Popular Utility Adds Extensive Printing Capabilities
After reviewing QuickDEX II for MacMonitor several months ago, I was eager to try the printing and mail-merge features of the Super QuickDEX package. In addition to a fresh copy of QuickDEX II, the collection also includes PrintDEX, a utility which can print cards created in QuickDEX on envelopes and labels, and QuickELOPE, a desk accessory which quickly and easily prints a single envelope or label.
Creative Card Deck Management & Printing
For those of you who missed or otherwise didn’t read my earlier assessment of QuickDEX II, it is a desk accessory which organizes addresses and telephone numbers and allows access to them at lightning speed. Each address is entered on a card, much like a Rolodex® card, and several card decks can be created for different uses. For instance, I have separate card decks for business contacts and friends and family members. I found QuickDEX to be fun and useful (it can even dial a telephone number for you), but limited without a way to output information. Fortunately Casady & Greene developed PrintDEX, a seperate utility which prints QuickDEX card decks and other text files onto envelopes and a variety of label formats. PrintDEX also allows the user to design custom label and envelope templates. Several label and envelope layouts come with the package, but I had to create one to fit some Imagewriter labels that we had on hand. This was easier than I anticipated and simply involved changing some measurements in a friendly dialog box. Other absent-minded folks like myself will appreciate the ability to edit individual cards within PrintDEX before printing. Changes made here can be reflected in the card deck later if desired. In addition to envelope and label templates, PrintDEX also comes with some address book layouts for Filofax and DayRunner organizers, and a custom one called Little Dex. The latter will print all of your addresses in a tiny book format—2 1⁄8" by 3 1⁄2". The little pages are numbered and positioned properly to cut apart and staple together after printing. Voilá — a wallet-sized booklet with all of your addresses and phone numbers for those times you can’t take your computer with you. (A Classic does not a PowerBook make.) It’s delightful. Multiple card decks can be merged in PrintDEX to fill up a label sheet or an address book, and any installed typeface can be used to print entries. A logo or graphic can be pasted into a static field (a field which stays the same on every label or envelope) from the Clipboard or Scrapbook. Envelope templates can contain static fields which generate automatic bar codes (Zip + 4 and FIM codes) to speed handling by the USPS. Without a bar code guide from the Post Office, I can’t actually prove that the bar codes are correct, but I suspect they are.
Fastest Envelopes in the West!
QuickELOPE is a desk accessory that prints only one label or envelope at a time. It uses templates created with PrintDEX, and will automatically paste an address from the Clipboard into the address field on the default layout, or the last layout used. Addresses can’t be edited from within QuickELOPE, and there isn’t as much flexibility for altering the layout. It’s great for printing single envelopes quickly, however, and makes a great companion to QuickDEX.
Some Gentle Warnings
PrintDEX and/or QuickELOPE will get confused (and provide a dialog box stating as much!) if you have a print template selected (Avery Laserwriter Labels, for example) that is inconsistent with the current printer selected under the Chooser (Imagewriter, in my case). I didn’t try to print that way, so I don’t know what might happen. Also, under the same conditions a dialog box with the message “Prec Missing” will appear if you try to select Page Setup. I got one bomb with the message “bad f-line instruction” while trying to edit a template this way. As soon as I stopped choosing templates that didn’t match the current printer my problems ceased.
In Conclusion
PrintDEX and QuickELOPE are easy-to-use printing utilities for card decks created in QuickDEX II. The two are also valuable as stand-alone programs for other text files to be printed on labels, envelopes, or address book pages.
Fig. 1: PrintDEX lets the user create custom templates. I created this layout to fit labels we had on hand for our Imagewriter.
Fig. 2: It’s easy to edit individual cards before printing in PrintDEX. Changes made here can be saved to the card deck.
Fig. 3: The user can specify the number of lines to be displayed when printed.
Fig. 4: QuickELOPE is a smaller, simpler version of PrintDEX in a desk accessory.
Fig. 5: An envelope template with Postnet Bar Codes is included in the package.
_________________________________________
The article above is reprinted from Mac Monitor, the newsletter of The Savannah Macintosh Users Group. It may be reprinted in a single issue of newsletters published by non-profit user groups. Payment shall consist of a single issue of the newsletter in which the article appears, sent to the following address:
