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APT Mailing Assistant for OS/2 Version 2.10 APT Computer Solutions, Inc. P.O. Box 47 Versailles, KY 40383-0047 CompuServe : 73023,3037 Internet: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/aptma INTRODUCTION APT Mailing Assistant provides you with an easy way to produce professional looking envelopes and labels using only your personal computer's printer. The program supports all sizes of envelopes that your printer supports and several predefined types of mailing labels. The Custom Label feature allows you to define additional label sizes if you do not use one of the predefined sizes. 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 OS/2 compatible printer. When printing a single address on a sheet of labels, the program allows you to select which label on the sheet to print, allowing you to use all the labels on the sheet and eliminating unused labels. Both U.S. and non-U.S. addresses are supported by APT Mailing Assistant and can be saved in one or more address files. Multiple address files allow you to easily categorize your mailings into groupings that are meaningful for your business or personal mail. For example, you might want regular customers in one file, prospects in another, and non business associates in a third. However, the program's merge facility makes it easy to combine these files together if you want to generate a mailing for everyone. The program can be used to generate a bulk (or group) mailing using all or part of an address file. Bulk mail envelopes and labels are printed in the sequence specified by Classification Reform Standards of 7/1/96. The program's zip code statistics, allow you to easily package the mailing into the various zip code/ADC groups. Additionally, if you have a bulk mailing account at the Post Office and are using envelopes for your mailing, you can print the permit box in the upper right corner of the envelopes, saving the cost of using a print shop to pre-print these envelopes. There is even a feature that allows you to print personalized return envelopes to give your mailing that special touch. INSTALLATION System Requirements APT Mailing Assistant requires at least the following: -OS/2 3.0 (Warp) or greater -Approximately 300K of space on your hard disk for program and sample files 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. At the completion of the installation am APT Mailing Assistant icon will be created. 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. APTMA2.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. APTnnnn.TAB Table files used for sorting bulk mailings into the sequence specified by Classification Reform of 7/1/96. SAMPLE.ADR Sample name and address file (base portion) SAMPLE.PTR Sample name and address file (pointer portion) KFSOS230.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 Mialing Assistant The table files used to sort bulk mailings into the sequence required by the U.S. Postal Service are periodically changed (about every 3 months). Usually, these changes are fairly cosmetic and do not effect your mailings. However, if you are doing bulk mailings and are trying to obtain a discount from the post office, you should periodically download new table files from our Web site. There is no cost for this download, see the letter that came with your registration. You may also complete the subscription form that came with your registered package and have us send you updated table files on diskette for a nominal fee. If you are using the bulk mailing facility to simply send group mailings and not using any bulk mailing discounts, new table files are not required since the sequence of the mailing is not important. COMPATIBILITY AND NEW FEATURES Compatibility with Earlier Versions APT Mailing Assistant Version 2 is generally compatible with earlier versions of the program with the following exceptions : The program .INI file is not compatible with earlier versions of the program. When version 2.00 or later is installed, an new INI file (APTMA2.INI) is also installed (the old INI file was APTMA.INI) and contains information relevant to some of the new features of the program. The old APTMA.INI file can be deleted. Address files created by earlier versions of the program (or the DOS version) can be used by Version 2. However, address files used by Version 2 can be only be used by earlier versions if they do not contain non-U.S. addresses, since nonnumeric zip codes are not accepted prior to version 2.00. This version uses an updated version of the Keyed File System DLL. The new DLL is named KFSOS230.DLL and is installed as part of the installation process. The old DLL (KFSOS220.DLL) can be deleted. POSTNET codes are now printed immediately above the send address on a label or envelope. Earlier versions printed the POSTNET codes below the send address. The U.S. Postal Service accepts these codes in either place, but above the address is "preferred". A new set of files (APTnnnn.TAB) are required if the bulk mailing facility of the program is used. OS/2 Printer Drivers This version of APT Mailing Assistant prints envelopes and labels using the full features of OS/2 printer drivers. This allows the program to support features such as printing permit boxes on all printers and access to printers attached to other system ports or on a network. All printer