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ORGANIZE! YOUR COUPONS & REBATES A Complete Cataloging System For Coupons That Can Create A Grocery List For You This manual and accompanying software copyright 1991, 1992, 1993 by H.C.P. Services,Inc. Portions Copyright 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988 Microsoft Corporation SPECIALTY DATABASE U S E R L I C E N S E A G R E E M E N T NOTICE! - This manual and the enclosed software is provided to you on the express condition that you agree to this software license. By using this software you agree to the following provisions. <1> This manual, the enclosed software and the disks on which it is contained are licensed to you, for your own use only. This is copyrighted software. You are not obtaining title to the software or any copyright rights. You may not sublicense, rent, lease, modify, translate, convert to another programming language, decompile, or disassemble the software for any purpose. <2> You may make as many copies of this software as you need for backup purposes only. Copies may not be given away or loaned to anyone. Private individuals may use this software on more than one computer, provided there is no chance it will be used simultaneously on more than one computer. This software may not be used on more than one computer, nor installed on more than one hard disk, nor installed on a network when used by a business, corporation, government agency or department, or institution of any kind. If you need to install this software on more than one computer or on a network, please contact us for information about a site license. WARRANTY - HCP SERVICES INC. DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES RELATING TO THIS SOFTWARE, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND ALL SUCH WARRANTIES ARE EXPRESSLY AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. NEITHER HCP SERVICES, INC. NOR ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN THE CREATION, PRODUCTION, OR DELIVERY OF THIS SOFTWARE SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE SUCH SOFTWARE EVEN IF HCP SERVICES, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR CLAIMS. IN NO EVENT SHALL HCP SERVICES, INC.'s LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES EVER EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE LICENSE TO USE THE SOFTWARE, REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF CLAIM. THE PERSON USING THE SOFTWARE BEARS ALL RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE. Some states do not allow the exclusion of the limit of liability for consequential or incidental damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you. This agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Oregon and shall inure to the benefit of HCP Services, Inc. and any successors, administrators, heirs and assigns. Any action or proceeding brought by either party against the other arising out of or related to this agreement shall be brought only in a STATE or FEDERAL COURT of competent jurisdiction located in Multnomah County, Oregon. The parties hereby consent to in personam jurisdiction of said courts." Information in this manual is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of H.C.P. Services, Inc. This manual and accompanying software is copyrighted and protected under both Federal Law and the Berne Convention (international law). This manual is copyright 1991, 92 & 93 by H.C.P Services, Inc. All Rights Reserved WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect Corporation IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines Microsoft and MS-DOS are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation dBase III is a trademark of Ashton-Tate Organize! is a trademark of H.C.P. Services, Inc. Part number: 002-035A WELCOME TO SHAREWARE This software is distributed as shareware. This means you can try this software to find out whether it provides what you need before you pay for it. There are no limits nor is it crippled in any way. It is true "try before you buy" software. You may have obtained this software from a shareware disk vendor, a bulletin board or a friend. I hope you also feel free to share copies of it with your friends and upload it to your favorite bulletin board(s). If you find you like this software and you've been using it for more than 30 days, you must register as a user by purchasing a registered copy. This software may not be used for more than 30 days without registering. Registration Information This is a copyrighted software program protected by both U.S. and international copyright law. If you are using this software for more than 30 days you must purchase a registered copy in order to continue to use it. The registration for a single copy is $24.95 (plus $3.00 S&H - $6.00 outside North America). Please note that even though you may have purchased this disk from a retail store or via mail order, you have not purchased a registered copy. What you've paid for this disk was a fee that compensates the vendor for their costs, time and effort in making this disk available. We accept company checks, personal checks, VISA and Master Card. All amounts shown are in U.S. dollars. All checks in U.S. dollars must be drawn on a U.S. bank. Users outside the U.S.: We accept cheques in your local currency from users in Canada, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, Denmark, The Netherlands, Japan and Switzerland. We will add other countries as our bank allows. You can register as a user via Compuserve or GEnie using the ID numbers listed on the first (cover) page. Just send us an E-Mail giving your name, address, credit card number, the disk size you need and the name of the program. For additional information about registering, please see the order form (also included on the disk as the ORDER.FRM file) TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION 1 Terminology 1 Using This Manual 2 SECTION TWO - INSTALLATION 4 SECTION THREE - QUICK START 6 Starting The Software 6 Using The Menus 7 Make A New Entry 8 Editing 9 Searching And Printed Reports 10 Printed Reports 11 Utilities 12 SECTION FOUR - REFERENCE SECTION (USING ORGANIZE!) 14 The Main Screen 14 The Menus 16 Make Entries Menu 17 Edit Menu 18 Search Menu 20 List All Entries 20 Sequential Searches 21 Alphabetical Searches 22 Utilities Menu 25 Reindex 25 Sorting 26 Delete Catalog 27 Select Catalog 28 Report Menu 28 Send (Report) To 28 Page Length 30 Set Up Report Format 31 Printing Reports 31 Exit Menu 32 Help Menu 32 Return (Menu Selection) 33 Calculator 33 SECTION FIVE - Cataloging Coupons & Rebates 34 APPENDIX A - PROBLEM SOLVING 37 APPENDIX B - REPORT FORMATS 39 ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - INTRODUCTION - 1 SECTION ONE - INTRODUCTION ORGANIZE Your Coupons & Rebates is an easy-to-use data base/ cataloging program designed specifically for organizing coupons, rebate forms, and proof of purchase material. TERMINOLOGY Throughout this manual we will be using a few standard computer terms you should be familiar with. I've tried to write this manual using plain English, but since we are talking about using a computer we will need to use a few computer terms. DATABASE - the "catalog" created by this software is called a database. A database is a collection of information. Software such as ORGANIZE Your Collection can search, print, list and manipulate the information in a database and is thus referred to as database software. FLOPPY DISK - any software you purchase is supplied on a floppy disk. Floppy disks come in two sizes - 5-1/4 inch square and 3- 1/2 inch square. Although 5-1/4" disks are flexible (floppy) 3- 1/2" disks are made from rigid plastic. Thus the term "floppy disk" is not an accurate descriptive term. Floppy disks can typically contain from 0.360 mb to 1.44 mb of information. Floppy disk drives are usually designated as A and B. HARD DISK - a hard disk is installed inside your computer and can not typically be removed. Hard disks operate much faster and hold a lot more information than a floppy disk. Typical hard disks can hold from 40 mb to 100 mb (and more). Hard disk drives are designated by the letter C or greater. Hard disks are never designated as drive A or B. Not all computers have hard disks. The speed of database software is highly dependent on the speed of the disk containing the data. Thus I recommend that your ORGANIZE! catalog be stored on a hard disk. mb - this is an abbreviation for megabyte which is a measure of how much information can be stored on a disk. Typically a 40 mb hard disk is sufficient for most database files created by ORGANIZE! DIRECTORY/SUB-DIRECTORY - your computer can create separate "rooms" on disks. Each "room" is separate from the others and is called a directory. (Sub directories are "rooms" within the main directory "room"). Directories and sub-directories provide a way to keep the files on your disks organized. You should create a ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - INTRODUCTION - 2 separate directory for each program you use. This will keep all of the files associated with that program together in one place and prevent them from becoming mixed with (and thus confused with) files used by other programs. FILE and FILENAME - a computer stores information and programs in "files" on either a floppy disk or a hard disk. Each file has a name that is called its filename. A filename may have up to eight characters followed by a period and then a three letter filename extension. The name of the ORGANIZE! program file is OYC.EXE. "EXE" is the filename extension and "OYC" is the filename. By the way, OYC stands for Organize Your Collection. USING THIS MANUAL This manual is divided into five sections plus appendixes. Part one is the section you are now reading and it contains the introductory information. Part two describes how to install this software on your computer. The third section provides quick start instructions. Please read this section before starting to use this software. It is short and has been designed to provide the key information needed to get you quickly started using the basic functions provided by this software. The fourth section is a reference section that describes in detail all of the features in this software. Section five provides the details about the various organiza- tional systems provided with this software No computer experience is required to use this software, however you will need to know which letter designates each disk drive on your computer. For example, a hard disk is usually drive C and floppy disks are drives A and B. Check your computer's manual for the letters used to designate the drives on your computer. SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: this software will only run on computers that are fully IBM compatible and have at least 380K of memory available. A color monitor is required for some of the features. A hard disk is recommended, but this software will run on floppy disks provided there is a minimum of 1.44 mb of disk space available. If you have a hard disk, please put this software on your hard disk and store your database files on the hard disk. Database software such as this software is very disk intensive. Because of the slow speed of floppy disks using the software on a floppy disk will slow it down considerably. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - INTRODUCTION - 3 MAKE BACK UP COPIES The most important suggestion I can pass on to you is to make back up copies of your data files (the ones that end with DAT). If you have a hard disk I recommend using software such as FastBack or PC Tools. You also could use the DOS back up utilities, but personally I don't use them. I've heard of too many problems with the DOS backup utilities. Problems such as only being able to restore lost files onto a similar computer using the same version of DOS. (That may not always be possible). For something as critical as making backup copies I prefer software that will backup and restore from and to any hard disk using any version of DOS on any computer. The rule of thumb to follow is that you should make a backup copy anytime you've made more changes or entered more new information than you'd want to type over again. For me, that number is 100 entries. Anytime I've changed or added 100 entries, I'll make a new backup copy. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - INSTALLATION - 4 SECTION TWO - INSTALLATION Installation of this software is straight forward. First make a backup copy of this disk. You'll need to check the manuals that came with your computer to see how to make copies of a disk. Generally you can use the DOS DISKCOPY utility to copy a floppy disk. The commands you need to type to use DISKCOPY vary depending on the version of DOS you have and the floppy disk configuration in your computer. Hard Disk Installation To install on a hard disk: + Put the backup copy of the floppy disk in a floppy drive. + Get the DOS prompt on the screen and change it so that it is set for the disk drive that contains the this software floppy disk. For example, if the floppy disk is in the "A" drive and your computer has a "C>" prompt on the screen, type A: and push ENTER. You can change the DOS prompt so it is set for a different drive by typing the letter representing the drive you want to use, a colon, and then pushing ENTER. + Type INSTALL and push ENTER. + Follow the instructions that appear on the screen. In most cases you can just push "Y" in answer to the questions. NOTE: The installation process will install the software in a directory call OYC. Dual Floppy Drive Installation If your computer has two floppy drives you can install this software just as if one of the floppy drives is a hard disk. First put the backup copy of the enclosed disk in the "A" drive. Put a blank formatted disk in the "B" drive. At the "A>" prompt type INSTALL push ENTER. When the prompt asking for a directory name appears, replace "\OYC" with just a back slash "\". ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - INSTALLATION - 5 THE CONFIG.SYS FILE Your computer uses a CONFIG.SYS file to tell it how to configure itself when it is first turned on. The CONFIG.SYS file is an ASCII text file that contains a series of instructions used by your computer. For this software to run these instructions must tell your computer to set itself up so up to 20 files may be opened at the same time. This is done by including a FILES=20 (or any number greater than 20) statement in the CONFIG.SYS file. If you are running a Graphical User Interface such as Windows, your computer may need to be set to open as many as 50 or 60 files. The CONFIG.SYS file needs to be in the root directory on your hard disk. If you use a floppy disk to boot your computer, the CONFIG.SYS file must be on the floppy disk used to boot your computer. The CONFIG.SYS file is not part of the this software. You can look at the contents of a CONFIG.SYS file by going to the root directory on your hard disk and typing: TYPE CONFIG.SYS at the DOS prompt. Then push ENTER. You can change a CONFIG.SYS file by using your word processing software, editing it as you would any other document and then saving it as a DOS text file (ASCII file). If you do not have a CONFIG.SYS file, or if it does not include a FILES=20 line, you can create one during the installation process. When you run the INSTALL utility you will be given a chance to install a CONFIG.SYS file with a FILES=20 line. This will not change any of the other lines in your CONFIG.SYS file. _______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 6 SECTION THREE - QUICK START STARTING THE SOFTWARE As you read through this section I recommend you have the software installed and running on your computer. When you first start OYC it will be ready to use and set to accept your first entry. As I describe examples, I suggest you duplicate the steps I'm describing using your computer. This section will take you through all the main functions in the software. The Quick Start section does not describe all of the functions available, just those you need in order to use the basic capabilities of the software. For explanations of all of the functions and features in this software you will need to read the reference section of this manual. To start this software go to the DOS prompt and type: CD \COUPONS and push ENTER (do this on the "C" drive). Then type OYC and push ENTER. (If you are using the software on a floppy disk, you only need to type OYC and push ENTER. You do not need to change to the COUPONS directory). If you are using this software on a hard disk, you need to be in the directory or subdirectory in which the software was installed before you type OYC. If when your computer first starts it displays the DOS prompt, type CD \COUPONS. COUPONS is the name of the directory. The letters "CD" stand for Change Directory. Typing CD \COUPONS puts you in the COUPONS directory. Once in the COUPONS directory, type OYC to start the software. COMMAND LINE - When starting the software you may enter the name of the catalog you want to use as a part of the command that starts the software. In normal circumstances the software will boot up and use the same catalog that was in use when you last exited the software. If you'd like to use a different catalog type OYC, then a space, then the name of the catalog you want to use. For example, if you want to use COUPON-A, you would type OYC COUPON-A at the DOS prompt. THE MAIN SCREEN After typing OYC (and pushing ENTER) the software will start running and display the complete cataloging format for your _______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 7 collection. Throughout this manual I will refer to this initial screen as the "Main Screen." The key parts of the Main Screen are the top and bottom two lines. They provide status information and menu selections The majority of the screen is used to display the information lines (fields) in use. When the software first starts the Main Screen is displayed. You can return to the Main Screen from any other function such as editing, searching or making new entries, by pushing F7. The F7 key is used to clear the screen and reset everything back to the default settings. With the Main Screen displayed you can immediately start typing and saving new entries. But, before getting started let's go over how to use the drop-down menus. OYC provides drop-down menus that show you, at a glance, all of your options. The names of the menus are displayed across the top of the screen. They are: Make entries, Edit, Search, Utilities, Reports, eXit and Help. Using The Menus To select a menu hold down the ALT key and push the capitalized letter included as a part of the name of the menu you want to display. To start let's look at the Make entries menu. Hold down the ALT key and push the letter M. Once any of the drop-down menus is displayed you can move from one menu to another by using the left and right cursor keys. Take a look at the other menus by pushing the right cursor key until the Make entries menu is displayed again. A scroll bar within each drop-down menu is used to select the function you want to use. The scroll bar is moved using the up and down cursor keys. When the scroll bar is at the top of the menu it can be directly moved to the bottom selection by pushing the up cursor key once. It can also be move from the bottom selection directly to the top by pushing the down cursor key. Some of the functions can be used directly without going through a menu. These have an "F key" designation next to them when the menu is displayed. Looking at the Make entries menu you'll see "<F5>" next to the word "Save". This means you can push F5 to save an entry without using the drop-down menu. To select an item on a menu first highlight it with the scroll bar and then push the ENTER key. For example, to exit from the program push the right cursor key until the "eXit" drop-down menu appears, then highlight "Exit Program" and push ENTER. (If you just exited from the software type OYC and push ENTER to get started again). By the way, you should never turn your computer off while a program (any program, ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 8 except for a shell or menu program) is running. Always exit from the software before turning your computer off. If you do not want to make a selection from a menu you can return to the main screen from the drop-down menus by pushing the ESC key. You can also select "Return" on the menu bar at the top of the screen. If a drop-down menu is displayed push ESC to return to the main screen. USING A MOUSE A mouse may be used to operate most of the functions in OYC. A rectangular mouse cursor will appear on the screen whenever the mouse is active. If you know the mouse is active, but you do not see the mouse cursor try moving the mouse slightly. The left button on the mouse serves as the "ENTER" key. To make a selection place the mouse cursor on the item you want to select and push the left mouse button. When making a selection from a menu you will need to "double" click the mouse. Double clicking means to push the left mouse button twice in rapid succession. Pushing the left mouse button once will move the highlight bar to the menu selection marked by the mouse cursor. Pushing it a second time selects that option. The right mouse button serves as an ESC key. In many cases when the software asks you to push the ESC key, you can also push the right mouse button. Please note that a series of prompts across the bottom of the Main Screen provides direct mouse access to the short cut keys. The numbers in these prompts refer to the "F" key numbers. The mouse can be used at nearly every prompt in OYC. With prompts that request a (Y/N) response, place the mouse cursor on either the "Y" or "N" and push the left mouse key once. Anytime a prompt asks you to push a letter to make a selection you can place the mouse cursor on that letter (in the prompt) and push the left mouse key. You can even bypass the opening copyright screen by clicking the left mouse key after the copyright screen appears. MAKING NEW ENTRIES When you pushed ESC the drop-down menus should have disappeared and the cursor will be in the left hand space on the top line. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 9 The names of the lines are listed along the left side of the screen. To the right of each name is a shaded area that shows the space available for entering information related to the line name. The cursor can be moved around in the shaded area using the four cursor keys. Whenever the cursor is at the beginning or end of a line, and can go no further, your computer will beep. To enter the information you want to catalog, just type it on the appropriate line. Starting with the top line, fill in the appropriate informa- tion and push ENTER. That will move the cursor down to the first character of the next line. Then put in the rest of this entry by filling in the rest of the lines. You may change anything you've typed by using the cursor keys to put the cursor at the spot where a correction is needed and just typing the new information. When the entry is complete and correct push ALT-M. The "Save" option will already be highlighted so all you need to do next is push ENTER and the entry will be saved. Pushing ENTER to select "Save" from the drop-down menu will clear the screen and leave it ready for the next entry to be typed. Notice that the entry number is displayed in the upper right hand corner. It should now say "Entry 2" as the next entry you type will be number 2. Now type in your second entry. To save this entry push F5. The F5 key is short cut key that saves entries. Push ALT-M and notice that the word "Save" has "<F5>" next to it. This means pushing F5 performs the same function as selecting "Save" on the drop-down menu. You can also use the mouse to save entries by clicking on the "5 Save" prompt at the bottom of the screen. That's it. That's all there is to entering information into your catalog. Push ESC to clear the drop-down menu from the screen. EDITING Now let's see if the information you just typed is really stored in the database. The Editor lets you look at any entry and browse forward and backward through all of your entries. To use the editor push ALT-E. The "Select Number" option will be highlighted. Push the ENTER key and a window will appear asking you to type an entry number. Push number 1 and then push ENTER. The first entry will be displayed. You can now do any of several things. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 10 You can modify this entry by moving the cursor to the word(s) to be modified and typing the changes. When the changes are complete push ALT-E and move the scroll bar to "Save Changes." Then push the ENTER key to save the changes you just made. Also notice that you can push F5 to save the changes without using the drop-down menu. The editor also offers a browse capability. If the drop-down menu is on the screen, push ESC to return to the editing screen. To browse use the F1 and F2 keys to move backward and forward through your catalog. Push F2 now. Then push F1 to go back to the previous entry. That's about all you can do with just two entries. Once you have more entries this becomes an easy way to page through all of them. The drop-down menus always show all of the available options. Push ALT-E. Notice that Page Backward and Page Forward are identified as being operated by the F1 and F2 keys. You can browse by selecting Page Forward or Page Backward from this drop- down menu or by pushing F1 or F2. You can also use the mouse to browse forward and backward by clicking on either the "1 Back" or "2 Fwd" prompts at the bottom of the screen. When an entry is no longer needed it can be deleted using the Edit menu. Push the right cursor key and we'll look at the search capabilities of Organize Your Collection (OYC). SEARCHING AND PRINTED REPORTS Two types of "searches" are provided by OYC. The first is a listing. There are two types of listings. These are shown in the top box of the Search menu. They are: List Entries: allows you to enter a starting and ending entry number and have all of the entries between (and including) the two numbers listed in sequence. List Alphabetically: allows you to list entries in alphabetical or numerical order. To use this function you need to be using the indexes. The second box down from the top on the Search menu lists the various types of searches you can do. Let's take a look at how these work. Push ESC to clear the drop-down menu from the screen then push F7 to clear the screen. (F7 is identified on the Make entries menu as the key that erases the screen). You can also use the mouse by clicking on the "7 Clr" prompt. Sequential Searches To search for something first enter the information you want to find on the appropriate line. For example, let's search for a ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 11 a specific brand. Move the cursor to the BRAND line. Let's say you wanted to find all of your "Clorox" coupons To start this search first type "CLOROX" on the brand line. Next push ALT-S to drop-down the Search menu. Move the scroll bar to the "Sequential Search" selection and push the ENTER key. The first matching entry will be displayed. If you want to search for "CLOROX" again push ALT-S and move the scroll bar to "Search Again" and push ENTER. If you do this, you will either find another match or see a "NO OTHER MATCHES FOUND" message at the bottom of the screen. Sequential searches will find the specified search criteria, which in this case is "CLOROX" the BRAND line, without regard to where it is located on the line. The word (or phrase) you are searching for can even be within another word. There are short cut keys you can use for starting a sequential search. Push ALT-S to display the Search menu. Notice that sequential searches can be started by pushing F8. Also notice that you can find additional matches (Search Again) by pushing F2. When a match is found during a search it is displayed on the screen and the software automatically goes into the edit mode. You can make any changes or additions you want and then push F5 to save them. Other types of searches are shown on the Search menu. The "Alphabetical Search" will list entries alphabetically based on the search criteria and using indexes created by the software. The "Find Deleted" search will list all of the entries that have been deleted. Printed Reports NOTE: For more detailed information on how to print reports see the section on the Report Menu in Section Four of this manual. The search you just conducted displayed matching entries on the screen. You can also print reports or save them in disk files. If the Search menu is still on the screen push the right cursor key twice to display the Reports menu. The first selection on this menu is called "Send To" and it is currently set for MONITOR. To send the report to the printer or a disk file push the ENTER key. This will open a window in the middle of the screen. Within this window the "X" next to MONITOR tells you the results of a search or listing will be displayed on the screen. Push the TAB key to move the X through the available settings. When the option you want is marked by the "X" push ENTER. The other options are: ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 12 PRINTER-Continuous Paper: will print the report on continuous feed paper such as used by dot matrix or laser printers. PRINTER-Single Sheet Feed: prints the report on printers that handle only one sheet of paper at a time ASCII File: saves the report as a text document in a disk file. You can specify the name of the file. dBase File: saves the report in a file on the disk using dBase III format. This report can be used for transferring information between various programs. Most other database software and spreadsheets can read dBase III files. QUICK VIEW: displays a list on the screen. You can then select specific items from the list. (Note: the Quick View feature requires video memory that is usually only available with color monitors. If you get an error when trying to use this feature, your computer does not have the required memory or other software is using this memory). LABELS: for use in printing labels. The other printed reports include form feeds that advance the paper to the next page. If the LABELS option is selected the form feeds are not included. Push the TAB key until the software is set for PRINTER-Continuous Paper. Then push the ENTER key to return to the Reports menu. Notice that the report type listed on the menu has changed to "PRINTER-C". Push the ESC key to clear the drop-down menus from the screen. Let's try the same search as before. Put "GRISHAM, JOHN" on the AUTHOR line and push F8. A prompt, asking for a title, will appear at the bottom of the screen. You can type a single line that will be printed on the top of the first page of your report. If you just push ENTER, without typing a title, the software will automatically print the search criteria on the top of the first page of the report. You can eliminate the title by pushing the space bar once and then pushing ENTER. For this example just push ENTER. The matching entries will be displayed on the screen as they are sent to the printer. (Note: since there is probably nothing in your catalog yet, no matching entries will be found). When no other matches are found the "NO OTHER MATCHES FOUND" message will appear at the bottom of the screen. When you push any key you will be returned to the main screen. UTILITIES The Utilities menu provides a variety of functions that range from selecting the catalog you want to use to deleting catalog files. I'll discuss the most important function here. ______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - QUICK START - 13 Select Catalog Five cataloging formats are included to allow you to catalog your collection in as much detail as you need. They are called COUPON-A, COUPON-B, and COUPON-C. To switch between them, push ALT-U to display the Utilities menu. The last selection on this menu is "Select Catalog Name." Push the up cursor key to immediately move the scroll bar to this selection. Then push ENTER. A window will display the names of the catalogs in the current directory. You can use the cursor keys to highlight any one of them and then push ENTER to select that catalog. You can also switch to another disk drive or directory by pushing ESC and typing the letter for the drive and the name of the directory you want to use. (If you want to do this, you will need to have previously copied a catalog format to that drive and directory). The names of the existing catalogs will be displayed on the screen you are now looking at. Highlight a catalog name and push ENTER. You are now ready to start entering information or to modify this format to meet your needs. DISPLAYING TOTAL VALUES The total value of all items listed in a printed report will be shown at the end of all printed reports. However, you can get the total value of everything in a catalog without printing a report. When you are at the Main Screen hold down the CTRL key and push the ENTER key. The values will be totalled and displayed along the right side of the screen. This completes the quick start section. In this section I have provided the basic information needed to use the software. There is a lot more you can do with this software and there are many additional features that make using the software easier and faster. This Quick Start section is only provided as a brief summary of the major features so you can quickly start using the software. At this point I'd suggest trying out the software. Type in a few test entries. Try a few searches and maybe try running a printed report. Then read the next section which provides a detailed description of each feature. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 14 SECTION FOUR - REFERENCE SECTION This section of the manual provides detailed descriptions of each function on the drop-down menus. We'll start with the Make entries menu and work from left to right through the menus and cover each item on each menu. But first let's go over the information and options presented on the main screen. THE MAIN SCREEN Most of the time you'll be using functions that are accessed from the main screen. This screen includes a listing of menus across the top of the screen. The top line also includes the current entry number in the upper right corner of the screen. When typing a new entry the number displayed in the upper right is the entry number that will be assigned to the new entry. When editing or displaying the results of a search, the number displayed is the entry number associated with the information currently on the screen. Some people have tried using the entry number as a catalog number. I understand we all have different requirements and need to use the software in different ways, but I do not recommend using the entry number as a catalog number. My reason is that the entry number associated with a specific item can change if you delete an item from your catalog. The entry number is only intended to help you see how many total items you have in the catalog and to help you navigate around your catalog. The second space from the top of the screen includes a horizontal double line. This is a status line. The current catalog name in use will be displayed in the middle of this line. The function currently being used (i.e. make entries, editing, searching, etc.) is identified on the right side of this line. The left side of this line also includes status information. For example, if you push the INS key to put the software into the character insert mode, the letters "INS" will be displayed at the left edge of this line. As long as INS is shown there, the software is in the character insert mode. The space at the bottom of the screen also contains a horizontal double line. This bottom line is a prompt/status line. At some times prompts for F-Key functions are shown. You can use the mouse to click on any of these prompts to quickly use the features they represent. The bottom line also displays status, such as telling you when a search is complete. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 15 The second line from the bottom is a double line. The center of this line contains a word that shows where reports would be "sent to" should you start a search or listing. Clearing The Screen There is one key that is very handy, the F7 key. Pushing F7 will clear the screen of all catalog information and return you to the Main Screen. If you are in the search or edit mode, and want to go to the make entries mode, push F7. If you need to erase a screen full of information, push F7. If you are using a mouse, you can click on the "7 Clr" prompt at the bottom of the screen to accomplish the same thing as pushing F7. Typing Information Into A Catalog Whether you are making a new entry or entering search criteria typing information on the main screen is done in the same way. The cursor can be moved around using the up/down and right/left cursor keys. When using the up/down cursor keys the cursor will move directly up and down - it will not return to the beginning of a line when moved to a new line. You can move the cursor to a new line and return it to the beginning of that line by pushing the ENTER key. Each time you push the ENTER key the cursor will move down by one line. When the cursor is on the bottom line, pushing ENTER will move it to the top line. To quickly move the cursor to the right you can use the TAB key. Each time the TAB key is pushed the cursor will move five spaces to the right. Pushing the END key will move the cursor to the end of the line. The HOME key moves it to the beginning of the line. Holding the CTRL key and pushing either the left or right cursor key will move the cursor to the left or right by one word. Whenever the cursor reaches the beginning or end of a line your computer will beep to indicate it can go no further. If you do not want to hear this "beep", you can turn it off by push- ing CTRL-A. This will display the Screen Set-Up options. Push the F1 key to toggle the beep off. Then push ESC to return to the Main Screen. You can type information at any time. The character you type will be placed at the cursor location and the cursor will move one space to the right. The software will accept accented characters, characters used in some European languages as well as all English language characters. It will not accept most graphics characters. Insert & Delete If you need to insert characters, place the cursor at the point where the characters are to be inserted. Push the INS key. The ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 16 letters INS will appear on the upper left of the screen (second line). You can now type the characters or words you want to insert. As you type, any information to the right of the cursor will move to the right. If the existing information reaches the right edge of the line, it will disappear and be lost - one character will disappear for each character you insert. To get out of the insert mode either push the INS key again. Characters can be deleted by pushing the DEL key. When the DEL key is pushed the character at the cursor location will be erased and everything to the right of the cursor will move left by one space. The Backspace key will also delete characters. When the Backspace is pushed the character to the left of the cursor will be erased. General Guidelines For New Entries When making entries be consistent. Anytime you use an abbreviation be sure it is typed the same way every time. Be consistent in how you capitalize words. For example, don't capitalize all of the words on a line one time and then use upper and lower case on that same line with a later entry. If you use commas to separate items in a list, always use commas to separate items in a list. When entering numbers first determine what the largest number will be and then always use the same number of digits to the left of the decimal point for all numbers. For example, if you expect to have numbers as high as 10000 then number one should be entered as 00001. Entering numbers this way is necessary if you want the computer to sort them into numerical order. You can include decimals (eg. 001.52), but you do not need to include ".00" if there is nothing to the right of the decimal point. THE MENUS OYC uses drop-down menus. All of the capabilities of OYC are accessed through these menus. Some of the frequently used functions can be used directly by pushing the appropriate "F" key. The names of the menus are listed across the top of the screen. The name of each menu contains one capitalized word. To select a menu hold down the ALT key and press the capitalized letter in the menu's name. For example, to select the "Make entries" menu push the ALT key and the letter M. You can pull down a menu using a mouse by putting the mouse cursor on the menu's name at the top of the screen and clicking the left mouse button. Once any menu is displayed (dropped down) you can move from one menu to the next using the left/right cursor keys. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 17 When a menu is displayed the top selection on the menu will be highlighted by a scroll bar. The scroll bar can be moved up and down through the menu selections using the up/down cursor keys. To select an item on a menu first highlight it with the scroll bar and then push the ENTER key. If you are using a mouse, put the mouse cursor on the menu selection you wish to use and click the left mouse button twice (double click). Make entries Menu - Save <F5> The "Save" function is used after you have typed a new entry. Once you have typed all the information you want to enter select the "Save" option to save it in your catalog. You can also push F5 to directly save the entry without going through the menus. Or you can use the mouse to click on the "5 Save" prompt at the bottom of the screen. Make entries Menu - Copy Last <F3> The "Copy Last" feature allows you to quickly copy the last entry you made. This copy method does not prompt for an entry number to copy and thus it is faster than the "Copy Any Previous" feature. The quickest way to copy the previous entry is to push F3 or use the mouse to click on the "3 Copy" prompt at the bottom of the screen. The "Copy Last" feature is used when you have a series of similar entries to type. You can type the first one, push F5 to save it, then push F3 to repeat the information you just entered. You then only need to change a few lines or characters and save the modified entry as a new entry. Make entries Menu - Erase Screen <F7> The "Erase Screen" feature is used to completely clear all of the information from all lines. Selecting this option from the menu, or pushing F7, will immediately clear all of the lines. You can also use the mouse to clear the screen by clicking on the "7 Clr" prompt at the bottom of the screen. If you need to clear just one line or part of one line you can use the macro feature discussed later in this section. For example, pushing ALT-B will erase every on a line that is to the right of the cursor. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 18 THE EDIT MENU The edit function provides a way for you to display any entry on the screen and browse backward and forward through your catalog. Once an entry is displayed on the screen it can be modified or deleted. Edit Menu - Select Number The "Select Number" option is how you tell the software which entry number you want displayed on the screen. You may enter any valid entry number. Once an entry is displayed on the screen you may make changes using the same methods used to originally type the entry. The TAB, INS and DEL keys all will work as they do in word processing software. Once you've made changes push F5 to save the changes. If you want to edit a different entry you do not need to pull down the Edit Menu again. Just push F9 to open the window in which a new entry number to edit may be entered. Edit Menu - Page Backward <F1> When the "Page Backward" function is selected the software will display the entry that comes directly before the entry that is currently displayed. You can also press F1, without using the drop-down menu, to move backward by one entry. Edit Menu - Page Forward <F2> The "Page Forward" function displays the next entry in sequence. You can also press F2 to see the next entry without using the drop-down menus. There are prompts at the bottom of the screen - "1 Back" and "2 Fwd" - that you can click on with a mouse to move backward and forward through your catalog. The "Page Backward" and "Page Forward" functions provide an easy way for you to browse through all of your entries. Computers are nice, they can quickly search for and find any entry you need. However, sometimes it's nice to just look through your catalog to see what's there. You may discover items you forgot you had. The Page Forward/Backward features give you a way to do some browsing. Edit Menu - Delete Entry <F4> If you need to eliminate an item from your catalog use the "Select Number" option to enter the entry number to be deleted. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 19 Once it is displayed on the screen push ALT-E and select the "Delete Entry" option. When an item is deleted it is not permanently removed from your catalog. The deleted entry will no longer be included in searches, but you can display it using the edit feature. All of the information still exists and can be brought back. With computers mistakes sometimes seem to be very easy to make. A common mistake is to start deleting something and just as the final key is pushed to make the deletion final you realize that you did not want to delete this item. However, that realization comes just a half a second too late. If this should happen with OYC, you can recover the deleted entry. When a deleted entry is displayed on the screen the words "Deleted Entry" will be displayed on the second line from the top of the screen. Edit Menu - Undelete Entry Deleted entries can be returned to the catalog by first displaying the entry on the screen and then selecting the "Undelete Entry" option on the Edit Menu. Or you can just push F5 to undelete the entry by saving it. Edit Menu - Save Changes <F5> The final selection on the Edit menu will save any changes you've made to an entry. You may make changes to an entry anytime it is displayed on the screen. First type the changes then select "Save Changes" on the Edit menu. You can also push F5 without using the drop-down menus. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 20 THE SEARCH MENU The Search menu is used to start all of the listings and searches. The top box on the Search menu includes the two types of listings available. The second box down includes all of the searches. The third box includes the case control for searches. Whenever a search has displayed an entry on the screen you may edit and re-save the modified entry. Just type the changes and push F5 to save them. During a search or listing you can look at each entry on the screen and browse forward and backward using the F1 and F2 keys. Pushing F2 will display the next matching entry. Pushing F1 moves you backward to look at the previous entry. NOTE: for information on how to print a report go to the Reports Menu section of this chapter. The software is normally set to display the results of listings and searches on the screen. By changing the "Send To" option on the Reports Menu you can send your report to your printer or a disk file. Search Menu - List Entries Starting at the top of the Search Menu the first item is the "List Entries" feature. It will list entries in the order they were typed into your catalog. When you select "List Entries" on the Search Menu you will be prompted for the entry number to start the listing with. Then you will be prompted for the last entry number to be included in the listing. The software will list all of the entries between, and including, the entry numbers you specify. One of the key uses for this feature is proof reading. Some people find it easier to proof read a printed copy of their entries instead of reviewing them on the screen. After typing a series of new entries use this feature to print a listing of just the new entries. You can then look over the listing to find typos and errors. Be sure to use a report format that prints all of the information you've entered. Search Menu - List Alphabetically You can list the information on any of the lines in alphabetical order by selecting this option. However, the line must first be indexed. Lines that are indexed are marked by a starburst ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 21 symbol on the left end of the line. (Indexing is discussed in the Utility menu section). To get an alphabetical listing first put the cursor on the line to be listed alphabetically. Then push ALT-S to display the Search menu. Move the scroll bar to the "List Alphabetically" option and push ENTER. The entries will be listed in alpha- betical order based on the line on which the cursor is located. Search Menu - Sequential Search There are two basic types of searches in OYC - sequential searches and alphabetical searches. A sequential search looks at each entry, one at a time in "sequence", examining each to see if it contains a match for the search criteria. This type of search has the advantage of being able to find matches even if the matching word or phrase is not the first word or phrase on the line. For example, if you use a sequential search to look for the word RED the following will be found as matches: RED PEPPERS BIG RED SLEEPY AND TIRED (the RED is at the end of "TIRED") Notice that the search criteria, RED, is capitalized and all of the matches are capitalized. Searches will only find EXACT matches. If the letter, word or phrase you are searching for is capitalized, the search criteria must be capitalized. If you search for RED, you will not find "Red Peppers" because the capitalization does not match. However, there is a way to find things when the capitalization does not match. It will be discussed when we talk about the "Case" option on the Search menu. With sequential searches you can search for any part of the information entered on a line. Notice in the above example that searching for "RED" found matches at the beginning, middle and end of the line. This is particularly useful if you can only remember a part of what you want to find. You can start a sequential search by first entering the word or phrase you want to find on the appropriate line and then selecting the "Sequential Search" option on the Search Menu; or push F8; or use the mouse cursor to click on the "8 Srch" prompt at the bottom of the screen. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 22 Cross References Any of the information you've entered can be cross referenced with any or everything else. All you need to do is enter the information you want to find on the appropriate lines and the software will automatically take care of the cross referencing during the search. Let's assume you've got a catalog and want to cross reference the information on two lines. It's as easy as filling in the blanks. Just enter the information you want to find on each line. Then start a sequential search. All of the matching entries will be listed. Search Menu - Alphabetical Search <F6> To use the alphabetical searches you must be using the indexing. A line must be indexed, and must have a starburst next to it in order to be used as the basis of an alphabetical search. Alphabetical searches provide several advantages. First, they are very fast. While sequential searches may take several minutes, if you have a large catalog, alphabetical searches can find matches almost immediately. The indexing quickly determines whether there is a match and where the match is located. Second, alphabetical searches list matches in alphabetical order. The disadvantage of alphabetical searches is that they will only find exact matches. For example, an alphabetical search can not find matching words or phrases if they are within a line. The match must be exact starting at the beginning, left edge of the line. For example, using an alphabetical search to find the word "RED" would find REDS, but it will not find CINCINNATI REDS. There are several ways to conduct an alphabetical search. The first is a straight alphabetical search. Enter the information you want to find on one of the lines marked by a sunburst, leave the cursor on that line, push ALT-S to drop-down the Search menu, highlight "Alphabetical Search" and push ENTER. You can also start an alphabetical search without going through the menus by pushing F6 or my clicking on "6 Alpha" at the bottom of the screen. Alphabetical searches can perform cross references. To do this fill in the appropriate lines with the information you want to find, put the cursor on the line you wish alphabetized, and push F6 to start the search. NOTE: When starting an alphabetical search the cursor must be on a line that has been indexed. The alphabetical searches use the location of the cursor to determine the primary search criteria. If the cursor is not on a line that has been indexed, you will get a "Can't find required index" error message. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 23 The alphabetical searches can also be used to get partial alphabetical listings. For example, if you want an alphabetical listing of everything that starts with the letter "A", put an "A" on the line to be listed (that line must be indexed) and start the alphabetical search. Alphabetical searches will first find all exact matches based on the indexes. When no other matches can be found in the indexes a message will appear at the bottom of the screen that says: NO MATCHES FOUND. ESC to end, F1 for new entry or ENTER to continue search. If you wish to end the search push the ESC key. If you did not find what you were looking for using the alphabetical search you may wish to try a sequential search. Push the ENTER key at this point and the software will automatically go into a sequential search. What do you do if you are typing entries and want to be sure you are not duplicating entries already in your catalog. Type part of the entry and push F6 to perform an alphabetical search. If a match is found push ESC. If a match is not found push F1 and then complete the entry. Anytime a search does not find a match you can push F1. This switches OYC to the Make Entries screen and the information entered as the search criteria will be pre-entered on the appropriate lines. If OYC found a match pushing F1 will put the information from that matching entry on the Make Entries screen. Search Menu - Find Deleted Once an entry has been deleted it will no longer show up during searches. To recover that entry use the editor to display it and then undelete it. However, if you don't remember its entry number, you can't use the editor to display it. The "Find Deleted" search provides another way to locate deleted entries. Select "Find Deleted" on the Search Menu and the software will automatically list all entries that have been deleted. Whenever a deleted entry is on the screen it may be undeleted by pushing ALT-E for the Edit Menu and then selecting "Undelete Entry". You can also push F5 or use the mouse to click on the "5 Save" prompt. If you are searching for deleted entries the software remains in the search mode and pushing F2 will find the next deleted entry. Search Menu - Case [ Sensitive ] When I discussed sequential searches I said they will only find exact matches. The capitalization of the search criteria and the information you are searching for must match. For example, searching for "Red Cabinet" will not find "RED ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 24 CABINET". The "Case" option on the Search Menu allows OYC to find matches in which the capitalization does not match. This option is a toggle. When the word "Sensitive" is in the brackets sequential searches will be case sensitive. This means the capitalization of the search criteria and the information you are looking for must match. Highlight the "Case" prompt and push ENTER to toggle it to "Insensitive". When set to insensitive sequential searches will not be case sensitive. This means you can search for "Red Peppers" and "RED PEPPERS" will