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Text File | 1985-04-30 | 30.3 KB | 925 lines

'Mini' Owners Manual for ******************************************** * * * LETTERS n LABELS * * * ******************************************** VERSION 1.0 "The Multi-Purpose Mailing List Manager for Rapidly Producing Labels and Form Letters" Copyright 1984 by: Robert Hime 132 Central Way #5 (All Rights Reserved) Kirkland, WA 98033 Permission to copy software and documentation is granted, provided that same is not altered in any way, and the charge (if any) for such copying not exceed $5.00. Thanks - Robert ***************************************** * MINI-MANUAL CONTENTS * * ------------------------------------- * * * * - Questionaire/Registration * * * * I What You'll Need (& Have) * * * * II Copying LnL to Your Disk * * * * III Starting the Program * * * * IV Entering & Editing Names * * * * V Storing & Retrieving Files * * * * VI Printing Mailing Labels * * * * VII Printing Form Letters * * * * VIII Selecting Parts of a File * * * * IX Other Goodies * * * ***************************************** V1.0 *************************************** * Questionaire / Registration Sheet * *************************************** Please look through the following questions, then come back and fill them in after you've used the program for a while. Thanks. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. How did you come across this program ? __Friend __Club __Store __Mail Order Other___________ 2. Have you found this program generally helpful? Why or Why Not? 3. What things would you like to see added to this program? 5. What new types of programs would you like to see offered in a "Free-To-Copy" form? 6. If you have found any errors in the program, please note them on the back of this sheet, or on another sheet. - Special thanks for your help in this area. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Optional Registration Optional Registration --------------------------------------------------------------------- If you are finding this program Name____________________________ useful, you can receive the items listed below by making a modest Address____________________________ ($30 ??) donation to help cover the costs of developing and ____________________________ providing them to you. ____________________________ - A Full Owners Manual. - Next version of LETTERS n Would you like a receipt for LABELS when released. your donation? Y N - Newsletters announcing other "Free-To-Copy" programs Thank you for your by myself and others. registration. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Send Completed Sheet To: Robert Hime 132 Central Way #5 Kirkland, WA 98033 I. WHAT YOU'LL NEED EQUIPMENT: An IBM PC or Compatible with: 128K RAM 1 or More Drives (2 recommended) Parallel Printer Monitor (any type) PC-DOS or MS-DOS W/P SOFTWARE: Word Processing Program, which can produce plain "ASCII Text Files". With some word processors this may be called the "non-document mode" of operation. NOTE: If you are only preparing Labels, you will not need a W/P program at all. SUPPLIES: 3 Blank, Formatted Disks. (1 is for this program, and 2 for storing names) Labels - available either at a good office supply store, or at "Radio Shack". Get single wide labels only. Can of "Dr. Pepper" - Regular or Sugar Free OTHER: 1 Friend experienced with PC's If you get stuck while using this program, then find a friend who uses PC's and see if they might be able to offer a suggestion. I've puzzled hours over some problems, only to have "friend" come over to my desk and point out the solution. ************************************************ * WHAT YOU HAVE ON YOUR DISK (Hopefully) * ************************************************ Your "LnL" Program disk should contain the following files: LNL .EXE - The Program LNL .DEF - Start-up Defaults for the program LNLOWN.MAN - The File with this Mini-Manual ** CHIMNEY - A sample file of names for you to try ** WOODBOX - A sample letter for use in preparing Form Letters LNLCOPY - A Batch File for copying all these files to another disk (in drive B) for your friends. II. COPYING "LnL" TO YOUR DISK If you have not already done so, you should copy this program onto another diskette, and save the original for safekeeping in case your "Daily Use Copy" becomes worn or unusable. Also, the disk sent to you or made for you by another probably will not have the "COMMAND.COM" and other PC-DOS/MS-DOS files necessary for running this program from a cold start. So now that you've received the motivational pitch, here is a brief guide to making a copy of the program. FOLKS WITH TWO FLOPPY DISKETTE DRIVES 1. Boot up your computer, so that the DOS prompt, an "A" followed by the arrow is showing. 2. Insert Original LETTERs n LABELS Program disk in Drive B. 3. Insert BLANK Formatted (with system) disk in Drive A. 4. Type in: COPY B:*.* (return) 5. When all the red lights go out, take the disk out of Drive B and put away in a safe place. 6. Take the disk out of Drive A and label it as your "Daily Use Copy" of the Program. FOLKS WITH A HARD DISK 1. Boot up your computer, so that the DOS prompt, a "C" followed by the arrow is showing. 2. Insert Original LETTERs n LABELS Program disk in Drive A. 3. Type in: COPY A:*.* (return) 4. When all the red lights go out, take the disk out of Drive A and put away in a safe place. 5. Your hard disk now has the program and required files loaded. THOSE OF YOU WITH ONE DISKETTE DRIVE 1. Boot up your computer, so that the DOS prompt, an "A" followed by the arrow is showing. 2. Insert Original LETTERS n LABELS Program disk in Drive A. 3. Type in: COPY *.* B: (return) 4. IMPORTANT: The DOS "COPY" function will instruct you to insert the disk for Drive A and B at various times. Follow these directions each time they are given, remembering that: "A" is the Original Program Disk "B" is the new disk you are making. 5. When the copying is complete, and the DOS prompt re-appears, remove the last disk in the machine. 6. Put the Original Program Disk away in a safe place, and label the new disk as your "Daily Use Copy". III. STARTING THE PROGRAM FOLKS WITH FLOPPY DISKS 1. Make sure you have the DOS Prompt (A and arrow) showing and then insert the "Daily Use Copy" of the Program disk into Drive A . 2. Type: LNL (return) FOLKS WITH HARD DISKS 1. Make sure you have the DOS Prompt (C and arrow) showing. 2. Type: LNL (return) EVERYONE MEET BACK HERE The LETTERS n LABELS program will take a few seconds to load, followed by a brief but incredibly impressive graphic display of the program name - hold the applause - please. Lots of things appear on the screen at once, so look 'em all over, then shift your eyes to the box on the right labeled "MULTI-USE AREA". This area will be used for a variety of things, including the MENU, which is what you see displayed there now. From the MENU, you can pick what you want the program to do by pressing the letter shown at the left of each item. If you pick an item from the MENU by accident, or change your mind after picking an item, press the <Esc> key to "Escape" from the thing you are doing. (One exception to this is when editing, in which case you should use only the (F6) key to exit the NAME EDITING AREA. YOUR FIRST MENU CHOICE Before you can print any Letters or Labels, or even edit the names, you must start by CREATING A NEW FILE. Press "C" and then enter a filename to store the names as. If you want to store on a Drive other than that shown, press the <Backspace> key twice and then type in the Drive Designator and File Name desired. After you have typed in the name for a new file and pressed <RETURN>, the cursor will move to the "NAME EDIT AREA", where you can start entering the names. Flip to the next page for the good words on entering Names, etc... IV. ENTERING & EDITING NAMES The Words in the NAME EDITING AREA are fairly descriptive of the type of information you should enter on each line. While typing in this area you can use all of the cursor keys, the <Tab> key, and the <Ins> and <Del> keys to modify typing already done. The function keys that are active during editing are shown in the box just below the NAME EDITING AREA. Each of these will be described a bit more further on. For now, a few comments are in order about what to type in on each of the 9 lines in the NAME EDITING AREA. NAME: Type in either a person's full name, or Company name, but be certain to type in something. NOTE: The files are normally alphabetized by the last name appearing on this line. You can override this selection by typing an asterisk (*) followed by up to 5 letters indicating the letters you want this name alphabetized by. ADD1: This line can be blank, or filled in with anything you like. ADD2: This line can be blank, or filled in with anything you like (see note about Zip Code in next line). ADD3: This line can be filled in with anything you like, or blank if the line above it was filled in. The last item typed on this line will be taken to be the Zip Code, unless this line is blank, in which case the preceding line will be searched for a Zip Code. DEAR: Type in the way you would like this person to be addressed in a personalized form letter. Include Titles such as Ms./Mr., etc. if you wish them to print in the letter. If the letter is addressed to just a company in general, I suggest "Gentlemen" for this line. PHONE: Type in anything you wish, the title "Phone" is only a suggestion of what you might want to use this line for. MISC 1: Use for anything you want - no restrictions. MISC 2: You bet, another line for anything you watn. CODE: The "Code" you type in for a particular name can later be used during printing to select only names with a matching code. For example, you could code each name with a number or letter when entering the names, then later when printing Labels or Letters select only names with certain codes. Code may be up to 4 letters/numbers long. FUNCTION KEY USE WHILE EDITING (F1) ADD NEW NAME(s) Push this key whenever you want to add one or more names to a file that you are currently editing. As soon as you press this key the NAME EDITING AREA will be cleared, and you can start typing in the new name. When you reach the end of the entries for this name, the screen will clear again and you can start entering another name. When you are finished entering names, press the (F6) key to return to the Menu, or use (F4) to search for another name already in the file. NOTE: When you CREATE A NEW FILE you are automatically placed into the "Adding Names" mode of operation. (F2) DUPLICATE Sometimes when entering a series of names parts of the address or other information entered will be the same from one name to the next. Pressing (F2) on any line will duplicate the information to this name that was shown for the name just previously viewed. (F3) DELETE NAME If you want to permanently remove a name from the file, then this is the key to press. But just in case you tap (F3) by accident, you will be asked to confirm each deletion with a Y/N response. (F4) SEARCH FOR NAME To quickly find a particular name in a file, press (F4) then type in the -LAST NAME- of the person to search for. Note that only the first 5 characters are significant in the search. If multiple names are found that match up to these 5 letters, the program will let you know. (F5) PRINT RECORD Whenever you need a quick printout of the record