Customer Reviews

Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2007 [Old Version]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

The card choices are large and the feature set of the program is great...

-but-

We keep upgrading to new versions of the card software to get new cards and in the apparently vain hope that the developers of the software will someday get their act together.

To say that this software is unstable is the understatement of the year. On average, one out of three cards causes the software to crash, usually after it has printed page one (outside) and before printing page two (inside).

No problem you think? Well not really. If you print page one of the card and it crashes, of course you lose all of the personalizations but if you restart the program and redo the personalizations you have to print out a whole new card because the program won't let you only print out the inside of the card onto the already printed outside.

Sure, the dialog box has a drop down that says "Page 2 of 2" giving you the "impression" that you should be able to do this but even with this option selected, it proceeds to print out the card, the whole card, yet again.

Needless to say this results in a lot of card stock wastage and card stock is expensive.

We have a Dell Dimension with a huge hard drive, 2.6 GHz hyperthreaded P4, 1GB of memory, and are running Home XP with SP2, with a HP color laserjet printer on an Ethernet so I really don't think that the problem is that we don't have "enough computer"...

This is simply the most unstable software we have ever used, and has been so for three product updates. (Why did we buy the latest one? Well, it turns out that old versions of the card software seem to "go bad" all by themselves with card choices simply disappearing, and so the software forces you to either stop using it or upgrade.)

Go buy a set of markers instead, it will be far less frustrating. The Sierra Home developers should be embarrassed that they put out such an amazingly poorly designed product. Hallmark needs to get a new software developer...

Great item, but I gave it one less star as it's a bit tricky (a learning curve) to line the paper on the correct side (outside) then to get the inside of the card printed when you flip it over to print the inside. Make too many mistakes and it's expensive. But it can be done!

For those writing on why this crashes, yes it does. It does crash, However it will NOT if you go to the makers homepage and download the free patch under support! Then it works great with no problems. The crash is due to a Vista change in the software. Due to policy I can't type the direct link, if you cannot find it, look in your instruction manual for the tech help, and they'll email you a link for the patch.

Also you do not need a fancy printer. I have a basic HP ink jet printer and it works great.

My advise is to make some practice cards on regular paper first until you learn the proper way to put the paper in for side two (inside of the card. Make a small "X" in pencil on your regular paper to get learn how to put in your "good" paper. Then it works fine after you learn it! Oh, and don't forget the patch first!!! AND to get the Hallmark paper and envelopes here at Amazon.......price can't be beat!!

Love the Hallmark Card Studio program and it's very easy to use. The only drawback is the lack of diversity from the other versions. I own 2 other versions (03 & 06) and there are numerous repeat cards. I would hope the upcoming versions would offer ALL new cards.

I loved the 2006 version of this software, but when I received an email offering an "upgrade" to the 2007 version, I decided to improve what I had. I could not be more disappointed. The resulting product is a miserable failure and I'm amazed that some people are having good luck with it.

This version prints everything off center. I can play with some of it to center it, but not the Hallmark logo, etc., on the back. The result is a very unprofessional mess. I went online to report the problem saw they have a FAQ on the issue promising that "soon" they will have a "fix" I can download. Three months later and still no "fix".

I've written Nova 3 times, they acknowledge the problem and issue the same automated response "Keep checking for updates". Finally, after numerous emails and phone conversations they have agreed to let me return the software to them.

When I received the 2007 edition, which in every other way was virtually identical to the 2006 version, I threw away my old software. I'm now thinking of purchasing it again because I found this software easy to use and loved to be able to make so many changes, add photos, etc.

Maybe some of these don't have this technical problem, but just be warned.

I had the Hallmark card program on my last PC, and found it to be comprehensive then. The Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2007 is full of professional-looking graphics, and is easy to use.
However, I would have paid the price for this programme just for the Event reminder calendar! I have all the family birthdays, and various appointments entered into it, and each time I boot up, the reminder pops up on the screen. Brilliant!

There's a fundamental flaw in the software: it won't print a greeting card properly unless you have a borderless-capable printer. If you print on a printer that can't do borderless printing, the front cover image on the card will be off center. Check the FAQ section of the hallmarksoftware web site and they even admit as much.

It's a known bug, and a 'fix' has been promised since December according to the hallmarksoftware on-line forums. Until the fix is released, if ever, avoid this program.

UPDATE: The software developer finally released a patch for the above problem in May. It seems to fix the printing issues (finally).

After being "guaranteed" by one of Hallmark's customer service reps that this version was much improved over the past few versions, I was once again disappointed that you could not open more than one project at a time (Hallmark rep said you could) or easily flip between two projects (not even a card and coordinating envelope!). Graphics STILL cannot be selected in multiples (the Hallmark rep said you would be able to). You must select one graphic, paste it to your project, go back and select the second graphic, paste it, etc. Graphics cannot be edited either (again the Hallmark rep said they could be)--not even to crop out a small portion. The rep said they now had a photo editor that can be used on graphics--not true! It can only be used on photos, not graphics and it, too, has limitations compared with photo editors included with their competitors (PrintShop, CreataCard, Print Master). There are many limitations in working with text boxes as well. If you want a line of text to have one word in one color and another word in different color or font, each word has to be in a separate text box (this is not true with the competitors named above). I do wonder if they actually let comsumers beta test any of their new products before releasing them--Hallmark has to have heard about all these drawbacks to their program, yet never change them. I agree with the other reviewer in that that are many duplicate cards from previous versions. I am also disappointed that many of the graphics included in their clip art are still rather low-end (and not much different from last year's version). The graphics on their pre-made cards are, for the most part, of excellent quality--much different from the clip art. I wouldn't waste my money on this version if you already own versions from any of the past several years. And I definitely wouldn't expect anything in the area of customer service from Hallmark since their reps obviously do not use the product!

I had the 2000 version and I needed to update. Glad I did. I downloaded the patch and was having trouble printing but the tech I talked to told me to re boot my computer and afterwards, I had NO trouble. Having lots of fun making cards again. I recomend this to anyone that likes to send personalized cards. I have fun with the photo cards too. I'M A HAPPY CAMPER

I like the selection and quality of graphics and sentiments in the software. However, I like to use the Value Pack cards (6.5 x 10) and there is no way that I can find to print borderless in this size. The more I try to mess with it, the more "messed up" my card becomes.

I just bought the Hallmark Card Studio Deluxe 2007 and It was also Vista compatable. I have two earlier versions and this one has a much larger selection of cards plus is very user friendly.