be found. When set this way sequential searches will also find "red peppers" and "Red peppers" as matches. Search Menu - Save Changes <F5> Anytime an entry is displayed on the screen you may make changes. If a search finds a matching entry, that entry can be modified. After you have typed the changes you want to make push ALT-S and then select "Save Changes" to save the modifications. You can also push F5 without using the drop-down menus or click on the "5 Save" prompt. Search Menu - Search Again <F2> If you are displaying the results of a search on the monitor, the software will display matching entries one at a time. To find and display the next matching entry select the "Search Again" option on the Search Menu. Please note that when the Search Menu drops down the "List Entries" option will be highlighted. You can move the scroll bar directly to the "Search Again" option by pushing the up cursor key. You can also use the F2 key, without going through the Search Menu, to go to the next entry. Screen Print Feature Anytime an entry is displayed on the screen as a result of a search (or when it is called up using the editor) a copy of the entry can be printed by holding down the CTRL key and pushing P. The entry will be printed using the current report format. If a report format has not been set-up, then nothing will print. (Please see the section on the Report Menu for information about report formats and printing). Finding The Total Value Of Your Coupons You can quickly get a total value for your collection by holding down the CTRL key and pushing ENTER. The software will search your entire catalog and provide a total value, based on the ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 25 line(s) you have set to be totalled. The amount of time this takes will depend on the number of entries. If you need to interrupt the totaling process, push ESC. (See the following section on the Utilities Menu for information on setting the lines to be totaled). THE UTILITIES MENU The Utilities Menu provides a variety of functions for copying entries, indexing and setting up your catalog. Press ALT-U to drop-down the Utilities Menu. Utilities Menu - Reindex First, what is an index and why does this software need to use indexes? A computer based index is just like an index in a book. When you need to find something in a book you look in the index. The index lists information alphabetically and allows you to quickly find what you need. A computer index works in the same way. It is an alphabetical listing that allows the computer to quickly find the information you are searching for. Just like in a book a computer has two ways to find information. If you are looking for specific information in a book you can start reading the book at page one and read until you find what you want. As you can imagine this could take a lot of time, especially if the information you are looking for is at the end of the book. Your other option is to look in the index and go directly to the page that has the information you want. This is exactly what a computer does. A sequential search is similar to starting at the front of a book and reading every page until the required information is found. To find information quickly the alphabetical search uses an index to look up the required information and then go directly to the entry that has that information. Indexes are also required to list information in alphabetical order. The software uses the indexes, which are in alphabetical order, to generate the alphabetical listings. OYC will normally keep all indexes up to date - adding new entries as you type them. However, there may be some circumstances in which you need to rebuild your indexes. If the software does not properly detect an index that should be there, an error message will appear. This message will tell you that the indexes need rebuilding. Indexes are separate files that maintain a fragile relation- ship among many separate words and phrases. If the files ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 26 on your disk become fragmented or cross linked the indexes can be damaged. Although indexes do not effect your catalog files, if the results of a search do not seem to make sense, try making new indexes by using the "ReIndex" feature. If the indexes should be turned off, the "Toggle Indexes On" option on the Utilities Menu will turn on the indexes. Indexes can not be turned off. Utilities Menu - Sort [ Off ] This software has the capability to do multiple level sorting. Sorting means to put entries into alphabetical order based on several lines. Indexing, on the other hand, alphabetizes the catalog based on one line, such as CLASSIFICATION, TYPE and AMOUNT (which will be put in numerical order). If your catalog has not been sorted the word "OFF" will be in the brackets after the word SORT. If it is sorted, the word "ON" will be in the brackets. Now let's see how to sort. Start by selecting the "Sort" option on the Utilities Menu. The Sort Screen will appear. There are two ways you can sort your catalog. Both are shown on this screen. 1) So that your coupons will be in order by CLASSIFICATION. Then for each classification they will be in order by TYPE and for ech type they will be in order by BRAND. 2) In order by EXPIRATION date and then for each date they will be in order by CLASSIFICATION and TYPE. The sorting order does not affect the information that will be printed. It only affects the order it is printed in. You can have your coupons listed in order by CLASSIFICATION and TYPE and have the printed report include the expiration date, brand, amount, and type. To select the sorted order you want to use, push the number under the diagram you want to select. Then push F6 to start sorting. Once the sorting is complete you can get a printed copy of your catalog, in the correct sorted order, by doing an alphabetical listing based on the primary sort criteria (the line you selected as the first line to be sorted). The F8 key is used to clear a sort. What does this mean? Sorting rearranges the entries so they are in the specified sorted order. Once sorted, for example, a sequential search will look through a catalog based on the sorted order instead of the order the entries where originally typed. The "F8 - Clear ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 27 Sort" function instantly returns your catalog to its original unsorted order. The indexes will still be in the sorted order, but sequential searches will no longer follow the sorted order. If you also wish to return the indexes to an unsorted condition all you need to do is ReIndex. Utilities Menu - Eliminate Deleted When an entry is deleted (using the Edit function) it is not erased. It still exists. What the software does is mark the entry as being deleted so it will not show up during searches or listings. If you want to permanently remove an entry from your catalog you need to use the "Eliminate Deleted" feature. When you select the "Eliminate Deleted" feature on the Utilities menu the software will go through your entire catalog and permanently remove all deleted entries. The disk space used by the deleted entries will be recovered and made available for new entries. This process is automatic and there is nothing you need to do. Once started you can not interrupt this process. If it should be interrupted your catalog might be left with an entry duplicated (entered twice). There is no risk of losing data however, so if this process is interrupted by a power failure for example, all of your entries will still be there. Eliminating deleted entries will change the entry numbers for many of the entries in your catalog. You should reindex after using this feature. If you want to eliminate deleted entries without having the entry numbers change you can use the editor to individually type a new entry that replaces the old, deleted entry. Utilities Menu - Delete Catalog If you are no longer using a catalog, it can be deleted using the "Delete Catalog" option on the Utilities menu. Select "Delete Catalog" and a listing of catalogs will be displayed. Use the scroll bar to highlight the catalog you want to delete and push ENTER. If there are entries in the file OYC will tell you how many entries it has and ask you to confirm that this is the correct file to delete. Do not try to delete the catalog if OYC is set to use that catalog. If you do, the catalog will be deleted and then immediately recreated as OYC tries to use that catalog. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 28 Utilities Menu - Select Catalog The last selection on the Utilities menu allows you to select a catalog. You can have as many catalog files as you wish. To create a new catalog file, use the DOS COPY command to copy one of the existing catalogs (And to give the new catalog a new name. Do not copy a catalog over an existing catalog as that will erase the existing catalog). For example, to copy and rename the COUPON-A catalog you would type: COPY COUPON-A.* NEWCAT.* <then push ENTER> This will copy the COUPON-A catalog and name the new catalog as NEWCAT. Although you can create as many catalogs as you wish I recommend using as few as possible. Using multiple catalogs can become very confusing. In many cases you can enter all of your information in one catalog and let the software sort it out. This makes it a lot easier to find specific entries because you do not first have to figure out which catalog it is in. To change catalog names select "Select Catalog Name" on the Utilities menu. The existing catalogs will be shown in a box in the center of the screen. You can use the cursor keys to highlight a catalog or push ESC to enter a new catalog name. To use an existing catalog use the scroll bar to highlight it and then push ENTER. The menu for selecting the catalog name is designed to make selecting the correct catalog quick and easy. For example, you can move the scroll bar directly to the catalog you want to highlight by pushing the first letter of the catalog name. If several catalogs start with the same letter, push that letter until the correct catalog is highlighted. A mouse can be used to select a catalog name by placing the mouse cursor on the catalog to be selected and pushing the left mouse button twice. You can move through the list of catalogs by using the diamond shaped slider along the right edge of the menu. Put the mouse cursor on the "slider", hold the left mouse button down and move the mouse cursor up or down. THE REPORT MENU The Report Menu allows you to select where a report will be sent (the printer, a disk file, the monitor, etc.). This menu is also used to design reports, set the report lengths and enter some of the final report design options. Report Menu - Send To [ Monitor ] There are seven places you can send a report. These are: ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 29 MONITOR: Displays the results of a search or listing one entry at a time on the monitor. The complete entry is displayed on the screen. PRINTER - Continuous Paper: The results of a search or listing will be sent to your printer. This type of report is designed for printers with continuous feed paper such as dot matrix and laser printers. To send a report to the printer you first need to have designed a report format (which I'll