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LetterWriter version 2.0 Manual Lightwave Consultants September 1985 P.O. Box 290539 Tampa, FL 33617 Copyright 1985, All Rights Reserved. The LetterWriter distribution diskette, of which this manual is one file, may be freely copied and distributed. This manual may only be distributed as a file on a distribution diskette. Page 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 What is Shareware? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The Benefits From Using LetterWriter . . . . . . . . . . 5 LetterWriter Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The LetterWriter Distribution Diskette . . . . . . . . . 8 Starting LetterWriter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 LetterWriter Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Summary of LetterWriter Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 The Functions of LetterWriter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Using Company Letterhead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Hints For Smooth Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Planned Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Page 3 Introduction LetterWriter is an electronic address book and a whole lot more. Use LetterWriter to perform all of your mailings to all of your addresses. The designers of LetterWriter made every effort to make envelope and letter printing and address maintenance as easy as possible. LetterWriter keeps track of all your addresses for you. You may organize your lists of addresses into as many files as you choose and you may have as many addresses per file as you want. You can have an unlimited number of addresses in an unlimited number of files. Their are no limits in LetterWriter. The only limits come from your hardware. LetterWriter also uses the addresses in its files to print letters and envelopes in a variety of ways. This manual contains all the information you will need to use LetterWriter. However, many people have claimed they do not need the manual at all; LetterWriter is that friendly. Therefore, this manual is written basically for reference. If you would like to help support Lightwave and LetterWriter, Lightwave Consultants asks that you send $39 to Lightwave Consultants; P.O. Box 290539; Tampa, FL 33617. For the $39 you will receive the next upgrade to LetterWriter, access to the LetterWriter Help Line and a professionally printed and bound manual. In any case, welcome to LetterWriter! Page 4 What Is Shareware? Shareware is a software distribution concept. In shareware, it is believed: that people will pay for something they find useful, that most software costs too much, that copy protection schemes can sometimes be frustrating to the honest user, and that software users want to support software authors while not necessarily supporting the software middle men. Shareware is a marketing concept. The term was probably originally coined by Bob Wallace of Quicksoft, Inc. Mr. Wallace wrote PC-Write (c), a shareware full feature text editor. LetterWriter is distributed under the Shareware concept. You receive the software first, from whatever source that may be, and pay only what you think the software is worth. You are free, and encouraged, to share copies of the distribution diskette with others. LetterWriter is "living" software, that is, software that continues to develop and get better, more powerful. Your support is essential. Financial support, of course, pays for additional development and distribution, but ideas for enhancements are always welcome. In shareware this support comes from you. A file has been prepared to make support a little easier for you. This file is called SUPPORT. Simply print the file, (using the DOS command COPY SUPPORT PRN), fill it out, enclose your check, and mail the two to Lightwave Consultants; P.O. Box 290539; Tampa, FL 33617. Page 5 The Benefits From Using LetterWriter There are lots of benefits to be obtained from using LetterWriter. Most of them involve less wear and tear on you, the person who wants to get the most from your computer. Here is a partial list: . Saves disk space as letters can be saved and reused, and addresses, salutation, etc., are not saved with the letter. . Eliminates the need to keep an address book. . Produces letters that conform to the International Standard for Business Correspondence. . Envelopes and mailing lists can be produced easily and quickly. . Saves time at the keyboard as no address ever has to be written or remembered again, and substantially cuts the time required to produce envelopes and letters. Here is what LetterWriter does for you: __________________________________ | | | your address | | | | date | | | | target name & address | | | | salutation | | | | | | | | | | body | | | | | | | | | | complimentary close | | | | your name | | | | :lw | |__________________________________| Page 6 In the above example, LetterWriter does everything excluding the body of the letter. It prints your address, gets the date from the computer and prints that, prints the target address, prints the salutation, reads and prints the body from a file you have created using any text editor, prints the complimentary close, and prints your name, leaving