbies :: Genealogy  

Cooking & Health
Fashion
Gardening & Landscape
Genealogy

Hobbies
Home Design
Home Publishing
Instrument Instruction
Legal
Mapping
Movies & Television
Music Appreciation
Personal Improvement
Script & Screenwriting
The Print Shop Essentials 15

The Print Shop Essentials 15

List Price:
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Overrides you printer's settings!
Review: I installed this without any problems on my XP run system. Tried printing envelopes on my brand new Canon i950 ink jet. The Print Shop overrides your printer's settings, so I had to keep the printer set on "Paper" mode, but there's a lever in the printer carriage that must be changed when printing envelopes. If it this doesn't match what the software settings are, it won't print! I tried going along with the settings recommended by The Print Shop, and didn't switch the carriage to "envelope" mode, and the ink came out in splotches. It also prints about 2 inches down into the envelope, so if you want to add borders or art in the corners, it ain't happening. I didn't have this problem with Works. According to the self help section on the Broderbund website, this margin is not the fault of the software, but is a printer problem. I called Canon (who answered immediately and were very helpful BTW), and I determined that I was setting the printer correctly according to Canon's instructions. The problem goes back to the fact that The Print Shop overrides your printer's settings. The link to the website in the software works intermittently, and I'm using a broadband connection and it's always on. Sometimes I click on it and nothing happens. So, I've uninstalled it and I'm sending it back to Broderbund this week (they have a 90 day money back guarantee). What a hassle!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not too bad (if bought used)
Review: I purchased a "used" copy for about $9 since v20 is out and is almost $90. I'm not disappointed with it since it does just what I want it to do: Labels, Newsletter, envelopes. Things that were a challenge in Microsoft products like Word, etc. I was very pleased with it, but then I didn't spend a whole lot. I'll get v20 when I can get it for $9 but then maybe the current version at that time will have been improved enough to be worth it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: No satisfaction with this product from Broderbund!
Review: I purchased this because I enjoyed Print Shop 12. Most of the graphics for Version 15 are on line not on the CD. Graphics I used to get from 12 were no longer on the CD but on line. You have to download the images to your hard drive. Many of the advertised additional graphics are cheap photos or ugly clip art images. Version 15 also uninstalled version 12 and my disks would no longer install it when I removed Version 15 in disgust. Broderbund offered no help with this and never responded to a written complaint filed with the Better Business Bureau. The amount it would have cost them: 10 dollars to send me replacement disks to reinstall Print Shop 12. What a terrible way to treat a customer!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Not a good upgrade
Review: I upgraded my old Printshop 6.0 to version 15, thinking there would have to be lots of improvements in the last 3 yrs. So far, I haven't seen them. In fact, some things I could do in the older version can't even be done in the new version.

I find the user interface to be more cumbersome than the older version. One area where I had high hopes was the Quickstart projects and graphics -- I thought they would be updated. They're still amateurish. It's hard to see how a business would use any of them.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Save your money
Review: I was almost ready to buy Serif 9, but in an apparent moment of weakness, decided that my relatively simple project would be something Print Shop Deluxe 15 could handle... For starters, there's no way to change the default 1/2 page print margin! Help is an exercise in futility--no manual, and the on-line help is worthless due to lack of useful indexing. Lot's of bugs (try changing the font size while scrolling text in a text box window). Fails 50% of the time. The only way to recover is to cut and paste to some other word processing application, and then paste it back. This works 100% of the time. BUG! The PDF generator is useless (changes colors grossly and also misaligns the work on the page. Gave up trying to talk with Tech Support after 35 minutes of bad music. Save yourself the aggravation on buy something else.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Access is "iffy"
Review: I've owned previous versions of this product, and I enjoyed using them. I found switching CDs a little annoying though, and welcomed the idea of one disk, with most of the art stored online, without taking up space on my computer.

The art is wonderful; my real complaint with the program is the website access. All too often, I find myself in the middle of designing something when suddenly an object cannot download. There appears a blurb from the manufacturer telling you to try again later. Sometimes "later" is just a few moments later, other times it can be quite a while. Also, I find that the thumbnails are a little slow appearing, making scrolling through the art time consuming. I would give this product a much higher rating if it wasn't for this unreliability. I like the PrintShop, but I just bought Version 20 Deluxe, to be installed when I install my larger hard drive. I haven't installed it yet; I'm reading reviews here to see if anything else sounds more promising.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Access is "iffy"
Review: I've owned previous versions of this product, and I enjoyed using them. I found switching CDs a little annoying though, and welcomed the idea of one disk, with most of the art stored online, without taking up space on my computer.

The art is wonderful; my real complaint with the program is the website access. All too often, I find myself in the middle of designing something when suddenly an object cannot download. There appears a blurb from the manufacturer telling you to try again later. Sometimes "later" is just a few moments later, other times it can be quite a while. Also, I find that the thumbnails are a little slow appearing, making scrolling through the art time consuming. I would give this product a much higher rating if it wasn't for this unreliability. I like the PrintShop, but I just bought Version 20 Deluxe, to be installed when I install my larger hard drive. I haven't installed it yet; I'm reading reviews here to see if anything else sounds more promising.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Print Shop 15 Delima
Review: It took me 4 hours to try and install this program. It would get as far as "updating files" and freeze right there on the spot. No instruction booklet came with the software so basicly your on your own. Also, there was no indication that you had to uninstall the pervious version before attempting Print Shop 15.
Finally I had to e-mail Broderbund for help and they referred me to their Techincal web site to sort out the answer for myself.
Very dissapointed!!! I myself do not see very many new graphics, there the same as Print Shop 12. So whats so great about Print Shop 15? I don't know!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: exasperating
Review: The standard version is just a teaser to get you to buy the upgrade to the "Deluxe" version. After getting the software installed, you then find that it can't even change the paper size. The on-line instructions aren't customized for each version so you'll spend a lot of time wondering why selections aren't available. Of course with the deluxe you get video editing, which if you don't need it is just software bundling at it's worst.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Is there an award for Worst Software Imaginable?
Review: This is great if you want to send a note to your Aunt Helen. Anything more substantial and it is full of quirks and bugs. Huge Waste of Money----the programmers should be lined up and shown the door or preferably worse.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates