Summary Owner's Manual for the version 0.81 release of St. Dragon Enterprises Mailing List Manager.
What you have here is a single user release of an extremely powerful mailing list manager, from St. Dragon Enterprises.
The Mailing List Manager provides you with:
-- Support for over 100 different printers.
-- Support for many styles of labels.
-- The ability to define your own label styles.
-- The ability to print directly to envelopes, rather than to mailing labels.
-- Rapid lookup of names with in a mailing list.
-- The ability to print all or part of a mailing list.
-- User defined fields for each mailing list to make sorting a mailing list simpler.
-- Several pop-up tools, including a Calendar of events, a Calculator, a Memo Pad and more.
-- The ability to maintain an unlimited number of mailing lists.
-- Return address labels.
-- Tracking of birthdays.
-- The ability to keep individual, free form memos on each entry in a mailing list.
-- A letter writer for the creation of library letters that may be merged with a mailing list during printing.
-- The ability to export all or a portion of a mailing list to a names file for use by Word Perfect, Microsoft Word and others.
-- The St. Dragon Utilities, a collection of useful "desktop" tools, such as a calendar, a calculator, a note pad, a phone book and more.
-- The ability to use this program as a general system for tracking friends, customers, clients, employees, etc.
-- An on-line help system.
-- An automatic screen saver.
-- Telephone auto dial (with a modem installed on your computer).
-- Mouse support.
-- Compatibility with Microsoft Windows.
-- And (of course) lots more...
The network version additionally gives you:
-- Fully compatibility with all major networks, including Novel, Novel Lite, Lan Manager, Banyon Vines, PC-NFS, and more.
-- The ability to share the Calendar and Memo Pad files among many users (on a network), and to keep your own private files.
-- The ability to share the mailing lists among many users (on a network), and to keep your own private mailing lists.
If you would like to register this product and receive a free update to the latest version, plus a printed copy of the complete owner's manual (approximately 100 pages long), send your check or money order to:
St. Dragon Enterprises
PO Box 1937
Sausalito, CA 94966-1937
or contact us by phone at (415) 332-0921 between 9 am and 5 PM PST,
or by CompuServe at 71650,2154.
The cost of the product is $29.95, per user. Contact us for information about site-licensing and quantity pricing.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
DOS 3.31 or later:
This program runs on MS-DOS compatible systems running MS-DOS 3.31 or later. It has been tested only against MS-DOS, and not against DR-DOS, PC-DOS or any of the other DOS clones.
640K of memory:
It requires 640K of memory in the machine (or more). It can only make use of 640K and can not recognize memory above that. It also needs to have about 500K of user space available before starting it up, or it will likely run out of memory at some time during use and "crash." To find out how much user space is available, type in CHKDSK from a DOS prompt. This will spin its wheels for a bit then will announce, among other things,
655360 bytes total memory
nnnnnn bytes free
It's the bytes free number that is important. It should be close to 500,000 or more. One can sometimes run with as little as 450,000; it varies from system to system, and with how large is the mailing list you are using. If you do not have this much memory free before starting MailMan, then you may need to re configure your system (eliminate unneeded TSR's and system drivers, install a memory manager -- such as QEMM -- and let it do its things, etc. MS-DOS 6.0 can also help with memory management problems. Consult your local computer specialist for further details on this matter; memory and performance optimization on a DOS machine can be a very complicated, frustrating business, but once it is done, it is done.)
MailMan can be run from under Microsoft Windows(r) 3.x, in a DOS window (PIF and icon provided). The only warning is the same as above: you must have sufficient memory available in the DOS window for MailMan to be able to run. See RUNNING FROM WINDOWS for more information.
HARD DISK:
You must have a hard disk to run this software. While it may be possible to arrange it on one or two floppies so that it will operate correctly, it is not recommended and not supported.
You will need to have around 700K of hard disk space to install this demo. One sample mailing list of 50 (bogus) names is included. Data files will grow as you add names and create new mailing lists; allow space for them. (Our test files include, among others, one mailing list with 7,700 names in it; it uses up about 4.5 megabytes of disk space.)
OPTIONAL:
MailMan will use a mouse (any standard mouse, such as Microsoft, Logitech, etc.) if one is installed on your system.
You should have some sort of printer with your system. If not, you can print labels to a disk file, then take the file (via floppy, say) to a friend (or to the office) who does have a printer and print them out there. See PRINTING TO FILE for more information on that.
INSTALLING THE MAILING LIST MANAGER
Installation is easy. In this file you should have found, after unzipping:
DOX.TXT <-- this file you are reading
DRAGON.ZIP <-- the program and data files
INSTALL.BAT <-- the installer
README.1ST <-- details you should see right away
REG.TXT <-- registration information
To install this from drive A: to C:\MAILMAN, then you can do that by simply typing in
INSTALL
from the A: drive. If you wish to install it from a sub directory on your hard disk to C:\MAILMAN then type in
INSTALL <directory where it is>
and press enter. Finally, to install from anywhere to anywhere type in
INSTALL <where these 3 files are> <where it should be installed>
Examples:
INSTALL (to install from A: to C:\DRAGON)
INSTALL c:\downloads c:\realcool
INSTALL b: c:\utils\mailman
Be sure that whatever destination directory you specify either does not already exist, or does not have anything in it that you want to keep, otherwise the installation may damage existing files in that directory.
If you received this demo version by downloading it from a Bulletin Board System (such as CompuServe) then the batch file must be able to find PKUNZIP on your system. Be sure it is either in your path or in the same sub directory (or on the same floppy) as INSTALL.BAT and DRAGON.ZIP. If you received as a directly from St. Dragon Enterprises, then PKUNZIP is on the floppy you received and you may ignore this caution.
After installation, you will find three directories have been created. Assuming that you have installed it to c:\mailman, then you would find:
C:\MAILMAN
C:\MAILMAN\TOOLS
C:\MAILMAN\DATA
and several files in each directory. You will also find a file called DRAGON.BAT in the root directory of your C: drive. This is a batch file that will run the Mailing List Manager for you; just type in DRAGON and it starts up. HOWEVER, if you installed MailMan to some drive other than C:, you will need to make one small change to this batch file before it will work. Bring the batch file up in an editor (such as EDIT with DOS 5.0 and 6.0); the directions are in the batch file. This batch file may be moved to any sub directory that is in your path, if you wish.
After running the system for the first time, it will create additional files in each sub directory. The sample data is contained in the files NAMES*.* in the DATA sub directory. TOOLS is where the data files for the pop up tools are located. This organization allows you to keep common data and tool file areas on a network where they may be shared by many users. For a single user, it keeps things more organized.
USING THE MAILING LIST MANAGER
GETTING STARTED
The Mailing List Manager may be started by typing in DRAGON, to start the DRAGON.BAT file that was created by the installation routine. The first time you start up MailMan it will do some additional file maintenance that it will not ordinarily have to do. This only takes a moment.
GETTING HELP
There is no use manual provided with this release, only this file, and the help screens in the system (most of them are finished, a few are not). Help is available at any time by pressing F1 or by mouse clicking over the ? symbol at the lower right hand corner of any window (if that symbol is present). This help will say something about that window or function in particular. There is also a general help system available by pressing Shift-F1 at any time or by mouse-clicking on the Shift-F1 menu item at the upper right corner of the desktop.
SAMPLE DATA
There is a sample mailing list provided, called NAMES, which contains 50 bogus name entries. This is so that you may play with the system and see what it does. You can create additional mailing lists by selecting NEW under the FILE menu and answering the questions it asks you.
THE MENU OPTIONS
There are several menus shown across the top of the desktop. Listed here is a brief description of what each option does.
File Menu
New for creating a new mailing list file
Open for accessing (working with) an existing mailing list
Delete for deleting an existing mailing list
Be very careful about deleting a mailing list.
Once it is done, it can not be undone.
