Mailing labels are a part of just about everyoneΓÇÖs daily life; whether it be at the home or at the office, youΓÇÖll probobly need to type one up just about every day. However, there are very few ways to do this with ease.
You could type each address by hand, but when you need many copies of a label (such as your own address), this can get to be a very cumbersome task to say the least. And in addition, you would have to keep a separate address book to keep track of everyone.
You could use a database to keep track of your addresses, and use this database to print the labels out, but the simple fact is that most databases are not geared to generating mailing labels. They are not made specifically for this task, and thus you must work hard to ΓÇ£coerceΓÇ¥ the database into do a simple task like keeping track of and printing mailing labels. Which brings up another point: a task like maintaining mailing labels most likely does not justify the $695.00 price tag of some of these databases. In addition, databases are generally take up a lot of space on your disks.
Is there a better way?
About Label Manager
-------------------
Of course there is a better way! Label Manager is a program which allows you to easily maintain multiple databases of mailing labels. And since it is geared specifically to handle mailing labels, Label Manager lets you do it quickly and easily!
In addition, Label Manager has a builtΓÇôin feature which allows you to print out labels quickly without saving them so that you can easily handle oneΓÇôtime labeling jobs.
Configuring Label Manager
------------------------
Before you begin using Label Manager, choose Configure… from the SPECIAL menu. This command will cause a dialog box to appear on the screen which allows you to customize Label Manager to suit your needs.
Under the Open With: subΓÇôheading, there are four radio buttons which control what Label Manager does when you first open it. Here is a list of the radio buttons, and what they will cause Label Manager to do:
ΓÇó EMPTY DESKTOP ΓÇö This option will simply cause Label Manager to load itself up and wait for you to preform and action.
ΓÇó NEW ΓÇ£UNTITLEDΓÇ¥ DOCUMENT ΓÇö This option will cause Label Manager open with a new, empty database of labels each time you run it. This is essentially the same as choosing New from the FILE menu.
• MINIFINDER DIALOG — If this option is selected, when you first open Label Manager, you will be presented with an listing of all the Label Manager databases on your disk(s) just as if you had chosen the Open… command from the FILE menu.
ΓÇó OPEN WITH: ΓÇö If you know which label file you will be working with all the time, this option allows you to specify the file which Label Manager will open automatically when it starts up. This is very handy if you maintain only one list of labels which you use all the time. When you click on this button, you will presented with a list of all the label files your disks. Simply select the one you would like Label Manager to open when it starts up and click on the Open button.
Under the Printer: subΓÇôheading, there are two radio buttons which let you choose which printer you are using. If you have an ImageWriter II, several options will be enabled so that you can take advantage of your printerΓÇÖs capabilities.
You can choose the field which Label Manager uses to sort and display your labels by clicking on one of the two options under the Sort By: subΓÇôheading.
The Quick Label… Command
-------------------------
The Quick Label… command allows you to type in a label and print out as many copies of it as you like without saving the label. This can come in very handy when you need just a few copies of a certain label but don’t need to keep the address in your database.
To use it, simply choose Quick Label… from the SPECIAL menu and fill in the blank label fields. As with any labels which Label Manager prints, if you leave the Company field blank, it just won’t be printed rather than leaving a gap between the Name and Address fields. Click on the Print button or hit the Return key if you are satisifed with what you have entered and want to print it. Otherwise, click on the Cancel button and you will be returned to your work.
Next a dialog box similar to the ImageWriter printing dialog box will appear. Type the number of copies of the label you would like to print in the Copies field and if you have an ImageWriter II, select the quality of printing and again press Return or click on the Ok button to proceed, Cancel to abort.
A window will now appear which shows you the label which Label Manager is currently printing and the number of copies to go. Notice that the cursor has changed itΓÇÖs shape to that of an cancel symbol. If you would like to cancel the printing at any time, simply click the mouse button.
Using Label Manager
-------------------
To begin using Label Manager, choose New… from the FILE menu to create a new Label Manager database, or choose Open… from the FILE menu to open an existing one. If you chose New…, you will be asked to specify a name for your new label file to be saved as, simply type the name of your choice and click on the Save button. If you chose Open… instead, a list of the Label Manager databases on your disks will be displayed; simply select one and click on the Open button.
Either way, you will now be presented with a window containing a scrollable list of the labels in your database (sorted in alphabetical order) and four buttons to the right of it. Here is a list of the buttons and what they do:
ΓÇó ADD ΓÇö This button allows you to add a label to your database. Pressing the Return key is the same as clicking on this button. After you have clicked on the Add button (or hit the Return key), you will be presented with a dialog box which has five fields. The bottom four should be familiar to you, they are simply the Name, Company, and Address for the label. If the Company field is left blank, then it will simply not be printed rather than leaving a gap between the Name and Address.
