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Post-Card-Writer for the IBM PC and Compatible An Active Salesperson's Tool User's Guide Version 5.0 Thomason Company P.O. Box 197 Sterling, Va. 22170 (703)450-5845 Copyright ■ 1990 Disclaimer THOMASON COMPANY MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTY WITH RESPECT TO THE POST-CARD-WRITER PROGRAM, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF THE MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS OF THE PROGRAM FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. YOU MUST ASSUME ALL RISK FOR THE INSTALLATION, USE AND RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THE PROGRAM. THOMASON COMPANY SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ERRORS CONTAINED HEREIN OR FOR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE OR USE OF THIS PROGRAM. Copyright Thomason Company holds the copyright on this software and manual product and reserves all rights. The original purchaser may duplicate the diskette only for backup purposes and may not copy any part of the documentation, in any way, without prior written consent from Thomason Company. Trademark Acknowledgments Thomason Company has made every effort to supply trademark information about company names or products mentioned in this guide. Thomason Company cannot attest to the accuracy of this information. EPSON is a registered trademark of EPSON America, Inc. HP and LaserJet are registered trademarks of Hewlett-Packard Corporation. IBM XT, AT, PS/2 and PC-DOS are registered trademarks of International Business Machine. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Good For You Program Features Chapter 1. GETTING STARTED Computer Requirements Installing Post-Card-Writer Starting the Program Stopping the Program Setting the Monitor and Printer When you need Help Chapter 2. ENTERING DATA What to Enter First Adding and Updating Categories Adding and Updating Names Adding and Updating Postcards & Letters Chapter 3. PRINTING Printing Postcards Printing Letters Printing Mail Labels Printing Galleys Printing Reports Chapter 4. REORGANIZING DATA Appendix: A. Text Edit Controls B. Mail Merge Codes E. Program Error Codes F. Criteria Box Values G. Where to buy Postcard Forms H. Most Asked Questions by Users I. Glossary Good for you! You did the right thing. Great, you only spent a few dollars for a personal computer program. HOW GOOD CAN IT BE AT THIS PRICE? Is it really going to make life better, or is it going to end up on the stack, with other tools, you just don't have time to use? "NO--NO--NO". Post-Card-Writer does something you cannot do yourself. It will keep you, your face if you choose, in front of "ALL" your customers and hot prospects, all at the same time. Good for you. You did the right thing. Post-Card-Writer is easy, fast and takes only a few minutes to use. Every salesperson has current and potential clients. What better way to stay fresh, in their minds, than a simple and inexpensive postcard. Good for you and good luck. Program Features: Here are some features of Post-Card-Writer: Install procedure takes only 40 seconds. Not copy protected. Easy to backup and archive. Built in backup procedure. Automatic Reorganization feature. Prints on any HP laser compatible printer Prints on any IBM or EPSON compatible dot matrix printer. Provides custom printer codes for non compatible printers. Provides for one time entry of return name and address information. Displays its screens on a monochrome or color monitor. Stores an unlimited number of postcard messages and letter text. Stores an unlimited number of names. Names are automatically sorted alpha by: Last name or Zip or Street or Company or Carrier route number. Stores up to 99 unique tag categories. Mail merge and value code substitution. Provides an on-screen help facility For both laser and dot matrix: Prints and mail merges single page letters. Prints several formats of mailing labels. Prints database galleys. Chapter 1 Getting Started Computer Requirements Minimum Memory: 512K RAM Disk Configuration: One diskette drive and a hard disk Minimum Disk Space: 1 Megabyte Operating System: PC/MS-DOS Version 2.1 or higher Computers: IBM XT, AT, PS/1, PS/2 computers and MS- DOS compatibles Monitors: Monochrome or Color Dot Matrix Printers: IBM or EPSON and compatible Laser Printers: HP Laser Jet Series II and compatible Installing Post-Card-Writer Post-Card-Writer has its own install program that will automatically copy itself to your hard disk drive. The install program will create a sub-directory named \PCWRITER for loading files. Only program files are copied from the diskette. Data files; Names, Categories, Postcard and Letter text files are created once the program is started. Running the install program a second time will not destroy any data files. 1. Start your computer. 2. Insert install diskette in drive A. 3. At the DOS prompt type A: <Enter> 4. Then type INSTALL A: C: <Enter> where A: (from) diskette drive where C: (to ) hard disk drive 5. The install program will begin coping the files from the diskette to the hard disk. 6. Normally Post-Card-Writer is shipped on a single diskette. Should you receive it on more than one diskette (different diskette capacity) simply start the install program, as described above, and load the additional diskettes when told to do so. 7. The entire install procedure will take less than 2 minutes. 8. When the installation is complete, store the original diskette(s) in a safe place. 9. Something Technical: The program will operate more reliably if FILES, in the CONFIG.SYS file, is set larger then 29. Example: FILES=30 See FILES= or CONFIG.SYS in your DOS Manual for further details. Starting the Program During the install procedure, Post-Card-Writer was copied to the hard disk in its own sub-directory named \PCWRITER. If you have just finished the install procedure just type PCW50 and press the enter key. Otherwise, to start the program you need to change the DOS prompt to the correct drive and sub-directory, then enter the command to start Post-Card-Writer. Here are the three commands needed to start Post-Card-Writer, each is followed by pressing enter. C: (set hard drive) CD\PCWRITER (change to sub-directory) PCW50 (start the program) Do not enter the comments in parentheses Stopping the program Once you are working with Post-Card-Writer you will find it easy and convenient to do your printing and processing from the "easy to pick" options on the main menu. To stop the program, you simply press the Escape key while the main menu is being displayed. A prompt will ask if you are really finished and if you answer Yes one more prompt will be displayed. This last prompt is to do a backup. If you enter No then Post- Card-Writer ends. If you enter Yes then all the data files will be copied to another area of your hard disk. The automatic backup feature puts another copy of your Names, Categories, Postcard and Letter text in a sub-directory named \PCWBKUP. This is a convenient way to have the computer make a current backup. If your active files are ever damaged, this backup copy could be used to do a restore. Setting the Monitor and Printer Post-Card-Writer is set, by default, to print to a dot matrix printer and to display its screens and messages to a monochrome monitor. If your PC has a color monitor or laser printer you can go to the Settings option, from the main menu, and change the default settings. To change the settings from monochrome to color enter "Y" in the first prompt. To set your primary printing to laser, enter "L" in the second prompt. To save these new settings press F2. The settings menu also provides for two other features. The first, at the bottom of the window, is where you enter your return address information. The return address, if you choose, can be printed on envelopes, letters and shipping tags. The other group of setting is for printer codes. If your printer needs other than IBM or EPSON codes for printing, you can enter those codes in the space provided. Your printers manual is where to find the codes. When you need help Post-Card-Writer is designed to be as "User Nice", without being boring, as possible. The F1:Help feature is available for almost every screen. By simply pressing the F1 function key, you will be presented with additional information about that particular screen. To leave the HELP screen, just press the space bar. Esc:EXIT is also displayed on almost every screen. Post-Card- Writer has lots of respect for the Escape key. Whenever it is pressed, the program immediately stops whatever it is doing, if it can, and returns to the main menu. Escape and EXIT, to Post-Card-Writer, means you have changed your mind and don't want to continue with the current option. The advantage of a strict escape key is to quickly end one option to start another. The only disadvantage is moving the light bar through several options, only to loose all those key strokes if EXIT is selected. Fortunately, Post-Card-Writer has a quick way to step through menu options. Rather than move the light bar with the arrow keys and then press <enter> for your selection, you can press the first letter of the menu option. As soon as the key is pressed, that option is selected and the program continues. Example: You can find any name and phone number in 4 key strokes. Let's look for the phone number of "George Quimby", assuming he is already in your list of names. From the main menu type: NUFQ<enter> Example: Print postcards, to the screen, for all names tagged with category "FARMER". From the main menu type: PPLS<enter> CF<enter> NYYN The light bar menu design is to help the new computer user move through the menu selections at their own pace. The single key method is for the experienced computer user who wishes to "zoom" through menu options. In either case, you are only a few key strokes away from all the options of Post-Card-Writer, even after selecting Esc:EXIT. Chapter 2 Entering Data What to Enter First You started Post-Card-Writer by typing PCW50 and pressing enter. The first time the program started it found that no data files had been established. Therefore, you are asked to confirm the creation of needed databases. If you respond with "N" the program beeps about databases being required and halts. If you respond with "Y" the program will create the databases it needs automatically. Each time you start the program, it will check to see if its data files exists. If it cannot find its files, it prompts for your permission and then creates the files it needs. Post-Card-Writer first displays its current version number, then an "Important Message:" about backups and finally asks for the date. After you enter the date (and press enter) the main menu is displayed. The first option to pick is Settings. Select Settings and enter your type of monitor and primary printer (remember F1 for help) and enter your return address. Use F2 to save your new settings. The second option to pick is Category Menu then Add. Add 1 to 20 categories (remember F1 for help) that are appropriate for your database of names. As each new category is entered, you will be prompted to Save or Change that category. Press S to save when you have the category just right. To stop adding categories press Escape to return to the main menu. The third and fourth options are up to you. Either select Names Menu then Add to start adding new names or select Text Files Menu then Add to enter your postcard messages. Both options are going to be required for printing postcards. Adding and Updating Categories Categories are used to pull names together into logical groups when printing. Post-Card-Writer is clever enough to coordinate multiple categories per name. You can tag up to ten different categories to any one name. For example all your names might be tagged with "PROSPECT" while a few are also tagged "ENTREPRENEUR" and still some others are tagged "RICH". Having a well rounded set of categories is a powerful way to organize. When you start printing by category, you can be as selective or as broad as your business requires. The Category Menu is the first option on the main menu. You can add any category name (up to 20 characters) by selecting Category Menu then Add. After the category is entered, it is available for further processing. To delete or change any category simply select Category Menu then Update. The update screen has eleven (11) choices for processing categories. By default, the Roll option is already selected to list the first few entries in a "list & pick" window. As soon as you pick a category the F1:HELP feature is available to describe each of the eleven options. To update or delete a category, use the "R" (Roll) window or "F" (Find) to locate the appropriate entry. Then use "D" (Delete) or "U" to (Update). Before a category can be deleted, the program will check to see if any names have been tagged with this category. If there are tags, you will be informed of the number of names that will release this category. Again, you will be prompted before the delete. Post-Card-Writer has a limit of ninety-nine (99) unique category entries. TIP: Don't create categories that are the same as values stored in your names. An example would be "TEXAS". Sure, it is a valid category; but, it is not necessary. Post-Card-Writer can also pull and print by actual values in the names. Example: State = "TX" or Zip = "22121". Therefore, no need to have a category of "22121" or "TEXAS". Adding and Updating Names Adding: Names are a key item to Post-Card-Writer. The program would be of little value if it couldn't store name and address information that is to be used over and over. Fortunately, much more than just the name is kept by the program. To add new names, select Names Menu then Add. A formatted screen will appear waiting for you to enter the appropriate information. Names should be added with Upper and Lower case letters. Printed envelopes, letters and postcards look more personalized when up/low is used. Remember F1 for help. First and last name are used for searching and pulling, but "Envelope" name is used when printing. First/last name might be "Johnathan Smith", but the envelope name could say "Dr. and Mrs. John Smith". A salutation field is also available. To continue this example, you could enter "Dear Alice and John" for salutation. The idea is to personalize while being computerized. There is a field for carrier route number. The program can print in "CarRoute" order if desired. However, be consistent with CarRoute. Use it all of the time or none of the time. If you choose not to use it, then printing by CarRoute is of little value. The field "Anniversary Date and Reason" are handy to record an event. Birthday, Graduation, Anniversary, First House, New Car, New Policy, etc... You can pull names by either Reason or Date when printing postcards. The "Comment" field is for your viewing only. It is not printed on any postcard, envelope or other outgoing correspondence. The field "MasterCat", for master category, is selected from a "list & pick" window of already entered categories. Place the cursor on the MasterCat field and press enter. Then pick from the list. MasterCat can be any valid category; but, you should choose one that best fits as a master. "Others" is the field you use to tag as many as ten (10) more categories to this name. Enter Y for Others and follow the prompts. If you are about to enter many names of people who live on the same street or in the same town you will really appreciate function keys F2 through F9. Post-Card-Writer is set to repeat the information from the previous name. It works like this. Enter and Save your first name then (without exiting to the main menu) start entering your second name. If "City" is the same as the previous name press F4, when you get to the city field, that repeats the previous city name. If "Comment" is the same press F8, and repeat the comment. If "MasterCat" is the same press F9 for a repeat. Function keys F2 though F9 will repeat data from the previous name. When the last field is processed the program prompts for Save or Change? Entering C will place you back to the top of the screen to make any corrections. Entering S will save the name and start with a fresh "Add" screen. To halt adding names press Escape. Updating To make any modifications to a name, including deleting it, select Names Menu then Update. The update screen will appear with the "Top" name already showing. The top name shown is alphabetical by last name. This is because the default sort order for update is "Lastname". Note: If the top name shown is blank, you need to check for two problems. The first, you have an empty database of names, with nothing to show. The second, the top name is blank. You can verify the number of names by doing option C (Count). If the count is other than zero (0), you have at least one blank name in your database. You should use option D (Delete) to remove blank names. To change any part of the name information, use option F (Find) or R (Roll) to locate the name, then use option U (Update) to make changes. Option S (Sort) will set the names in a different order during update. You can set the order to "Company", "Lastname", "Zip Code" or "Street". The F (Find) option will prompt accordingly. Option P (Print) is very powerful. When you select this option, you can print several different pieces of correspondence for this particular name. Post-Card-Writer can print hundreds of personalized postcards from the Printing option of the main menu. That is a powerful feature, but here, (Names Update), is where you can print a single postcard, letter, envelope etc... You can print a postcard with five (5) key strokes; an envelope with four (4); shipping tag with four (4) etc... There is nothing more powerful or easier to use than option P (Print). To modify the master category, type a blank space in the first position of the field and press enter. The pick window will appear to choose another master category. To Change or Delete any "Other" category, enter a "C" or "D" in its first position. The "C" will show the pick window and a "D" will confirm a delete. Adding and Updating Postcard/Letter Text Adding The final key element of Post-Card-Writer are the messages you create for postcards. The program provides a feature for adding and updating text files. To create postcard text select Text Files Menu then Add. The add screen will appear and prompt you for three items (remember F1 for help). The first is for the "Type" of text you're creating. For postcard text enter "P", otherwise enter "L" for letter text. The second prompt is "Filename". The computer uses this name when saving your text. Any name, up to eight (8) letters can be used, but the program expects you to enter just letters, no numbers or punctuation symbols. The last prompt is for "Description". Here you can key a short description about the postcard. This description will be displayed later for printing. So, make the description meaningful. When you have finished with the description, press enter and an edit window will appear. Here, you start typing the message you want on the postcard. The editing window is actually a small word processor, built into the program. Editing controls are listed in Appendix A (Text Edit Controls). As you type, the words will display in the window. As you fill each line, your text will automatically "wrap" to the next line. So, just keep typing. The postcard has a limit of 20 lines of text, while a letter has a limit of 25 lines. If your text exceeds the limit, the program will display a message asking you to fix the text. Note: If you press enter on the 20th line, then the program will count 21 lines and that exceeds the limit of 20. Note: Blank lines are also included in the count. When the text is finished, press Ctrl-W to save (Keep) it. Otherwise, press Escape to exit the edit window without saving the text. Updating To change your text files select Text Files Menu then Update. The update screen will appear with option "R" (Roll) already selected. The postcard and letter text files will be listed in a "pick" window. Simply move the light bar to the one you need to change, or delete, and press enter. The update screen has eleven (11) choices for processing text files. The options are the same as described in Name and Category updates. To change any postcard or letter text use option "R" (Roll) or "F" (Find) to locate the entry. Then use "U" (Update) to make any changes. To delete an entry use option "D" (Delete). Chapter 3 Printing Print instructions are the same whether you are printing postcards, letters, mail labels, reports or data list galleys. Printing volumes of names has been reduced to a very simple task. In fact, the entire printing process can be as little as ten (10) key strokes. From the main menu, select Printing then Postcards, Letters, Mail Labels or Data Lists. Immediately, the first of several option windows will be displayed. Simply pick from the options to control "How", "What", and "Where" the postcards are to be printed. Tip: You need to enter only the 1st letter of the option to have it selected. "Select By?" lists the two most powerful options you have for printing. The option Category provides you a method to print only those names tagged with a particular category. Example: You may have two thousand (2000) names entered but only nine (9) are tagged as "Hotter than Hot". With Category, you can have just those nine (9) postcards printed by picking only "Hotter than Hot", when asked to pick the print categories. Value will give you another way to control which postcards are printed. Example: If all two thousand (2000) names were to be printed, for a big mailing, then listing all the possible categories could take a lot of time. But with selection by Value, you simply enter "All" in the criteria box and the program knows to print "All" names. Example: Suppose you wanted to print a postcard for only the people who worked for a particular company, say XYZ Optical Inc. For Value, you would enter: Company = 'XYZ Optical Inc.' in the criteria box. Post-Card-Writer will pull only the names of people whose company name matches the selection criteria. Tip: When Value is the option chosen for printing, a few examples are show under the criteria box. Appendix F (Criteria Box Values) list all possible values that can be entered in the criteria box. When entering your selection criteria in the box, you must be exact. If the program cannot understand your statements please review Appendix F for correct examples. After all the options are selected, the program will count, based on the options, to let you know how many names are going to be printed. You then have the option to start printing. If you enter "No" the program halts and returns to the main menu. Entering "Yes", the program waits for the postcards to be loaded and printing begins. You can interrupt the printing at any time by pressing the Escape key. Printing letters has the same explanation as printing postcards. See "Printing Postcards". Printing mailing labels has the same explanation as printing postcards. See "Printing Postcards". Printing reports has the same explanation as printing postcards. See "Printing Postcards". A galley is simply a list of everything on file for a particular entry in a database. In addition to printing galleys the data list option includes printing a phone list. Printing data list galleys has the same explanation as printing postcards. See "Printing Postcards". Chapter 4 Rorganizing Data Post-Card-Writer has taken up the challenge to keep everything organized when it comes to printing attractive and effective postcards. With this task, it must coordinate several databases, configuration files, sorted indexes, dozens of screens and lots of printing formats. Sometimes personal computers "lose their minds" and hardware, software or both get confused. Some names won't print, others will. What will print is not in the correct order. Names, categories and text files are all jumbled. When this happens, and it eventually will, you need a easy way to get all those files reorganized. To get everything back in order select, ReOrganize Data. A pick window list the files that you can reorganize. Selecting "All" will reorganize every appropriate file, otherwise you can pick the file (Names, Categories, Text File) to reorganize. Appendix A: Text Edit Controls B: Mail Merge Codes E: Program Error Codes F: Criteria Box Values G: Where to buy Postcard Forms H: Most Asked Questions by Users I: Glossary A: Text Edit Controls The following is a list of the editing controls when typing postcard or letter text. Key Result Esc Exit No Save Ctrl-W Save and Exit Ctrl-Y Delete Line Ctrl-T Delete Word Del Delete Char Up Arrow Up one Line Dn Arrow Down one Line Rt Arrow Right one Char Lf Arrow Left one Char Ins Insert on/off To insert a blank line toggle Insert on then press enter. B: Mail Merge Codes Post-Card-Writer automatically merges the names that have been selected, by category or value, with the appropriate postcard or letter, during printing. In addition, you can include value codes in the text of your postcards and letters, to personalize them. Example: You could create a postcard with the date as the first line of the postcard. But it would have to be corrected each day you print to display the current date. Solution: Use the value code {DT} as the first line of the postcard. When the postcard prints, "{DT}" will be replaced with the computer's current date. Example: Personalize each postcard by printing the salutation field stored with each name. Solution: Use the value code {SL} in the text of your postcard. As each postcard is printed Post-Card-Writer will pull whatever is in the salutation field and substitute it for {SL}. Here are the value codes you can imbed in your postcard or letter text. {FN} First Name {LN} Last Name {CO} Company {TL} Title {SN} Street No. {DT} Date {S1} Street 1 {S2} Street2 {CT} City {ST} State {ZP} Zip {CR} CRoute {CN} Country {EV} Envelope {SL} Salutation {P1} Phone1 {P2} Phone2 {P3} Phone3 {LD} Contact Date {AD} Aniv Date {AR} Aniv Reason Example: Postcard using value codes. Name: Robert Nelson Smith Computer Date: 12/25/90 Sal: Dear Bob City: Annandale Phone1: 888-8989 Before: {DT} {SL} We are coming to {CT} in about 3 weeks. We'll give you a call at {P1} to set up hotel arrangements. George After: 12/25/90 Dear Bob We are coming to Annandale in about 3 weeks. We'll give you a call at 888-8989 to set up hotel arrangements. George E: Program Error Codes Error No. 01 Printer Not Ready Be sure printer is plugged in, powered on and on-line. 02 Drive Not Ready Insert diskette and make sure the drive latch is closed. 30 Can't read diskette file The diskette is probably damaged. Try to recreate the data on another diskette and try again. 31 Diskette file seems empty Recreate the import file and try again. 32 No category selected A master category must be selected during import ADD. 33 Diskette file not form EXPORT During an import RESTORE, the program has checked to see if the file to be restored was created by Post-Card- Writer EXPORT. You can only restore names that have been previously EXPORTED from Post-Card-Writer. 34 Category file missing on diskette During an import RESTORE, the program is looking for an exported copy of categories on the import diskette. It is required for a restore. Repeate the EXPORT process and try again. 35 Program will finish restore An additional diskette used during import RESTORE did not have the right file name. The program will stop asking for additional diskettes and then complete the RESTORE with the data it has just imported. There is nothing for you to do. 50 Not enough space for backup During automatic backup, the program determined there was not enough disk space available to do its backup. You need to clean up your hard disk by deleting files. F: Criteria Box Values Post-Card-Writer is designed to provide you easy access to your names when printing its postcards. The option to pull names by one or more categories is a powerful feature. But Post-Card-Writer also gives you a feature found in large database management software too. The feature, is to pull names by database value. That is, to have the computer pull names based on values within the name. With this software, you can pull one or all names simply by entering a specific selection criteria. Example: Print postcards for all names whose zip code starts with "221". Solution: ZIP = "221" Example: Print postcards for all names whose envelope looks female. Solution: ENVNAME = "Ms" .or. ENVNAME = "Mrs" .or. ENVNAME = "Miss"The only limitation for pulling names by value, is you cannot speak direct English to the computer. You must speak "English Like" to the computer. Observe the following example: (1.) LAST NAME = "Roush" (2.) LASTNAME = "Roush" Only the second example will be accepted by the computer. That's because the software stores the last name data in a area called LASTNAME. The same is true for envelope name, the program stores all envelope names in an area called ENVNAME. (3.) ENVELOPE NAME = "Ms" (4.) ENVNAME = "Ms" (5.) FIRST NAME = "Willy" (6.) FIRSTNAME = "Willy" (7.) ZIPCODE = "20005" (8.) ZIP = "20005" Only example 4, 6 and 8 are correct.Giving you a list of all the "English Like" names the computer uses, will give you unlimited access for pulling and printing postcards, letters and mail labels. There are a couple of rules you must follow when entering selection criteria in the criteria box. Rule 1. You must spell the "English Like" name exactly as typed in the list. Example: FIRSTNAME not