File Maintenance This is a general maintenance routine that can be run when ever
you feel that a mailing list is not behaving correctly any more, or
if you would like to try to reduce its size (compact it). It will not
harm anything to run it, though for large files it may take a while to
complete.
Printer Set Up This allows you to setup MailMan for you printer.
Export This is for converting all or part of a mailing list to a file that can be
used by another software system, such as Word Perfect or Microsoft
Word.
Custom Group Names This is for defining the user-definable fields in each mailing list. You
may name these fields anything you like, up to 10 characters.
About ... This shows you the current version number of the software.
Quit This is for exiting from MailMan.
New Names Menu
Add New Names This is how you would add new names in to the current mailing list.
Look Up Names Menu
Search for Names This is for searching for a specific entry in the current mailing list
Last Name Order Browse This is for browsing through the entire mailing list, sorted by
last name
Company Order Browse This is for browsing through the entire mailing list, sorted by
company name
Print Menu
Mail Labels This is for printing mailing labels from the current mailing list.
Return Addr Labels This is for generating any number of return address labels.
General Listing This will generate a general listing print out of the current mailing
list, either all of it or part of it as you wish. Not functional in this
version.
Birthday Report This will product a listing of up coming birthdays for whatever
interval you define (within 15 day, within 30 days, within 90 days...)
Not functional in this version.
Letter Writer This is a small text editor, that allows you to create letters and keep
on file as standard or stock letters that can then be merge printed
against the current mailing list. See LETTER WRITER for more
details.
SYSTEM MENU
In the upper left hand corner of the desktop, there is a little symbol like a square with a couple lines through it. This is the system menu. It can be accessed at any time during usage of the program by pressing ALT-SPACEBAR, or by mouse clicking on that symbol. This brings up a menu of many useful tools and utilities. It is available at any time while you are in MailMan, no matter what else you may be doing.
Phone Book this brings up a phone book utility that shows a listing of names
and phone numbers based on the currently selected mailing list.
It will auto dial the phone number for you if you have a modem in
the system.
Memo Pad This will bring up a memo pad that may be used to jot down random
notes at any time.
Calculator This is a calculator, that includes a printable tape.
Calendar This brings up an events calendar, where important days,
appointments, holidays, etc., can be recorded.
States This is a reference of the states and territories of the US, includes
correct postal abbreviations, as well some interesting information
about each one.
Countries This is a reference of the countries of the world, similar to the
States tool, listed above.
Screen/Video This is for configuring the screen options in the system. Including
colors, screen size (if you have an EGA or VGA display), screen fonts
(again, for EGA or VGA only) and more.
Screen Saver This sets up the time interval on the screen saver, how long will it
wait with no keyboard activity before it activates. Set this to zero to
turn it off.
Sound MailMan makes noise. It beeps here and there. If you do not want it
to do this, then you may turn the sound off with this option.
Log Files There are two types of entries that MailMan will make in the log
file, DRAGON.LOG: error messages and activity messages. You can
set those on or off here. We highly recommend leaving the ERROR
option ON.
Modem If you have a modem and would like to be able to auto dial phone
numbers from the Phone Pad (see above) then you will need to let
MailMan know how to use your modem here.
User Information This sets up your personal information and preferences.
System Stats This is a screen full of information about your system, including
how much memory is available, what kind of processor you have
and more.
Story of St. Dragon What's the deal behind the name? An entertaining story about the
derivation of "Saint Dragon."
About... This is a description of the software you are running.
Quit Quits out of the system.
SCREEN SAVER
In the upper right hand corner of the desktop, there is a little symbol like a down pointing arrow. Mouse clicking on this will activate the screen saver, dropping the desktop down to a small square that moves to a different place on the screen from time to time. If you are not using a mouse, there is no way to select this function, however, if you have turned on the screen saver function (under the system menu, ALT-SPACEBAR), then the screen saver will automatically kick in after so many minutes of inactivity. The interval until it kicks in is up to you: one minute up to 99 minutes.
