The PLabel programs are designed to aid in the preparation of herbarium specimen labels and capture these label data in a database.
The programs are not intended to be full-featured herbarium catalogs. The DOS version is usable but is no longer available except by special request. The MS-Windows version is now at version 3.9c.
PLABEL FOR WINDOWS, VERSION 3
Version 3.9c adds/changes the following fields and includes bug fixes.
- Permit – memo field – permit information.
- Origin – memo field – name change for ancestry field. Original source information for cultivated material. The location of gathering of cultivated material should be entered in locality. The ancestry will print at the bottom of the label.
- Bug fixes
– Print configuration for printing origin corrected. See Quick Guide for details.
– Right click on various labels to disable a field corrected so they disable the correct field.
Version 3.2 adds the following fields:
- Ancestry – memo field – original source information for cultivated material. The location of gathering of cultivated material should be entered in locality. The ancestry will print at the bottom of the label.
- Project – memo field – project title
- Projectno – 25 character field – number of specimen in a project.
This version also more tightly checks to the geography and highlights entried not matched in the geography country and regions data tables. A regions table is also added, which is available from the a tab on the country table tab.
Installation Instructions
- Download the PLWin3.Zip file (right click the link and save to file). [latest version, 3.9c: date: 29 Sep 2020]
- Unzip PLWin3.Zip onto your hard disk. It is best to do this in your root folder, therefore, e.g., extract to C:\. It will create a folder called “plwin3”, with subfolders: data, pdata, prg, print. Don’t unzip the program on your desktop!
- Create the following two folders either in your My Documents folder or in the root of your hard drive (e.g., C:\):
\plwin_data [e.g., \My Documents\plwin_data\ -or- C:\plwin_data\ ]
\plwin_printrtf [e.g., \My Documents\plwin_printrtf\ -or- C:\plwin_printrtf\ ] - Find and highlight \plwin3\prg\plwin3.exe in your MS-Windows File Manager.
– Right-click on it and select “Properties” in the menu.
– Choose “Compatibility” and check “Disable Visual Themes”.
– Apply and close with those settings. - You may also want to create a shortcut to \plwin3\prg\plwin3.exe on your desktop.
- Double-click \plwin3\prg\plwin3.exe or the PLWin3 shortcut to open the program.
Data files should be backwards compatible with PLWin2, if you decide to go back to PLWin2. If you data files are in \PLWin2\data then you can move them to \PLWin3\data. But, it is recommended that you keep all of your data files in a folder C:\PLWin_data\.
Screen Sizing
PLabel for Windows formerly defaulted to full screen view. This is becoming problematic now that monitors vary considerably in size. Fonts and fields do not render correctly when screens are more than about 1 1/4 wider than high. To resolve this issue the program now limits the enlargement of the window. Windows can be adjusted by dragging the corners with the mouse or choosing the standard MS-Windows sizing button (2nd from right) at the top right of the screen. The program will not size well on long, narrow portrait-oriented monitors.
Important Note – Data File Integrity
In order to protect your data files, close them when not in use and do not put your computer to sleep with the files open. A computer hibernation, sleep, or reboot while a PLabel data file is open may cause the loss of recent entries or destroy the file. To be safe, periodically backup your files from Print / Export to File / Tab Delimited Text (*.txt).