enough space for a signature. LetterWriter can print any length of letter, and automatically numbers the pages for you. LetterWriter can use any word processor or text editor as long as it can create a standard ASCII file for the body. Some editors, such as Wordstar(r) and Multimate(r) require that you export the file first, but they are still totally usable. One of the nicest features of LetterWriter is that you can use the same body to print all or part of the letters in a single address file. For example, if you are moving, you can write a short body that lets everybody know that your address needs to be changed. Then, by punching a couple of function keys, LetterWriter will print all the letters and envelopes for everyone in that address file. As you've guessed, LetterWriter can also do envelopes, as well as print the list of addresses in an address file. LetterWriter can sort addresses for you and perform a bunch of other functions. Page 7 LetterWriter Requirements In order to use LetterWriter you don't need much at all. For hardware you will need an MS-DOS computer, including the IBM models, with 128 KB of memory, a monitor and a printer. LetterWriter will run on either color or monochrome monitors. Nearly any printer will work with LetterWriter. The letters that LetterWriter produces are designed for 80 column width. Envelopes are designed for 4 1/8 by 9 1/2 size (business envelopes), but other sizes can usually be used. Due to the fact the the standard business envelope will not normally fit in an 80 column printer, it might be wise to use a larger carriage printer, at least for the envelopes. For software you only need DOS version 2.0 or higher, (including 3.0 and 3.1) and a text editor. Most public domain editors work fine with LetterWriter. Version 3.0 of LetterWriter will contain a text editor built into the system. The word processor, or text editor, needs to be able to produce standard ASCII files. Many editors do this as a matter of course such as the IBM Professional Editor(r), SPF(r), PC-Write(r), and many others. Nearly all editors allow you to create a standard ASCII file through exportation. Multimate(r) and Wordstar(r) are two examples. Page 8 The LetterWriter Distribution Diskette Lightwave recommends that you create a copy of the distribution diskette before you begin. This will make it easier for you to pass along LetterWriter to your friends and associates. You can make a backup copy of LetterWriter using the DOS COPY *.* or DISKCOPY command. LetterWriter will run in hard disk systems, and you are allowed to copy LetterWriter to your hard disk if you wish. You are free, and encouraged, to distribute copies of the distribution diskette to friends and associates. The definition of the distribution diskette is one that contains the following files in their original condition. You may not distribute any file without the others. Everything you need except hardware, DOS and an editor, is on the LetterWriter distribution diskette. These are the files found there: LW.COM - the LetterWriter system. ME.ME - file that holds your address. END - holds complimentary close. MANUAL READ.ME SUPPORT SAMPLE.ADR - sample addresses SAMPLE - sample letter CHECK.COM - program to test your diskette CHECK.TXT - CHECK information As you use LetterWriter these files will be added: *.ADR - files of addresses. *.* or * - bodies of letters. TEMPFILE - a file used occasionally, and deleted immediately after use. You can name the body of a letter anything you want, as long as it does not conflict with a file of the LetterWriter system. The only file you need anywhere to run LetterWriter is the file LW.COM. While the ME.ME and END files contain information specific for you, they will be created and initialized if they do not exist. If these files are created, you will have to update the information in them to make them specific for you. Page 9 Starting Letterwriter To run LetterWriter all you need to do is enter the command LW. The LetterWriter introductory screen will appear. It contains information about the shareware concept and some benefits you will receive for your support. At the top of the introductory screen is a prompt asking you for the file name where the addresses are found. If this is your first time using LetterWriter, experiment with the SAMPLEs provided. Simply enter SAMPLE and LetterWriter will use that file. If the file name you entered exists, then LetterWriter will use that file and take you to the main screen. If the file does not exist then you have the option of creating it. Go ahead - a few extra files laying around never hurt LetterWriter. LetterWriter will run under any drive and directory, including hard disks. LetterWriter supports full utilization of directory options when you specify file names. Therefore, you can run LetterWriter from one directory and manipulate the data on another. The next screen is the main screen of LetterWriter. You will see 'LetterWriter' at top. From there you can invoke any of LetterWriter's functions. Page 10 LetterWriter Overview LetterWriter works on one address file at a time. When you first enter LW you asked to supply the name of the file you wish to work with. Do not worry if you typed in one name but meant to work with another; LetterWriter