and paper selection is now consistent with the look and feel of OS/2. Some OS/2 printer drivers have several paper input sources and require "form connections" when using these sources with any program. For example, the IBM Laser Printer Postscript driver requires you to specify what form you will be using for the "Manual Envelope" feed and "Manual Paper", even though these items may be fed thought the same physical opening on the printer. Just how much setting up your printer driver requires varies greatly from driver to driver. Some require you to match all paper sources to a form (or multiple forms) while other require little, or no, setup. Check your printer driver Help for more information. If you have already used a variety of forms with your printer, you probably have already set up these form connections on your printer. However, if you try to print a form and get a "forms mismatch" error, you may be using an envelope that hasn't been matched to a paper feed on your printer. 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 U.S. 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 codes (sometimes called ZIP+4) must have 5 digits followed by a dash followed by four more digits (nnnnn-nnnn such as 40383-0047). APT Mailing Assistant also supports non-U.S. addresses. Zip codes for these addresses may be of many different forms and may include alphabetic characters. Any zip code that does not meet the 5 or 9 digit U.S. format will be assumed to be a non-U.S. address. 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 above 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. POSTNET codes will not be generated for non-U.S. zip codes. Mailing Addresses APT Mailing Assistant provides you with 6 lines of address (including a country field) 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. Normally, the last line of the address must be the city, state, and zip code of where the mail is to be delivered. However, if a country is specified, it will be printed on the line after the city-state-zip line. 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 generate the delivery point portion of the bar code for mail that has 9 digit zip codes. APT Mailing Assistant requires only that this address line be the last completed line prior to the city, state, zip code line. It does not have to be the line on the menu just above the city - state - zip line since blank lines are not printed on an envelope or label . Delivery points are required on most mail to get certain discounts for bulk and presorted first class mail. For examples of the various kinds of addresses, view some of the addresses in the SAMPLE.ADR address file supplied with this package or obtain the Postal Service publication Postal Addressing Standards. Bulk Mail With bulk mail, the Post Office gives you a discount if you help the post office do some of the work. This mail is also considered "Standard A" mail. Among other things, bulk mailing means: your mailing must be all U.S. addresses. your mailing must have a minimum number of pieces (currently 200). the mail must be sorted and bundled in zip code and ADC groupings. the mail can be envelopes, brochures, flyers, etc. additional discounts are available if your mail meets certain other criteria (CASS certified mailing lists, POSTNET codes, nonprofit organization, etc.) Check with your local Post Office.. the mailing can be paid for by special bulk rate stamps or by having a bulk mail account at the post office. Having an account allows you to print a special bulk mail permit box on the envelope. There is another, similar, type of mass mailing available called presorted first class. Presorted first class has its own set of requirements and discounts. For more specific information on both of these types of mailings see your local post office. The bulk mail facility of APT Mailing Assistant can also be used to send a group mailing. A group mailing is simply a group of addresses in an address file you want generate envelopes or labels for, but you will not be using the bulk mail facility of the Post Office. For example, printing labels for your Christmas card list or to send first class letters to a small subset of your customers. APT Mailing Assistant will still sort group mailings into bulk mailing sequence, but keeping this sequence is not important to your mailing. PAVE Certification PAVE certification is part of the Bulk Mailing Classification Reform that went into effect on July 1, 1996. It specified new rules for sorting bulk, presorted first class, and nonprofit mail that were significantly different than the rules in place prior to that time. APT Mailing Assistant for OS/2 is not a PAVE certified utility, primarily because it does not print tray labels for you, but it does print your bulk mailing in the sequence as specified by the new classification reform. In order to properly organize you mailing as specified by the Classification Reform, a new set of table files is now included with APT Mailing Assistant. According to the U.S. Postal Service, the bulk mailing tables will be periodically updated. As the Postal Service updates it's tables, we will make updated table files available to APT Mailing Assistant users. The updated table files can be obtained in either of two ways : They will be posted on our Internet Web site and customers may download them for free. You