USER DEFINABLE FIELDS
Another feature that helps with selecting portions of a list for printing is the six user definable groups per mailing list. Each name entered in to the system can be assigned to any, all or none of these groups. Then when you wish to print out labels, you may specify that you want only those names on this list that are members of group one, or of group three, or of any combination of the six groups. The groups could be given names such as WORK, FRIENDS, RELATIVES, THE CLUB, BOYSCOUTS, etc.; whatever is meaningful to you. Each mailing list has its own set of group names.
SHORT CUT KEYS
There are a number of short cut keys or hot keys that are available to you while running MailMan. Many of them are shown on the menus. They are listed below.
F1 Help
F2 Printer Configuration
F4 Phone Book
F5 Memo Pad
F6 Calculator
F7 Calendar
F8 States lookup
F9 Countries lookup
Ctrl-Q Quit
Alt-M Label Print
Alt-N Add new names to the current mailing list
Alt-S Search for one particular entry in the current mailing list
Alt-W Go to the Letter Writer
USER INFORMATION / DEFAULT DATA FILE
Under the System Menu there is an option called User Information that allows you to enter such information as your name, address, etc. (useful for generating return address labels), and for specifying the location of the DATA and TOOLS sub directories and for specifying the Default File Name.
The Default File Name is the name of the mailing list file that you wish MailMan to assume on start up. It comes set to the file NAMES since that is the only mailing list in the system and contains the sample data. To set up your own mailing list, select NEW under the FILE menu to create a new mailing; this option will ask you some questions and then create the new mailing list file for you. You would then want to go into the USER INFO under the SYSTEM MENU and specify the new file as the default.
NOTE: The User Info can not be changed in the demo version; this is one of limitations of the demo version.
USER DEFINABLE FIELDS
Another feature that helps with selecting portions of a list for printing is the six user definable groups per mailing list. Each name entered in to the system can be assigned to any, all or none of these groups. Then when you wish to print out labels, you may specify that you want only those names on this list that are members of group one, or of group three, or of any combination of the six groups. The groups could be given names such as WORK, FRIENDS, RELATIVES, THE CLUB, BOYSCOUTS, etc.; whatever is meaningful to you. Each mailing list has its own set of group names.
LETTER WRITER
The letter writer is a small text editor (not a full powered word processor) that allows you to create your own library of letters that can be used to send out to names on any of your mailing lists. By inserted codes in the text of the letters you create (shown below) MailMan can substitute in the name, address, city, or any of the listed information directly into the text of the letter as it prints out, thereby creating a "personalized" letter. By selecting the entire mailing list or a portion of it you can, in one motion, create hundreds of "personalized" letters thereby.
Here are the codes.
&FIRST for the person's first name
&LAST for the person's last name
&COMPANY for the company name
&ADDRESS1 for the first line of the street address
&ADDRESS2 for the second line of street address
&CITY for the city
&STATE for the state
&ZIP for the zip code
&HPHONE for the home phone number
&WPHONE for the work phone number
&FAX for the fax phone number
&DATE for today's date
Here's an example showing how one might use these codes in a sample letter in the Letter Writer.
&DATE
&FIRST &LAST
&COMPANY
&ADDRESS1
&ADDRESS2
&CITY, &STATE &ZIP
Dear &FIRST,
How are you doing? I tried calling you the other day and apparently I have an incorrect phone number for you. I dialed &HPHONE and reached President Clinton instead of you. Can you please verify for me what your phone number is?
Thanks.
Sincerely....
You can use them either as all upper case or as all lower case, but do not mix the cases. For example, &FIRST and &first are both OK and will work, but &First will not work.
NETWORKS
The Mailing List Manager is fully network compatible. It will run on any network that supports standard sharing techniques (Novel Netware, 3Com, LanMan, Lantastic, etc.). Its network support has been engineered to be as generic as possible
.
Remember that each user on a network must have his own license (have purchased his own copy) to legally be able to use this product, unless a special site-license has been purchased from St. Dragon.
Why use this on a network? Users can share printers, so that each person need not have his own printer. Also, users can share data files, both mailing lists and tool files. (Tool Files are the data files belonging to the popup utilities, such as the calendar.) A set of users could all be using the same calendar file if they wished. They could share mailing lists from a common pool of mailing lists, and have their own private mailing lists as well.