just as it's displayed on the screen, press the (F5) key. NOTE: Be sure your printer is "ON-LINE". (F6) DONE EDITING When you're finished editing, press (F6) to get back to the MENU. You can also use this key anywhere else in the program to cancel something you have started. V. STORING & RETRIEVING FILES You can Store and Retrieve Files on the disk, and perform other tasks involving the disk by selecting the item you would like from the MENU by pressing the single letter shown. If the MENU is not displayed, then press the (F6) key, or (Esc) if you are not in the NAME EDITING AREA, until you see the MENU in the Multi- Use-Area on the right half of the screen. The "Disk File" operations available from the MENU are described below: D - DISPLAY ALL DISK FILES Press (D) then the letter of the Drive you wish to see a list of files for. If you are listing a Hard Disk, then you may wish to use the (Ctrl-Num Lock) key combination to control how quickly the names scroll by on the screen. To continue the scrolling after pausing, press any key. R - RETRIEVE EXISTING DISK FILE Before you can edit the Names in a File stored on the Disk, you must RETRIEVE the File, (which will cause special Indexing information to be loaded), then use the (E) - Edit choice from the menu. If you had forgotten to STORE the file last time you worked on it, then the program will need to re-create the index, which will be done automatically but will take several minutes. S - STORE FILE NOW EDITING When you are entering or editing names, the information you are typing in is continually being written to disk. However, the 'Index' for all of this information is not being constantly updated. Therefore it is ** Very Important you STORE each file after working on it. ** N - RENAME FILE If you want to change the name of a file on the disk, then this choice from the menu will let you do it without the need to exit the program. Z - DELETE FILE Whoa there partner!!! Never use this option in a hurry. When you select this option you will hear a pleasant little beeping just to remind you of the fact you're getting ready to delete a file. Once you type in the Filename and press <return>, your file is bye-bye for ever. REMEMBER: You can abort any of these operations by pressing either the (F6) or (Esc) key. VI. PRINTING MAILING LABELS Select (M) from the MENU, then fill in each of the entries below: FILE W/NAMES: If you had already retrieved or been editing a file, then that Filename will be shown. If this is the file with the names you want Labels for, then press just the (return) key. If no Filename is shown, or you wish to print Names from a different file, then type in the Filename you want. (Use Backspace to change the Drive Designator if needed.) USE ALL NAMES: If you respond (Y) (return) then all of the names in the file will be printed. If you wish to print only a portion of the file, then you should respond with (N) (return) and then follow the directions shown in the bottom box. Further details on selecting names can be found on the page titled "VIII. SELECTING PARTS OF A FILE". ZIP CODE ORDER: If you're sending out a lot of Labels at once, then the Post Office folks will sure appreciate your responding (Y) and (return) to this question. On the other hand, if you need to be able to find particular Labels quickly once they're printed, then you may wish to respond with (N) and (return) so that the Labels will be printed in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. LINES TO USE: Over yonder in the NAME EDITING AREA the lines are now numbered from 1 to 9. You may select any or all of the lines for printing, in any order desired, and may even repeat a line more than once if you like. You can leave a blank line between other lines by placing a zero among the other numbers (Example: 10234). Or, you can type LISTING instead of a series of numbers, and you will get a report type Listing of all the information for each name selected. NUMBER OF SETS: If you would like multiple sets of the Names selected, then enter the number here. This can be particularily useful when you are printing just one name (or perhaps Product Label) and want to have a whole bunch of the Labels available whenever you need them. LABEL SPACING: You can calculate this number by measuring in inches the distance from the top of one label to the top of the next, and then multiplying the number of inches by the number of lines your printer prints per inch (normally 6). MARGIN OFFSET: If you wish to indent the printing of the Labels, then enter a number between 1 and 60 to indicate how far over printing should begin from the normal left margin of the printer. On most printers, each inch will equal an offset of about 10. After all of the above entries have been made, a "PRINTING MENU" will be displayed to guide you through the actual printing of the labels. REMEMBER: Press the (F6) or (Esc) key anytime to abort the operation you are performing. VII. PRINTING FORM LETTERS Select (F) from the MENU, then fill in each of the entries below: FILE W/NAMES: If you had already retrieved or been editing a file, then that Filename will be shown. If this is the file with the names you want Letters for, then press just the <return> key. If no Filename is shown, or you wish to print Names from a different file, then type in the Filename you want. (Use Backspace to change the Drive Designator if needed.) USE ALL NAMES: If you respond (Y) (return) then all of the names in the file will be printed. If you wish to print only a portion of the file, then you should respond with (N) (return) and then follow the directions shown in the bottom box. Further details on selecting names can be found on the page titled "VIII. SELECTING