FIRST NAME. Rule 2. The item you are searching for must be in single quotes. Example: FIRSTNAME = 'Conway' Rule 3. The item you are searching for must be the same case (upper / lower) as stored in the computer. Example: FIRSTNAME = 'WAYLEN' 'WAYLEN' will not be pulled if 'Waylen' is the item stored by the computer. You can use all common compare symbols when setting up your selection criteria. = (equal) .or. (oring) <> (not equal) .and. (anding) < (less than) > (greater than) Example: LASTNAME = 'Bush' LASTNAME <> 'Nixon' COMPANY = 'IBM'.or. STATE ='NM' STREET1 = 'MAIN'.and. CITY='Dodge' Pull for Anniversary Date of December 25th and reason being a birthday. AVDATE = CTOD('12/25/90') .and. AVREASON = 'BIRTHDAY' Pull for last contacted date being before June 25th 1990. LCDATE < CTOD('06/25/90') Note CTOD() is a program function that is required for date arithmetic. All dates stored by the program, are in a special date format, just so you can do date arithmetic. English Like Names used by the computer FIRSTNAME First Name LASTNAME Last Name TITLE Job Title COMPANY Company Name STREETNUM Street Number STREET1 1st Street Line STREET2 2nd Street Line CITY City Name STATE State Abbreviation ZIP Zip Code + 4 CROUTE Carrier Route Number COUNTRY Country Name ENVNAME Envelope Name MASTCAT Master Category MASTNO Master Category Number SAL Salutation PHONE1 First Phone PHONE2 Second Phone PHONE3 Third Phone (Fax) LCDATE Last Contacted Date AVDATE Anniversary Date AVREASON Anniversary Reason COMMENT Comment G: Where to Buy Postcard Forms A custom printed postcard is the recommended way to take full advantage of Post-Card-Writer. The specifications for all forms are listed on the following page. If you haven't the time to search out a printing company that can do custom continuous forms, we have located vendor(s) who do provide the service. Call Thomason Company 703-450-5845 Forms specifications: Postcards Dot Matrix: Sizes: 3½in x 5½in x 1 4 in x 6in x 1 (Recommended) 4¼in x 6in x 1 Feed: Continuous Tractor Stock: 100 lb. Firm Finish Tag Stock Color: PMS and half tone photo HP Laser: Sizes: 4½in x 5½in x 4 (Cross Perforated) (8½in x 11in sheet) Feed: Single Sheet Tray Stock: 67 lb. velum bristol Color: PMS and half tone photo Forms specifications: Labels Dot Matrix: Sizes: 3½in x 1 in x 1 3½in x 1 in x 3 4 in x 1½in x 1 Feed: Continuous Tractor Stock: Permanent adhesive HP Laser: Sizes: 30 Sheet 2 5/8" x 1" Avery 5260 15 Sheet 2 3/4" x 2" 14 Sheet 1 1/3" x 4" Avery 5262 Feed: Single Sheet Tray Stock: Permanent adhesive Forms specifications: Shipping Tag Size: 4in x 3in x 1 H. Most asked questions by users Ques When adding or updating names, how do you go back to a field after you have already passed it? Ans To go back a field, press the up-arrow key. Ques When updating a name, is there a faster way to finish the update than pressing the enter key, several times, through the rest of the screen? Ans After your last change, press the Page Down key to complete the update. Ques When adding or updating names, what do you do if the category hasn't been set up yet. Ans Exit the add or update mode and return to the main menu. Select Category then Add and enter the new category. I. Glossary ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange is one standards format for representing characters. It is useful when files are shared between different software products. COPY PROTECTED A software scheme that prohibits the physical copying of files, usually programs, stored on a disk. DELIMITED Usually used to refer to a character or code that marks the beginning or end of an item such as a field, record or file. DISKETTE A hardware device that holds computer information. Usually it is portable, and easy to move among computers. DOS The Disk Operating System is software that directs the flow of data between your hardware components. The operating system is what brings your computer to life after your turn on the power. EXPORT A procedure to copy data from a computer system. GALLEY A galley is usually a draft copy of data for viewing and editing. HARD DISK A hardware device that is not usually removable from the computer. It is the main storage device for program and data files. IMPORT A procedure for bringing data into a computer system. MENU A software component that provides the computer operator with an easy method to control program options. MEGABYTE One million characters of storage space. PROGRAM Software that controls the computers hardware and logic devices. RAM Random Access Memory is the area in the computer where programs are loaded and working. ROM Read only memory holds system start up information the computer loads, into memory, when the power is turned on. SELECTION CRITERIA Selection criteria is a specific set of instructions the computer uses for pulling and printing data. UPDATING A software procedure that provides the computer operator a method for modifying current computer data.