It is recommended that each user set up his copy of MailMan on his local hard disk, then, using USER INFORMATION on the System Menu (Alt-Spacebar) direct the tool path and data path to the appropriate locations on the network as needed. This will allow each user to configure MailMan as (s)he wishes in terms of colors, screen size, name, etc., without changing these properties on everyone's installation. If desired, however, one installation can be setup in a central location on a network and be made available to all users. Consult your network manuals for details on making one program sharable among many users. Be sure that you have adequate licensing for however many people you wish to have using the software at one time. Contact St. Dragon Enterprises for further details.
NOTE: The network support has been disabled in the demo version of MailMan. This is a limitation of the demo version. This version will operate on a network, but only for one user at a time; file sharing is fully disabled.
RUNNING FROM MICROSOFT WINDOWS
MailMan will run fine from within Windows 3.x. Included in this release are a PIF and an icon that you may use to set up MailMan for Windows. Follow this procedure:
1) start windows and go to the Program Manager
2) select the program group you would like to add MailMan to
3) select the FILE menu and NEW
4) select PROGRAM ITEM
5) this will bring up a dialog box asking for some information. You will need to supply a name and a file name. The name can be St. Dragon MailMan. The file name must be MAILMAN.PIF, but you should use the BROWSE option to locate this file on the hard disk (should be where ever you have installed the MailMan system), so that windows knows where this file is located.
6) Select CHANGE ICON. It will tell you that this file does not contain any icons but that you may select some from program manager. Just select OK.
7) Select BROWSE and locate the MAILMAN.ICO file, in the sub directory where you installed MailMan. Press OK.
8) Press OK. This will add a program manager icon to the program group.
That's it. If everything's gone well, then just double click on the MailMan icon and away it will sail. If it does not work, see TROUBLE SHOOTING (below) and your Windows documentation.
One note about running under Windows. You will not be able to use any of the advanced screen modes or change the screen font if you are running under Windows. This is because Windows takes control of the video card away from MailMan.
PRINTING TO FILE
Printing to file is easily done; you would simply press F2, select SELECT OUTPUT, then select FILE. It will ask you at that point for the name of a file (defaults to output.txt). Then whenever you print, what would have gone to the printer will go to that file on disk, including any of the printer control codes. Because of the control codes, it is important to know what you wish to do with this file in the future. If you do not have a printer or wish to print on another type of printer that is located elsewhere, then you will need to configure MailMan for that type of printer, then do the print to file. Take this file to whatever computer has the printer you wish to use, and use DOS to send it to the printer. For example, if you have a file called OUTPUT.TXT on a floppy in drive a:, then you would use this command to begin printing it:
COPY a:output.txt lpt1: /b
This assumes that the printer you wish to use is hooked up to LPT1:. If not, substitute the appropriate system code: LPT2:, LPT3: or PRN:. The /b tells DOS that this is a "binary" file, meaning that there may be some non-text codes in this file and it should send those out to the printer as well as the text characters.
If you wish to create a disk file of the "printed" labels that does not have any embedded printer control codes in it (that would contain only plain text, in other words) then you should first configure MailMan to use the GENERIC PRINTER, then print to the file. Press F2, select PRINTER and find GENERIC PRINTER on the list.
PRINTING TO POSTSCRIPT
MailMan does not directly support printing to a postscript printer. However, it can print to a file. If you have a word processing program, or some other software, that does work with your postscript printer, then what you can do is print your mailing labels to a file, using the desired format for the labels (see PRINTING TO FILE), then bring this file in to your word processor and print to the postscript printer from there.
KNOWN DEFICIENCIES IN THIS VERSION?
There are two reports that are not finished yet: GENERAL LISTING and BIRTHDAY REPORT. General Listing will be a simply print out listing of the names in your mailing, along with the other information about the people, including what ever notes or memos have been added to each of the names. You will be able to print all or part of a mailing list. The Birthday Report will generate a list of names whose birthdays are coming up with in whatever interval you specify, so that you may mail out birthday cards, etc. You will be able to optionally printout a listing, mailing labels, or both.