allows you to change the file after you have entered the system. After the introductory screen you will come to the LetterWriter working screen. All prompts, messages, and information will appear on this one screen. For those using a color monitor, the information and messages will be shown as white on blue and the error messages will be shown as red on green. Prompts will also be shown as white on blue. Immediately under the "LetterWriter" title, and to the right, you will see the name of the file you are currently working on. The '.adr' extension is appended by LetterWriter. This makes it easier to keep address files separated from other files on your diskettes. Then comes several lines where you can view the data in your address files. First name and last name fields are used to hold the name of the person to whom you are writing. The street field can be used to hold either the street of the addressee or the name of the company you are mailing to. The City/State? field will be used to either hold the city and state part of the address or the street part if a company name is included. The last line will hold the state part if a company name was used. There are two fields for phone numbers. These numbers will only be printed out on the list addresses functions. They do not become part of any letter or envelope. The F,L,B,G field is an indicator field. It determines what type of salutation you want to use. If the 'F' is used the only the first name field will be printed in the salutation. If the 'L' is used then only the last name. If the 'B' is used then both the first and last names will be printed. The 'G' indicates a generic salutation of the form: "Dear Sir/Ma'am:" You can use either lower or upper case for the indicator; LetterWriter will change it to upper case. The 'B' option is the default. On the working screen there are three blank lines. The center blank line is used for messages, information, and error messages. On the lower half of the screen you see all the options available to you in LetterWriter. This part of the screen Page 11 never changes. LetterWriter is capable of printing to continuous form paper, or cut paper (i.e. single sheets). If your printer has a cut sheet feeder, then that is identical to continuous paper. If you have to feed one sheet at a time into your printer, then use the single sheet options. Before LetterWriter begins any print operation it checks to make sure that the printer is ready, that it has paper, and that it can accept data. In any of LetterWriter's prompts for a filename, you may specify both drive and directory. Therefore, LetterWriter can exist on one drive, in a different directory, and you can work with the data in another drive in another directory. It follows the DOS specifications concerning drives and directories. Please see your DOS manual for additional information. Page 12 Summary of LetterWriter Functions The following are the key presses used to perform actions while using LetterWriter: Cursor keys to edit while adding an address, changing an address or changing your address. Any normal key to enter a character while editing. The below are all function keys. The 'S' means shifted, or to hold down a shift key while pressing the appropriate function key, the 'A' means alternate, or to hold down the alt key while pressing the appropriate function key, and the 'C' means control, or to hold down the ctrl key while pressing the appropriate function key. F1 - Add another address to the address file. F2 - Change the address that is currently displayed. F3 - Display the previous address if it exists. F4 - Display the next address if it exists. F5 - Delete the displayed address. F6 - Change my address. F7 - Change the Complimentary Close. F8 - Sort this address file by first name. F9 - Sort this address file by last name. F10 - Do a keyword search from the current location onward. SF1 - Go to the beginning of the file. SF2 - Combine another address file to the end of this one. SF3 - Change the current address file. SF10 - Exit the LetterWriter system and return to DOS. CF1 - Print a letter for the displayed address on continuous paper. CF2 - Print a letter for the displayed address using single sheet paper. CF3 - Print identical letters for every address in this file using continuous paper. CF4 - Print identical letters for every address in this file using single sheet paper. CF5 - Print identical letters for every address in this file, from the currently displayed one onwards, using continuous paper. CF6 - Print identical letters for every address in this file, from the currently displayed one onwards, using single sheet paper. AF1 - Print a list of all the addresses in this file using continuous paper. AF2 - Print a list of all the addresses in this file using single sheet paper. Page 13 AF3 - Print a list of all the addresses in this file, from the currently displayed one onwards, using continuous paper. AF4 - Print a list of all the addresses in this file, from the currently displayed one onwards, using single sheet paper. CF7 - Print an envelope for every address in this file. CF8 - Print an envelope for the currently displayed address. CF9 - Print an envelope for every address in this file from the currently displayed address onward. Page 