can subscribe to a diskette update service where we will periodically (about every 3 months), mail you tables on a diskette. For more information on this update service, see the order form included with your registered package. While the tables are required for APT Mailing Assistant to sort any bulk mailing, you need not update these tables if you are not planning on receiving any bulk mailing discounts. Also, be aware that several factors influence what bulk mailing discounts are available to you. Please check the publications listed later in this section as well as with your local post office. CASS Certification APT Mailing Assistant for OS/2 is a CASS certified delivery point bar code utility. This means that the Postal Service has certified that the program prints the correct bar code for all zip codes and calculates the proper delivery point code for 9 digit zip code mail. In order to get certain discounts, your mailing list must have been checked by the U.S. Postal Service and certified to be correct. That is, the cities, states, and zip codes are checked and the proper zip+4 is appended to the address. This certification is done with a system called the Coding and Accuracy Support System (CASS). To obtain certification for your mailing list, you must send the mailing list on a diskette to the National Customer Support Center for the Postal Service. The center checks and manipulates the data on the diskette and returns the diskette to you as a certified mailing list. APT Mailing Assistant provides a means of creating a file from its address files that can be sent to the support center. When the diskette is returned, APT Mailing Assistant can then create a new address file with the certified list. Publications The U.S. Postal Service has many publications you can obtain for more information about the subjects we've been discussing, including: Postal Addressing Standards Designing Business Letter Mail Max-It : Classification reform Additionally, your local post office will be more than happy to discuss these subjects with you. In Summary After all of this you must be thinking that you seemed to be getting along just fine without knowing all of these rules and regulations. You will find that the Postal Service and the APT Mailing Assistant are both very lenient in allowing you to address mail. However, addressing mail properly and having the bar codes provided by APT Mailing Assistant can significantly speed up the delivery of your mail. In addition, if you want to take advantage of some of the post office's other services and discounts, you must be more diligent in addressing your mail. FORMATS AND LIMITS APT Mailing Assistant expects certain types of information to be in specific formats. Additionally, there are certain limits on the length of some information. These formats and limits are as follows: Bulk Mail Permit City Due to limitations in the permit box, this field is limited to 16 characters. Bulk Mail Permit Numbers Due to limitations in the permit box, this field is limited to 5 digits. Address File Names The total length of the path and file name cannot exceed 255 characters. Address files consist of two OS/2 files working together, the file you name and another file with the same base name but a .PTR extension. For this reason, you cannot name an address file with a .PTR extension. Names and Addresses The first four lines of a name and address are limited 39 characters each. The city is limited to 25 characters (except for the bulk mail permit city), the state/province is limited to 19 characters (although 2 character state codes are recommended for U.S. states), and the country is also limited to 19 characters. The first line of the address will be the key used to store that address when it is saved. The last non-blank line in the address prior to the city, state, and zip is used to calculate the delivery point code. Zip Codes U.S. zip codes must be in the format nnnnn for 5 digit zip codes or nnnnn-nnnn for 9 digit zip codes. Non-U.S. zip codes can be up to 10 characters in length including alphabetics. Some menus allow you to select a range of zip codes for listing, merging, or inclusion in a group mailing. When selecting a range of zip codes, be aware of the ASCII collating sequence if your address file contains non-U.S. zip codes since some of them can contain alphabetic characters. RUNNING THE PROGRAM To start the APT Mailing Assistant program, simply click on the APTMA2 icon. After pausing for the copyright screen, the program will stop at the primary window shown below. Primary Window The primary window shows several things about the envelope or label you are about to print. The address where the letter or parcel is to be delivered (i.e. the send address) appears in the center of the window. The upper left corner contains the return address that would appear on any envelopes or labels that are printed and have room for a return address. APT Mailing Assistant gives you a choice of printing the return address or send address in any font known to OS/2. Choosing a smaller point size for the return address allows the send address to be more noticeable on the envelope or label. If a stamp appears in the upper right corner of the window, an envelope has been selected as the paper to be used, otherwise "Letter" paper has been selected and a label will be used (see below). This