There are a few advanced printer options that are not yet functional. Under the F2, printer configuration menu, there are two options listed as "RETURN ADDRESS" and "GRAPHICS." None of the options in these menus are functional. They are there as place holders (as well as advertisement for Coming Attractions).
TROUBLE SHOOTING
Notes:
1) MailMan has not been tested against DOS 6.0. We are not anticipating any problems, however.
2) MailMan has not been tested against DR DOS, or any other DOS clones. We do not support those operating systems. It is up to those manufacturers to make sure their systems are fully MS-DOS compatible.
3) Make sure you have enough free memory when starting up MailMan. (see SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS).
4) We have not tested against Norton NDOS; NDOS has been known to cause some obscure problems from time to time, with software in general, in our experience. If you are using NDOS and have an problem going on with MailMan, try removing it for the moment and try again.
5) We have not tested against Windows NT or Windows for WorkGroups, but it should work fine in their DOS windows as far as we know right now.
6) There is a known problem with Novel Netware Lite, where file/record locking does not behave correctly. This is a bug in the Netware Lite and a patch is available from novel. Contact your novel representative.
7) Check the log file: DRAGON.LOG. Information is often squirreled away in there that can be useful in tracking down a problem. Newest entries appear at the bottom of the log file.
Following are some typical questions or problems.
-- It just crashed! I was working along fine, and suddenly I'm out at DOS and no errors or nothing!
This is typically caused by running out of memory suddenly. There actually is an error message that displays at the top of the screen, but is cleared on the next key press, then the system exits back to DOS (most error messages in the system are much friendlier, but when the system runs out of memory we don't have a lot of control). For example, if you are typing in a memo on a particular name when the system runs out memory, it is likely that you will miss the error and find your self at DOS without any explanation. What ever you were typing in at that moment will be lost as well. All other work up to that point in that session should have been saved automatically by MailMan.
The only solution for this is to free up more of your base ram (the portion of memory below 640K). MailMan needs to have AT LEAST 500K of free user space when it starts up. Running with less may work, though you may find yourself out at DOS suddenly a lot.
- It crashed during file maintenance (either when I picked File Maintenance from the FILE menu or when it was doing it on its own) and now I can't get back in or the file is all messed up when I try to BROWSE it.
Here's what to do. First find all the INDEX files for this particular mailing list. They should be in the \MAILMAN\DATA sub directory. You will need to know the name of this mailing list file. For example, if the mailing list is called NAMES, then the index files will be called NAMES1.NTX through NAMES8.NTX. You will need to delete these files.
DEL NAMES?.NTX
Be very careful that you type this correctly for your mailing list or you'll erase the wrong files.
Now try starting MailMan again and browsing this mailing list. MailMan will rebuild the index files. If it still crashes or hangs up part way through this process, then you will need to erase these files again and then type in this command before starting MailMan:
SET CLIPPER=F31;R60;V20;E000
It is very important that this be typed in correctly. Now try starting MailMan and letting it do its file maintenance. If it completes successfully this time, then you will need to exit from MailMan and type in the command
SET CLIPPER=
from DOS and then restart MailMan. Everything should be fine now.
If it still failed, then it may be that you have some other problem, such as a corrupted data file, or hard disk problems. It would be good idea at this point to stop everything and run some hard disk diagnostic tools, such as Norton Disk Doctor or PC Tools and find out if there is anything wrong with your hard disk.
-- The names aren't lining up with the labels correctly when I print.
This is usually simply that the labels in the printer weren't aligned correctly before you started printing. At this time the MailMan does not include a label alignment test (it will in the future). What you need to do right now is to simply print one label at a time, and use that as a test of the alignment of the labels. Once the labels are aligned correctly, then you can print the whole list as you wish.
-- It's not printing the labels correctly! I get garbage on the labels, or the formatting of the printing is all messed up.