PARTS OF A FILE". ZIP CODE ORDER: If you're sending out a lot of Letters at once, then the Post Office folks will sure appreciate your responding (Y) and (return) to this question. On the other hand, if you need to be able to find particular Letters quickly once they're printed, then you may wish to respond with (N) and (return) so that the Letters will be printed in ALPHABETICAL ORDER. LINES TO USE: Over yonder in the NAME EDITING AREA the lines are now numbered from 1 to 9. You must select the lines that are to be substituted for the word "BLANK" in the letter that will be specified in the next question. For a letter this would typically be "12345" but may vary depending on how many "BLANKS" you have in your letter. You may select line numbers out of order, and may repeat a number if you wish it to be substituted into the letter at more than one place. You may Not enter "0" for a line number when specifying the Lines To Use in a Form Letter. FILE W/LETTER: The letter you wish to have filled in must reside on the same disk with the names, and must have the word "BLANK" (all uppercase) placed in it wherever you want unique information from the file printed into it. As soon as you type in the Filename, that file will be checked to verify that the number of "BLANKS" contained in the letter matches the total number of Lines To Use. If it does not, the program will display the difference, and allow you to change the Lines To Use. HINT: Print the file "WOODBOX" on your disk for a sample of how to set up your letter for use by LnL. MARGIN OFFSET: Your letter will be printed exactly in the format it was stored in by your Word Processor, including any leading spaces (indention) on each line. If you wish to shift the printing of the letter further to the right, then you may enter a number here which will add additional spacing to the left side of the letter. After all of the above entries have been made, a "PRINTING MENU" will be displayed to guide you through the printing of the Letters. REMEMBER: Press the (F6) or (Esc) key anytime to abort the operation you are performing. VIII. SELECTING PARTS OF A FILE If you do not wish to print every name in a file when making Labels or Form Letters, you can easily do so by responding (N) and (return) to the question "Use All Names". As soon as you enter (N) and (return) a set of brief instructions and list of choices will appear at the bottom of the screen on the right. Each of the methods is selected by pressing the letter shown. NOTE: If you select certain names, these names stay selected until you are done working with this file. This can be useful if you are printing Letters and Labels and want them both done for the same selected names. If you want to start completely over in selecting names, then use the (K - CLEAR ALL) option to clear all selections. A - ALL This option will "select" all the records for printing. After doing this, you may wish to use the "M - MANUALLY" option below to go through the file and De-select one or more of the names, but print the rest. Z - BY ZIP You can break your Mailings down by Geographical area by selecting only names with Zip Codes falling within certain numbers. Check with the Post Office for a map showing what Zip Codes are assigned to each State. C - BY CODE Using this option you can select records which have a certain code, or fall within a range of codes (for instance all names with codes from 1000 to 1999 could be selected). M - MANUALLY This option will let you Select and De-select which names you want to print, one name at a time. You can also edit the names, and even add new names while you are doing this. K - CLEAR ALL If you goofed in selecting the names and got too many, you can begin from scratch with this option, or you could use the "M - MANUALLY" option to De-Select just certain names. X - EXIT When you're done selecting, press (X) to head back to the other Set-Up entries. NOTE: You can also press (return) to head back to the Set-up entries. IX. OTHER GOODIES SECRET MENU CHOICES In order to keep the MENU from being too cluttered, the following items are not shown on the screen, but are available: Press (K) to change the Text and Background Colors. Press (B) to turn the BEEPS On or Off. PLANNED ENHANCEMENTS At this time the following items are under consideration as additions to the LETTERS n LABELS program: - Production of 'matrix' files for use as input to Word Processing programs. - Utilities for converting files to the LETTERS n LABELS format. - A speedier sorting technique for alphabetizing the names. - An "On-Line" Help Facility. If you have strong feelings about any of these, or any other changes, please be sure to write to me at the address shown on the first page of this Mini-Manual. MORE FREE-TO-COPY SOFTWARE ! If you've registered this program, then you will soon be receiving another Free-To-Copy program from me. My hope is to always give those who "Register and Help Out" something extra for their donation and consideration. As of the date this Manual was written, the next program due out is "MONEY WATCH". MONEY WATCH will be another easy to learn program for use in scheduling your income(s) against expenses, and showing you instantly on the screen and on paper where cash "short-falls" may occur. Based on this information, you can immediately "reschedule your expenses" into different dates, until the short-fall no longer exists. And besides being a future cash projection tool, MONEY WATCH will use the information you've been diligently entering to prepare historical analyses of income and expenses by time periods and categories. So register LETTERS n LABELS Today and watch your mailbox for the next "Free-To-Copy" product.