14 The Functions of LetterWriter On the main screen of LetterWriter you will notice a short description of all of LetterWriter's functions. Each begins with something like F1, SF5, etc. F1 means to press the key marked F1 in order to invoke that function. To invoke the ones marked SFx hold down the shift key while pressing the function key, etc. There are three times, while using LetterWriter, that you will be placed in EDIT mode. This occurs when you add an address, change an address or change your address. You can tell you are in this mode because LetterWriter will ask you to press F10 when you are completed. If you have a color monitor the data lines will be light magenta. When you are first placed in EDIT mode you will be located at column one of the first name field. While in the edit mode you will have available more of the keyboard than while in command mode, but all of the function keys except F10 will be disabled. You can use any of the normal typewriter keys to enter data. LetterWriter operates in an overwrite mode while editing. You can use the enter key to move to the fields on the screen. Each time you press enter you will be placed at the beginning of the next field. The phone numbers come after the state field and the indicator field is last. You may also use the cursor keys to move about the fields. The up and down arrows will place you at the beginning of the previous or next fields. The left arrow will move you one space to the left and the right arrow will move you one space to the right. All of the cursor keys are wrap around keys - that is, you can press them forever and keep going around in circles if you wish. One word of caution: any underline characters you leave in the address when you exit EDIT mode will be removed from the address. If you want a space between characters, put a space between characters. However, when printing, LetterWriter will put the space between the first name and the last name for you. This allows faster data entry. The TAB key is used in six locations. When you are in the first name field it will position you at the beginning of the home phone number field and vice versa. If you are in the last name field it will position you to the beginning of the work phone number field and vice versa. If you are in the city/state field you will be placed in the indicator field Page 15 and vice versa. The DEL key is used to delete characters. If you are in any one of the first five fields it will also "pull" the rest of the characters to the left. If you are in the phone number or indicator fields it will replace that character with an underline. The INS key is used to insert blanks so that you may add characters to the address. If you are in any of the first five fields it will also "push" the rest of the characters to the right. Characters on the end of the line will be pushed off it and cannot be recovered. If you are in the phone number or indicator fields then it will replace that character with an underline. The backspace key functions exactly as the left arrow key. In the letter printing functions of LetterWriter, you can print any length letter you choose to write. LetterWriter will automatically number the pages for you. F1 = add new address Use this function to add new addresses to the address file you are currently working with. When you press F1 the lines at the top of the screen will be blanked and you will be placed in EDIT mode. When you leave edit mode the address you typed in will be added to the end of the current address file. Both the first and last names can be up to twenty characters long, and the other three lines can be up to forty characters each. Addresses will always be added to the end of the current file. You can change their position by SORTing the file. F2 = change displayed address Use this function to change the displayed address. When you press F2 you will be placed in EDIT mode with the address that is currently displayed. You may make whatever changes you wish, and when you exit from edit mode the address will be changed in the address file. It will occupy the same location it did before. F3 = display previous address Page 16 Use F3 and F4 to move about in your list of addresses. Using these two you can look up any address you want and position LetterWriter to the address you want to work with. If you are at the beginning of the file and press F3 then LetterWriter will tell you so and not move the displayed address. F4 = display next address Use F4 to show the next address in the list of addresses in the current address file. If you are at the end of the file and press F4 then LetterWriter will tell you so and not move. F5 = delete displayed address Use this function to delete the address currently displayed. You will be prompted with "Are You Sure?". If you really did not want to delete the address then answer with any key except the 'Y' key. If you did want to delete the address then answer 'Y' and the address will be deleted. F6 = change my address Use this function key to update your address. The function works nearly identically to the change address function. Simply modify your address in any way you wish, and then leave edit mode. Your modified address will be placed in the file ME.ME. F7 = change complimentary