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CD-ROM Aktief 1995 #3
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1995-01-07
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Introduction
APT Mailing Assistant provides you with an easy way to produce
professional looking envelopes and labels using only your personal
computer's laser, deskjet, or dot matrix printer. The program supports
several sizes of envelopes and mailing labels All envelopes and some
labels will be printed with United States Postal Service approved
POSTNET delivery point bar codes to allow you to take advantage of
Postal Service automation, helping speed your mail to it's destination.
Additionally, using delivery point codes may qualify you for
additional discounts when doing bulk or presorted first class mail.
Contact your Post Office for more information.
The program supports any Lexmark or HP compatible laser printer, HP
compatible Deskjet printer, or Epson compatible dot matrix printers.
Envelopes or labels may be fed manually or automatically (feeding
envelopes automatically will require an envelope feeder attachment on
most printers). When printing single labels on a laser or deskjet printer,
the program allows you to print on any label on the sheet, thus
eliminating unused labels.
Some laser printers generate too much heat to allow the reuse
of label sheets. You need to test your specific printer by reusing
labels sheets to see how well this feature works for you.
Names and addresses may be saved in one or more address files.
Multiple address files are supported allowing you to easily categorize
your mailings into personal, business, or other groups.
For bulk mailing, the program can be used to generate a mailing using
all or part of an address file. Bulk mail envelopes and labels are printed
in zip code sequence and, along with the program's zip code statistics,
allow you to easily package the mailing into the various zip code
groups. If you have a bulk mailing account at the Post Office, you may
print the permit box in the upper right corner of the envelopes you use,
saving the cost of using a print shop to pre-print these envelopes.
Finally, APT Mailing Assistant can print personalized return envelopes
you can include in your mailing for that special touch.
Installation
System Requirements
APT Mailing Assistant requires at least the following:
-OS/2 2.0 or greater
-Approximately 250K of space on your hard disk for program and
sample files
-At least one of the following printers
A Lexmark or HP compatible laser printer
An HP Deskjet compatible printer (except the 500/500C models)
An Epson compatible dot matrix printer
OS/2 Printer Driver
APT Mailing Assistant uses PCL language when generating envelopes
and labels on a laser printer. If you have a laser printer that supports
multiple printer languages (such as the Lexmark 4019 or 4029 models)
you must insure that you have the OS/2 printer driver chosen for that
printer that supports PCL language (for the 4019 and 4029 this would
be the LASERJET.IBM driver).
Compatibility
If you have been using APT Mailing Assistant for DOS, you will find
that address files and the program information file (i.e. APTMA.INI)
are totally compatible with files created by APT Mailing Assistant for
OS/2.
Installing the APT Mailing Assistant
The APT Mailing Assistant program may be installed to your hard disk
by performing the following steps:
Place the installation disk in a floppy drive on your system
(usually A: or B:).
Type A:INSTALL or B:INSTALL to begin the installation
program.
Follow the instructions on the screen. The installation program
will ask you for the directory where you want the program
installed. You should switch to this directory to run the APT
Mailing Assistant program.
You should add the directory specified during installation to the
PATH, LIBPATH, and HELP paths of your CONFIG.SYS.
APT Mailing Assistant Files
When you install APT Mailing Assistant a number of files will be
copied to the installation directory. This will include at least the
following files. Please check the README.DOC file for any
additional files that may be included when you install this program.
File Description
APTMA2.EXE The OS/2 APT Mailing Assistant program.
APTMA.INI The program information file that keeps track of last used
information, printer and option settings, etc.
APTMA2.HLP Contains information for the program's help screens.
SAMPLE.ADR Sample name and address file (base portion)
SAMPLE.PTR Sample name and address file (pointer portion)
KFSOS220.DLL DLL for program support routines.
README.DOC A file containing any updates to the documentation that were
made too late to be included in the manual, as well as other
information about APT Mailing Assistant.
HISTORY.DOC A file documenting the history of APT Mailing Assistant.
Mailing Regulations
Before we get into the operation of the program itself, let's take a
moment to discuss some basic terminology, rules, and suggestions
from the Post Office about your mail. We will not cover all of the rules
governing the various types of mail, for that you will need to check
with your local post office, but we will cover some of the areas that
govern the way APT Mailing Assistant works. If you will not be using
the APT Mailing Assistant to do bulk mailing, the Bulk Mail and
CASS Certification sections may be skipped.
Zip Codes
We're all familiar with zip codes; however, it's important to understand
there are two kind of zip codes and they must be in a specific format.
Each address in APT Mailing Assistant has its own field where an
address's zip code must be placed. Five digit zip codes, of course, must
be 5 consecutive digits (nnnnn such as 40383). Nine digit zip code
(sometimes called ZIP+4) must have 5 digits followed by a dash
followed by four more digits (nnnnn-nnnn such as 40383-0047).
POSTNET Codes or Bar Codes
These are the long and short vertical bars seen on your mail.
POSTNET codes can be at the bottom of an envelope, above the send
to address, or below the send to address (APT Mailing Assistant prints
them below the address). These codes are derived from the zip code
and, possibly, the delivery address. Delivery of mail containing
POSTNET codes can be significantly faster than mail without codes
since much manual handling within the post office is eliminated. Note
that 9 digit zip coded pieces are sorted more precisely than 5 digit
pieces, again possibly resulting in faster delivery.
Mailing Addresses
APT Mailing Assistant provides you with 5 lines of address you can
use for a return or sending address. The Postal Service also has certain
suggestions as to how you should address your mail.
The first line of any address is considered the person or company for
whom the mail is destined. APT Mailing Assistant will use this name
to keep track of the address in its address files.
If the first line contains an individual's name and you are sending this
mail to their business address, the second line should contain the
company name.
The last line of the address must be the city, state, and zip code of
where the mail is to be delivered. APT Mailing Assistant requires that
this also be the last line of the address field in its menus.
The next to last line of an address is the street address or post office
box where the mail is to be delivered. This is considered the "delivery
point" address for the mail and is used to gene