discuss in a moment). The software comes with a standard format that will print everything in each entry. You can design your own report formats to look any way you want. PRINTER - Single Sheet Feed: This is the same type of report as the "PRINTER-Continuous Paper" report except that it is designed for printers that only handle one sheet of paper at a time. A daisy wheel printer would be an example of this type of printer. ASCII (document) File: You can save the results of a search or listing in a file on your disk. It will be stored as an ASCII text file which means it can be imported into any word processor. This allows you to include, for example, wanted lists in letters you send to other collectors. dBase File: Selecting this option will save the results of a search or listing in a dBase III file. This file can be used by any software that can read dBase III files. QUICK VIEW: This option puts the results of a search or listing into a list, in which each entry is shown on one line, on the screen that shows 21 entries per screen. You can then move a scroll bar through the list and pick individual entries to display. (Note: this feature requires the additional video memory that is normally only available with color monitors The Quick View also uses your disk for temporary storage. Thus you must have space available on your disk). The Quick View listing contains all of the information in the entry. If the combined length of the lines in your catalog format exceeds 80 characters (the width of the screen), you can move the Quick View display to the right or left using the right or left cursor keys. Each time you push either cursor key the display will move by the amount of space used by one column of information. When the Quick View list is on the screen use the up/down cursor keys to move the scroll bar up and down. The PgDn and PgUp keys change the display by a complete page. The Home and End keys will take you directly to the beginning or end of the list. To get more detail on any entry use the scroll bar to highlight that entry and then push the ENTER key. You can return to the Quick View screen by pushing F2. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 30 With the Quick View screen displayed pushing the ESC key will exit from the Quick View function. LABELS: The labels settings produces the same type of report as the "PRINTER-Continuous" report except that page feeds are not included. This setting should be used anytime you are printing continuous feed labels. Selecting Where You Want To Send Your Report (Send To) To select a report type use the scroll bar to highlight the "Send To" option on the Report Menu and push ENTER. This will open a window in the middle of the screen. All of the report types will be listed and there will be an "X" in the box next to Monitor. This indicates that the results of a search or listing will be displayed on the monitor. Push the TAB key to change the setting. Each time you press the TAB key the "X" will move to the next box changing and changing the setting. Press TAB until the software is set for the type of report you want to use and then press the ENTER key. Report Menu - Page Length The "Page Length" option allows you to set the number of lines that can be printed on a sheet of paper by your printer. For example, most dot matrix printers will print 66 lines on an 11 inch page while laser printers print 60 lines per page. When you select this option a window will appear in the middle of the screen. The current page length will be displayed. You can then enter a new page length, which can be up to 999 lines. Report Menu - Dashed Line If you wish, you can have the software print a dashed line between each entry listed on a report. In some cases this helps to separate entries making them easier to read. The dashed line will also contain the entry number providing a means of determining which entry numbers are being printed. The "Dashed Line" selection on the Reports menu is a toggle. Highlighting the "Dashed Line" option and pushing ENTER will change the setting between on and off. The setting will be stored on the disk. Once set it will not change until you use this toggle again. Report Menu - Column Headings You can have column headings printed at the top of the page. The line titles you've set-up will be used as the column headings. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 31 With the "Column Headings" option toggled "On" they will be printed using the same format as you've set up for the printed report. This option is a toggle. When you highlight the "Column Headings" menu selection and push ENTER the setting will be toggled between on and off. A typical use for column headings is with single line reports. You can set up a report format that prints all of the information on a single line (up to 250 characters wide - set your printer to use condensed print to get more characters per line). What you'll get using this type of format are columns of information with an identifying title at the top of each column. Report Menu - Report Format There are several report formats provided for printing reports. You can switch between the various formats using the "Report Format" option on the Reports menu. The current setting for the report format will be shown in brackets on the menu. When this option is selected a menu box will appear showing the formats that are available. You can select one by highlighting it with the scroll bar and pushing ENTER. You can use any of the report formats with any of the catalog formats. Each has been designed to print all of the information contained in the catalog of the same name. For example, if you are using the CouponS-C catalog format, you can use the CouponS-A report format to print just the information on the top six lines of the CouponS-C catalog format. However, if you use the CouponS-C report format with the CouponS-A catalog format, you will get a lot of blank space on the page. (See appendix B for a description of each report format). There is also a report format called COLUMNS that will print the key information about each book in columns. This is the way to list the most information per page. Another report format, called HEADINGS, is useful if you are listing your collection by author. Please note: if when you try to print, you get blank pages, that means that the report format files may have been deleted. Try re-installing the software. Printing A Report Here are the steps you would follow to print a report: 1) Select the report format you want to use. This needs to be done only one time. Once a report format has been selected it is used until another format is selected. ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 32 2a) If you are searching for something, enter the search criteria on the appropriate line(s). 2b) If you wish to list your catalog in alphabetical order, move the cursor to the line you wish the alphabetical order to be based on. This line must be marked with a starburst symbol. 3) Push ALT-R for the Report Menu. The highlight bar will be on the "Send To" option. Push ENTER. A window displaying report options will open in the middle of the screen. Most people will want to use the CONTINUOUS PAPER setting, so push ENTER once to move the "X" to that setting. If you want to pause after each page is printed, put the "X" next to SINGLE SHT. FEED. 4) Push ESC to close the window and return to the Report Menu. 5) Check the Dashed Line, Column Headings and Page Length settings to be sure they are set the way you want them to be. 6) Push the left cursor key until the Search Menu is displayed. Highlight the search option you want to use and push ENTER. A prompt will now appear, at the bottom of the screen, asking for a title for this report. You can enter anything you like as a title as long as the number of characters in the title does not exceed 80 characters or the width of your report format, whichever is greater. If you push ENTER at this point, without entering a title, the software will put a default title on your report. If you do not want any title at all, push the space bar and then push ENTER. Your report will now start printing. I have taken you through printing a report in a step-by-step detailed manner. Once you have become familiar with using this software you can skip some of these steps and use the short cut keys. For example, if you've already printed one report you can print a second simply by entering your search criteria and pushing F6 (or F8). EXIT MENU You can drop-down the eXit menu by either pushing ALT-X or by pushing the ESC key. The eXit menu is how you get out of the ORGANIZE! software. Push ESC (or ALT-X) to display the "eXit menu" and then push ENTER to exit from the software. HELP MENU OYC includes a series of help screens that have key information about the main functions. Push ALT-H to drop-down ________________ORGANIZE Your Collection - REFERENCE SECTION - 33 the Help Menu. Then use the scroll bar to select the topic you want information on. RETURN The final selection only appears at the top of the screen when a drop-down menu is displayed. The Return selection removes the drop-down menus from the screen and returns you to the Main Screen. You can also return to the Main Screen by pushing the ESC key. CALCULATOR A pop-up calculator is included in OYC and can be accessed from the Main Screen, Edit Screen, or Make Entries Screen. To display the calculator push CTRL-C. The calculator displays a "tape" of the calculation. Use the numeric keypad just as you would a normal calculator. (The ENTER key functions as the = key). As you use the numeric keypad to enter calculations you will see them printed on the "tape" that appears on the screen. ____________________________ORGANIZE YOUR Coupons & Rebates - 34 COUPON, REBATE & PROOF-OF-PURCHASE CATALOGING ORGANIZE! Your Coupons & Rebates provides you with a way to decrease your household expenses by taking advantage of coupons, rebates, and finding which store has the best prices. By using OYC to plan ahead, you'll be able to have the proof-of-purchases you need when a rebate offer comes out; you'll be able to find the coupons that will help you save on your weekly grocery bill; and you'll be able to quickly create a shopping list based on the coupons and rebate forms you have (or keep a list of the ones you want to get). The following are descriptions of what each line in the various coupon formats was designed to catalog. Please note that each format is different, but you will find all the lines used in each format listed here. In entering information you are not limited to what is listed here. You can enter anything on any line and the software will still be able to conduct correct searches and sorts. The first two lines are used to catalog the type of item. The next two lines identify the manufacturer of the item, and lines five and six show the value of the coupon or rebate and the expiration date. CLASSIFICATION - this line is used to identify what category this item fits in. Examples of catagories for food are: soup, dairy, deserts, pasta, mexican, etc. TYPE - use this line to specifically identify the item. For example, under the "pasta" classification you could have: spaghetti, lasagne, shells, etc. MANUFACTURER - enter the name of the manufacturer of this item. BRAND - enter the brand name of this item. Based on the information on the above four lines you can search coupons/rebates my type of item and brand name. For example, if you are planning a big Italian dinner you can search for all coupons for items classified as pasta. Or you can cross- reference "pasta" with a specific brand name. Or, you can find all the coupons you have for lasagna. Just fill in the blanks with what you want to find and push F8. AMOUNT - use this line for the value of the coupon. For rebates that have multiple values that depend, for example, on the number of proofs-of-purchase you send in, enter the lowest value and then show the higher values and their requirements on the "TERMS" line. ____________________________ORGANIZE YOUR Coupons & Rebates - 35 EXPIRATION DATE - enter the expiration date. If you'd like the computer to put your coupons in order by expiration date, you'll need to enter the date starting with the year first. For example, March 11, 1994 should be entered as 94/03/11. Since the computer puts things in order starting on the left and moving to the right, entering the date this way will result in them being in order first by year, then by month, and then by day. key to repeat the previous entry and make a separate entry for each different keyword. GRoCerY LIST-Y/N - this line is used to kep track of the items you want to appear on your next shopping list. If you want to purchase this item the next time you go shopping, put a "Y" on this line. Otherwise leave this line blank. When you want to create a shopping list, just search for "Y" on this line and you'll get a printed list of everything you want to buy. COUPON/REBATE - use this line to identify whether this is a coupon or a rebate. You can enter either the word "COUPON" or the word "REBATE" on this line. OFFER - this line is usually used with rebate coupons. Enter a short description of what you need to do/buy in order to qualify for the rebate. TERMS - this line is used to describe the terms of the rebate. How many proofs-of-purchase do you need? What other products do you need to buy? Proof-OF-Purchase-NEEDED - when you have a rebate coupon, but need proof-of-purchase material, use this line to indicate that you are looking for these proof-of-purchases. You can just put a "N" on this line to indicate they are needed, or you might put something like "2/4 NEEDED" to indicate that you need two more of the four required proofs-of-purchase. Proof-OF-Purchase-HAVE - use this line to indicate that you have proof-of-purchase for this item. You can use OYC to catalog information about items for which you have no coupons. For example, by indicating that you have a proof-of-purchase for an item, you can be on the look-out for a coupon or rebate offer. You can also catalog items which you use frequently and would like to have a coupon for. That way, if you are trading lists with someone else, you can easily print a list of the items you use and would like to find coupons for. FILED - this line is used to keep track of where you have filed this coupon, rebate form, or proof-of-purchase. You may have numbered boxes, drawers, etc. Whatever type of filing system you use, this line will identify where each item is filed. ____________________________ORGANIZE YOUR Coupons & Rebates - 36 TRADE/WANTED - this line is used to indicate coupons, forms or proof-of-purchases you either have available to trade or that you are looking to get. Put either the word "TRADE" or "WANT" on this line. NOTE - use this line for miscellaneous notes and comments. STORE - the last six lines are used to keep track of prices at various stores. Enter the name of the store on the STORE-1 (2 or 3) line. On the STORE-1 (2 or 3) NOTE line enter the pricing information and any comments you have. Always enter the price first on the line. This allows the OYC software to read the price and include it in totals. Never include a dollar sign when entering a price as this will cause the software to see the price as being zero. Always use the same number of digits when entering values. If the values of items in your collection ranges from $1 to $1000, then the $1 items should have their values entered as 0001 which uses the same number of digits as 1000. If you need to include cents some entries, such as in $1.50, but not on others, you do not need to type ".00". Digits to the right of the decimal point, while significant in determining the value of an item, do not effect how a computer sorts values. ___________________________ORGANIZE Your Coupons APPENDIX A - 37 APPENDIX A - PROBLEM SOLVING This section describes some of the errors and problems other users have encountered and recommends solutions. In most cases the software will detect problems, diagnose them and put a message on the screen. Permission Denied - this is a DOS error message. It means that you are using a disk that is write protected. Remove the write protection and the problem will be solved. This problem might also be caused by a directory that is full. You can have a full directory even if there is space available on your disk. Depending on the version of DOS you have there is a limit on the number of files you can have in a directory. In most cases this limit is 128 files. If you try to create more than 128 files you may get the "Permission Denied" error message. The Software Won't Start - if when you type OYC the software does not start there are several possibilities: 1. If you get a message that says "Bad Command or Filename" then your computer can not find the OYC.EXE file. Be sure you are in the directory that contains the OYC.EXE file. To do this type DIR *.EXE and check to see that OYC.EXE is listed in the directory. If it is not listed you most likely will need to use the DOS CD command to change to the correct directory. 2. If nothing happens or your computer locks up when you type OYC, you may have fragmented or cross linked files. Please see the section which discusses fragmented files. All Data Files Have Disappeared - I've had many people call me with this problem. Yesterday they were typing entry 4000 and today the software says they are on entry #1. What happened? Usually the cause of this problem is that the database filename has been changed. All 4000 entries still exist, they are just stored using a different filename than the current filename. In many cases they have switched from COUPON-B to COUPON-A or something similar. Its easy to get them mixed up, so be sure you are using the right filename. The Software Can't Find A Catalog You Know Exists - in addition to the filename you can also set a PATH. This allows you to store data in other directories. If you are looking for a catalog that is stored in a different directory, you will _______________________ORGANIZE Your Collection APPENDIX A - 38 need to specify the PATH to that directory as a part of the filename. I generally recommend you keep all of your catalogs in the same directory as the OYC.EXE file. This makes it easier to keep track of what these files are used for and which program they go with. Fragmented Files - there is no error message that will tell you that your computer has fragmented files. Fragmented files are a normal result of using a computer. When a computer stores information on a disk it puts it into the next available sector on the disk. The next available sector may not be physically located anywhere near the previous sectors the computer was using. As you add to a data file it tends to be broken into small pieces that are scattered in various sectors all over the disk. The problem with fragmented files is that they slow down your computer because it takes more time for the heads in your disk drive to move from piece to piece of a file that is scattered all over a disk. With serious file fragmentation the computer can actually lose track of pieces of a file or start to get cross linked files. As a result the computer can become "confused" and lock-up, you might start getting strange results for searches or be unable to access some entries. If your computer was working fine yesterday and today seems to be giving you strange results and problems, the cause may be the result of fragmented files. I've seen all kinds of problems the range from software locking up to files becoming inaccessible. To solve and prevent this problem you'll need utility software such as PC Tools or the Norton Utilities. Both of these programs provide file de-fragmentation. You should defragment your hard disk on a regular basis. I've found my computer can get fragmented files after just one day of use (one day of use for me is probably a lot for someone else). In most cases you should perform preventive maintenance by defragmenting your hard disk after every 50 to 100 hours of use. __________________________ORGANIZE Your Coupons APPENDIX B - 39 APPENDIX B - Printed Report Formats The following shows the printed report formats included with ORGANIZE! Your Coupons. To show the amount of space used when information is printed, the formats are shown with the name of the line to be printed, followed by asterisks. The combined length of the name of the line, plus the asterisks, shows the amount of space that will be used when this line is printed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADING report format. This format is used to print the CLASSIFICATION, and then list all of the items for that classification. This format would typically be used when doing a complete alphabetical listing, by CLASSIFICATION of the entire catalog. CLASSIFICATION*********************** TYPE********** BRAND************** AMOUNT EXPIRATION GRCY LIST ----------------------------------------------------------------------- COUPONS-A report format. CLASSIFICATION TYPE************** MANUFACTURER**** BRAND************* AMOUNT** EXPIRATION COUPON/REBATE TRADE/WANT NOTES********** GRCY LIST OFFER************************************************ TERMS************************************************ PofP-NEEDED******** PofP-HAVE********* FILED********************* STORE 1*************** STORE-1 NOTE********************* STORE 2*************** STORE-2 NOTE********************* STORE 3*************** STORE-3 NOTE********************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COUPONS-B report format. CLASSIFICATION TYPE************** MANUFACTURER**** BRAND************* AMOUNT** EXPIRATION COUPON/REBATE TRADE/WANT NOTES********** GRCY LIST OFFER************************************************ TERMS************************************************ PofP-NEEDED******** PofP-HAVE********* FILED********************* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _________________________ORGANIZE Your Coupons APPENDIX B - 40 COUPONS-C report format. CLASSIFICATION TYPE************** MANUFACTURER**** BRAND************* AMOUNT** EXPIRATION COUPON/REBATE GRCY LIST ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you'd like to have the titles of the lines included on the printed reports, there are a set of reports called STRD-A, STRD-B, and STRD-C. These report formats include the line titles, followed by a colon, and then the information entered on that line. They will print the information from each entry in two columns. A format called "COLUMNS" is used to print the information in columns on the page.