close When you press F7 you will be prompted to enter a new complimentary close. The prompt will appear just below line five of the address block. The complimentary close in LetterWriter can be up to forty characters long, and will be placed in the file END. Change the complimentary close to signify the mood of letter. For example, 'Sincerely,', is often used for business correspondence and some letters, but 'Love,' might be a little more appropriate when writing to mom. F8 = sort address file by first name Press function keys eight and nine to sort the file you Page 17 are currently in. F8 will sort the file by first name in ascending order. F9 also sorts in ascending order, but uses the last name field as the key. When either F8 or F9 is completed, you will positioned back at the beginning of the file. Spaces are lower than numbers, which are lower than capital letters, which are lower than minor letters. LetterWriter will sort any size address file and is very fast. However, if you have a file that is quite large, on a floppy diskette drive, and is very random, it may take a little while to sort it. Please be patient. F9 = sort address file by last name Uses the last name, instead of the first, as the key for the sorting operation. F10 = keyword search Use this function to find any address in the address file. When you press this function key, you will be prompted to enter the string that you want to search for. This string can be up to 40 characters long, but in general you will use something much smaller. The search function will search through all the addresses in the address file from the one FOLLOWING the one currently displayed until it finds the search string or reaches the end of the file. If it did not find the string then you will be placed back at your current location and LetterWriter will let you know it could not find the string. If the string was found, then the address where it was found will be displayed and LetterWriter will let you know that it found the string. Keyword search performs the search regardless of the case of the address fields and the search string. Therefore, "mainstreet" is equivalent to "MainStreet", and any other combination of case, during the search. LetterWriter looks for the search string among the first five fields of the addresses. It looks for the string everywhere except for the phone number and indicator fields. Therefore, you can find any address by firstname or lastname if you know it, or you can find the address if you have the street, or you can find the address by the city, or state, or company. LetterWriter will find the search string regardless of the characters that surround it. Therefore, if the search string is 'ing' then LetterWriter will find the Page 18 address that has 'Washington' in it. SF1 = go to beginning of file Use this key to return to the beginning of the file. This is especially useful when you want to look for a new address, but are already in the middle of the address file. SF2 = combine files In order to combine two address files into a single address file, use this key. You will be prompted for the name of the file you want to combine. If the file exists, then all the addresses in that file will be added to the end of the current file. If the file does not exist, then LetterWriter will tell you so. The '.adr' extension will be appended to whatever name you type in. If you decide you do not want to combine files, then simply press enter without giving a file name. SF3 = change files If you wish to operate with the data in another address file, then use this function key. Again, you will be prompted for the name of the file you want to switch to. If the file exists, then it will become the current address file. If it does not exist, then LetterWriter will tell you so. The '.adr' extension will be appended to whatever name you provide. If you decide that you do not want to switch files, then press enter without giving a file name. SF10 = exit Use this key to exit LetterWriter. The screen will be cleared and you will be returned to DOS. CF1 = print one letter cont Use this function key to print one letter on continuous paper. Page 19 You will be prompted for the name of the file where the body of the letter exists. If the file exists, then LetterWriter will print one letter using the displayed address. Otherwise, you will be informed that the file does not exist. CF2 = print one letter single This function is identical to CF1, except that LetterWriter will pause and ask you to prepare the next sheet of paper before printing continues. Pressing any key will indicate that the paper has been prepared. CF3 = print all letters cont Press CF3 when you want to use the same body and print a letter to everybody in the current address file. LetterWriter will prompt you for the name of the file where the body of the letter is located. This prompt appears just under line five of the address block. If the file exists then printing will begin, otherwise LetterWriter will tell you it could not find the file. As the printing operation could be quite large, LetterWriter will ask you if you are sure you want to do this. Pressing any key except for the 'Y' key will mean no. LetterWriter will continue to print letters until it has created