The top field is the name by which this label will be listed in the scrollable list of labels. This is provided so that you may have the label listed as whatever you like. A common way to use this field would be to enter the personΓÇÖs name again, but in the form of LAST NAME, FIRST NAME so that your list will be sorted by last names. If you have the Sort by: Company option checked, then this field isnΓÇÖt used at all.
When you have entered the information and are satisfied with it, click on the Save button or press the Return key, and your label will quickly be saved and the list of labels will be reΓÇôsorted. To cancel entering a label, click on the Cancel button.
HINT: Pressing Return TWICE when you are ready to save your label will save the label and bring the Add dialog box up again so that you may enter another label quickly.
The other three buttons are only useable once you have selected one or more labels from the scrollable list of labels. If you select one label, it will be displayed just below the label list. If you select more than one label, the number of labels you have selected will be displayed in itΓÇÖs place.
Here are some hints on selecting labels from the list:
ΓÇó Click on the labelΓÇÖs name in the scrollable list to select it. Use the scroll bar to see labels which are not in the viewing area.
ΓÇó Click on a labelΓÇÖs name and hold the mouse button down as you move the mouse over other labels to select more than one label.
ΓÇó Hold down the shift key while clicking on a label to select it in addition to any other labels you already have selected.
The Edit button works only when one label is selected; the Delete and Print buttons will work with any number of selected labels. Here are the these three buttons and what they do:
ΓÇó EDIT ΓÇö This button will bring up a dialog box identical to the Add dialog box, except that the fields will be filled with the information you have already entered for the label you selected. Pressing the Enter key is the same as clicking in the Edit button.
Edit the labelΓÇÖs information until you are satisfied with your changes to it and then click on the Save button or press the Return key to save your changes, or click on the Cancel button to have Label Manager forget about the changes you made.
ΓÇó DELETE ΓÇö Clicking in this button allows you to delete the label(s) you have selected from your label database. Pressing the Backspace key is the same as clicking in the Delete button. These labels are gone forever once deleted.
WARNING: You are not asked for confirmation before Label Manager deletes the labels you specified, so be sure you know what you are doing.
ΓÇó PRINT ΓÇö This button allows you to print out the label(s) you have selected. A dialog box similar to the ImageWriter printing dialog box will now appear. Type the number of copies of the label(s) you would like to print in the Copies field and if you have an ImageWriter II, select the quality of printing and press Return or click on the Ok button to proceed, Cancel to abort.
A window will now appear which shows you the label which Label Manager is currently printing and the number of copies to go. Notice that the cursor has changed itΓÇÖs shape to that of an cancel symbol. If you would like to cancel the printing at any time, simply click the mouse button.
When you are all through using a label database, choose Close from the FILE menu, or click on your label database windowΓÇÖs close box.
When you are all done using Label Manager, choose Quit from the FILE menu to quit to the Finder, or choose Transfer… to transfer directly to another program. If you choose the Transfer… command, a list of the applications on your disks will be displayed. Click on the one you would like to transfer to and click on the Transfer button and you’re as good as there!
WARNING: Be leary of using the Transfer… command when running MultiFinder—weird things may happen.
Other Commands
---------------
There are two other commands under the SPECIAL menu which deserve mention. The Eject Label… command will move the label sheet up one label. Similarly, the Eject Paper command will move the labels sheet up one full sheet. These commands are handy for getting at your labels once they are printed.
Choose About Label Manager… from the Apple menu for version information and credits.
The Future
----------
Depending on how many people support Label Manager by sending in their registration fees, the following features might be added:
ΓÇó Support for ΓÇ£three acrossΓÇ¥ full page label sheets.
ΓÇó Multiple open files.
ΓÇó Finding commands.
If you have any other ideas, please feel free to contact us! We need your help!
Registration
------------
Label Manager is being distributed on the ShareWare system. This entitles you to review Label Manager before paying for it; try it out and see if you feel it is a worthy addition to your software library. If you choose to keep Label Manager you are on your honor to send in the $15 registration fee and become a registered user. Otherwise you must destroy all of your copies of Label Manager (or better yet, give them to your friends). You are at a real advantage in that you can use Label Manager before you decide if you want to purchase itΓÇöplease donΓÇÖt take advantage of that privilege. Considerable time was spent developing and perfecting Label Manager and sending in your registration fee will insure the development of many more highΓÇôquality, inexpensive programs.
Another benefit: if you send in a disk and a selfΓÇôaddressed, stamped envelope along with your $15.00, weΓÇÖll send it back to you with a version of Label Manager that doesnΓÇÖt show that annoying ShareWare notice when you start up. And we may even include some other stuff on the disk for you to look at too!
Thanks
-------
Thank you to everyone who supports the Utopian concept of ShareWare. You do make a difference.
My special thanks go to all the users of M-BBS, for giving bug reports and suggestions which made Label Manager what it is. Thanks guys.
Give M-BBS a call (300, 1200, or 2400 baud, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!) at: 1-914-967-8162