There are two possible causes for this. The most likely cause is that you have either selected the wrong printer type for your printer or you have not selected any printer type so that MailMan is using the default printer settings, which may not work correctly for your printer.
MailMan is familiar with over 100 printers, but you have to tell it which printer type it should be using. From the FILE menu, select PRINTER SETUP, or press the F2 key, to bring up the printer configuration screens.
If your printer is not on the list, then try to find one that is similar.
The other possible cause for this type of problem is that our printer control codes are wrong. We have very carefully taken the control codes for each printer from the manufacturer's own documentation, but we can not actually test 100 different printers (we don't have them). All the ones we have tested do work as advertised. But if we made any typos, or if the manufacturer made any typos in his documentation, then MailMan may simply not be able to use your printer correctly.
-- When I press Alt-Spacebar to access the system menu it doesn't work
We've noticed that sometimes you have to press this key combination twice to get it to respond. Be sure, also, that you are holding down the ALT while pressing the space bar. Pressing Alt and letting it go then pressing the spacebar and letting it go will not work.
-- When I press Alt-Spacebar to access the system menu, I get Windows' system menu instead.
You are running under Windows but you aren't using the PIF we provided you. See RUNNING UNDER WINDOWS and try again. (The Alt-Spacebar is a system key combination in Windows and must be "reserved" for MailMan's use; this is specified in the Advanced section of the PIF file.)
-- Every so often the system brings up this nagging dialog box called "Registration Reminder." How can I get rid of that?
Register the product. Remember, this is shareware and must be paid for if you intend to keep using it.
-- When I try to run it from Windows, nothing happens. Windows seems to do its thing, something flashes for just a moment then I'm back to windows with no explanation.
Be sure that you really have enough memory to be running this from Windows. Remember, you need to have at least 500K memory available to run well, 480K to run in a pinch. The PIF for MailMan tells windows that it must have 480K to run, prefers 640K. If you do not have enough memory, windows may not be able to successfully launch MailMan and make it run.
Also, be sure that you have told Windows correctly where the PIF is located. Double check the procedure for setting this up under RUNNING UNDER WINDOWS.
Beyond that there are a number of situations that can come up with Windows itself. Most of these will display some kind of error message. Be sure that you are using Dr. Watson (or Dr. Turing, if you are using Windows for WorkGroups) from Microsoft with your Windows as well; this is a diagnostic tool that Microsoft created to help technical support people be able to sort out why something misbehaved. See your Windows documentation for more details.
-- When I try to run it from Windows, I get some ugly error messages as it starts to come, then another error across the top of the screen, then when I press a key it exits back to windows.
Check that the PIF is showing the correct working directory for MailMan. If MailMan can not find all of its support files at startup, it's behavior will be less than friendly. You will see messages about "Can not open GIF file", "sunsay usage...", etc. What happens after that is more variable, but the bottom line is that MailMan will not run. It expects that the "current" directory is the same directory where it and its support files are located.
-- I can't get network support to happen. Only one user can work at a time.
The network support is not available version. Upon registering this product, you will receive the newest version, which is fully network compatible and multi-user capable.
-- I can't change the User Information; my return address labels are coming out all wrong.
You can not enter your Name and Address information into the product until you register it with us and receive an update.
-- There's some other feature that I want, but I don't see it in your system. What can I do?
Well, we always listen to requests and record them in our wish-list database. This is what determines features in future versions of our software. Occasionally, special arrangements can be made for customized versions or for immediate updates to be produced; but not for single copies of the software. Give us your suggestions.
OTHER PROBLEMS
If you are experiencing any other problems, be sure to read whatever error messages MailMan is giving you, also look in the DRAGON.LOG file (located in the MailMan sub directory). This log file will contain some information about the error, whatever mailman was able to figure out about it. Though some times this information will not be useful to you, only to us. So call us, and tell us what happened. We're likely to tell you to buy the shipping version of the program, but we don't mind talking with you anyway.
That's it. Good luck. Enjoy the program. May the Force Be With You.