an identical letter for every address in the current address file. This could be two, three, or thousands. LetterWriter will keep you up to date on which letter it is currently printing and how many letters it has printed when it is finished. The CF3 function is very useful. CF4 = print all letters single This function is identical to CF3, except that LetterWriter will pause whenever another sheet of paper needs to be placed in the printer. Pressing any key will indicate that the paper has been prepared. CF5 = print all letters from current cont This function is identical to CF3 except that it only prints letters for those addresses in the address file from the currently displayed address onward. Page 20 CF6 = print all letters from current single This function is identical to CF4 except that it only prints letters for those addresses in the address file from the currently displayed address onward. AF1 = print all addresses cont This function will print a list of all the addresses in the current address file. You will be prompted with an "Are You Sure?". AF2 = print all addresses single This functin is identical to AF1, except that LetterWriter will pause to let you put another sheet of paper in the printer as it is needed. AF3 = print all addresses from current cont This function is identical to AF1, except that only those addresses from the currently displayed address onward will be listed. AF4 = print all addresses from current single This function is identical to AF2, except that only those addresses from the currently displayed address onward will be listed. CF7 = print all envelopes Use CF7 when you want to print an envelope for every address in the current address file. Normally, CF7 would be used with CF3 or CF4. As the printing operation can be quite large, LetterWriter will ask you if you are sure you want to do this. LetterWriter will keep you up to date on which envelope it is currently printing and how many envelopes it did print when it is finished. LetterWriter will ask you to put an envelope in place and press any key when ready. LetterWriter will print your return address and one of the addresses in the current file and then eject the envelope from the printer. LetterWriter will continue in this fashion, stopping after every envelope, until they are all Page 21 printed. If you cannot fit an envelope in your printer then simply print the address on standard paper and cut and tape the address onto the front of an envelope, or cut and fold the paper into an envelope. Both give a typed envelope instead of a hand printed one. CF8 = print one envelope Identical to CF7, except it prints an envelope only for the currrently displayed address, does not give you an "Are You Sure?" and does not report on how many envelopes were printed. CF9 = print all envelopes from current Identical to CF7, except that envelopes are only printed for the currently displayed address onward. Page 22 Using Company Letterhead LetterWriter was designed to care for the needs of large businesses, small businesses and individuals. In order to print letters on company stationery, change your address so that all the fields are blank except for first name and last name. LetterWriter will then skip enough space on the stationery for the letterhead, but will still print your name at the end of the letter. As names are not customarily printed on the envelopes of company stationery, simply change your address again, removing your name. Then, LetterWriter will print nothing for the return address on envelopes except blank lines. If your printer has a cut sheet feeder, then you should use the continuous paper functions provided by LetterWriter. The cut sheet feeder provides a continuous supply of paper for LetterWriter. Page 23 Hints For Smooth Operation The following are answers to some common questions concerning LetterWriter. You may choose to put middle initials either with the first name or with the last name. It makes little difference. A good way to organize address files might be to have one file called FRIENDS, which has the addresses of all your friends, another called BUSINESS, which has all your business addresses, and several other "speciality" files. Speciality files might be files like POLITICS, where you keep a list of all your pertinent politician's addresses, so you can get to all of them at once, and AUTO, where your keep a list of addresses relating to your automobile. In whatever editor you choose, set the left margin so that text begins in column 10. Set the right margin to whatever you want, but text ending in column 70 looks the best. In the body part of letters, feel free to type in anything you want. Any set of characters you want separated by whatever you wish will not harm the operation of LetterWriter. LetterWriter works with any body. In this way you can enter special character strings for doing unusual printing such as underlining or italics. Page 24 Planned Enhancements Although LetterWriter is a useful tool as is, there are enhancements planned for version 3.0. 1. Installation menu. - to set monitor type. - to set printer options. 2. A full screen full function text editor will be added to LetterWriter. 3. Allowing names to be embedded in the body of letters, to make letters more personal.