Importance

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for operating with pre-printed forms on electronic office processing equipment by using a printer under control of a video terminal keyboard to identify the location and length of blanks on a pre-printed form and then displaying lines on the video display having the same length and relative position as on the form. Editing functions are used to add captions adjacent to the lines to indicate what information is to be entered on each blank line in the corresponding form. The displayed lines and captions are a form template for the particular pre-printed form and is stored. When the processing equipment is to be used to enter data for the pre-printed form, the associated form template is displayed on the video display and the appropriate information is entered onto the blank lines and then stored. When there is need for a hard copy, a pre-printed form is placed in the printer and the stored information is typed into the blanks. The system locates the blanks to fill them in using the location and length information stored when creating the form template. Features are the ability to delete and edit information entered and stored using the form template, and to merge print some or all the stored information into a form document other than the pre-printed form.

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First Claim