can also be determined by looking in the APTMA Selections window that occupies the lower portion of the primary window. This window contains information about the printer, paper, and address file selections you have made. The first line in the selections window is the current address file being used. The next line indicates the printer that has been selected, and the type of paper to be used. The printer and paper selections are determined by the Printer Setup menu in conjunction with the Select Label menu. Choosing an 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper size (normally "Letter") with Printer Setup causes the label selected in the Select Label menu to become the paper selection in the APTMA Selections window. Now let's discuss the pull down menus available from the primary window. FILE MENU The File pull down menu contains the following options: Most options concerning address files. This includes changing the current address file, deleting address files, and merging two address files. Options to select the fonts for the return and send addresses. An option to select the type of label to print when using labels. An option for you to select the printer and job properties (paper, orientation, etc.) to use when printing. A Print option to print a single envelope or label. An option to exit the program. We'll begin by discussing the Printer Setup , Select Label, and Print options first. Printer Setup If you have been using OS/2 for a while, this option is probably very familiar to you. Selecting this option presents a dialog that allows you to specify all of the information required to use a specific printer and paper type. The first time you use APT Mailing Assistant, you should come here to select the type of printer you are using, the type of the envelopes you are printing (or "Letter" if you want to print labels), how you want to feed the paper into the printer, and, finally, any form connections you need to make. The options you set here will remain in effect until you return to this menu to change them. (These selections only apply to APT Mailing Assistant and not to any other OS/2 jobs in the system). You can return here and change these options as often as you'd like. The printer and paper options selected here are shown in the APTMA Selections window that appears in the lower portion of the primary window. When you are ready to print an envelope or label, check the APTMA Selections window to insure the proper printer and paper are selected. If not, return to this menu to select them. Also, when printing envelopes, remember to select the proper paper orientation for the printer you are using. For example, many laser printers expect landscape orientation when printing envelopes. Select Label This option allows you to select the type of label you want to use when you select an 8 1/2" x 11" ("Letter") paper size with the Printer Setup menu. APT Mailing Assistant support several types of predefined labels for both sheet feed and dot matrix printers. In addition, you can define your own custom labels to the system. Select Label Dialog Custom Labels Custom labels are assumed to fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet in evenly spaced rows and columns. When defining custom labels you must supply several items of information including the size of each label, the left and top margins for the sheet, and the number of labels in each row and column. The accuracy of Custom Label measurements is extremely important since the tolerance for smaller labels is quite small. Measurements may be entered in .001 inches. Note that your sheet of labels does not have to be 8 1/2" wide (although it does have to be 11" long), it just must fit within an 8 1/2" wide "page". This allows you to define custom labels for a continuous feed printer (such as dot matrix) that may have only a single row of labels down the page. The predefined 4013 and 4060 labels are this type. Print (Single Envelope or Label) The Print option from the File pull down menu will print a single envelope or label containing the names and addresses shown in the primary window. This will print on the paper and printer indicated in the APTMA Selections window. If you are printing to a sheet of labels, you will be shown a dialog where you can select which label you want to use. This allows you to reuse label sheets and reduces the number of labels that are wasted. The number of times you can reuse a sheet of labels depends on the heat generated by your printer, but most printers allow reuse of the sheet until all labels have been used. Changing the Current Address File This option changes the current address file being used by APT Mailing Assistant. The current address file is displayed in the APTMA Selections window. The current address file is used whenever you save a send or return address, delete an address, or performing a bulk mailing. You will find that using address files can help organize and categorize your mailing lists and APT Mailing Assistant has no limit to the number of address files you can have. When using this option, if you specify a file name that does not exist, you will be given the option to create a new empty address file with this name. While it is a good idea to name your address files using a naming convention to make them easy to find (such as having the same extension, we suggest .ADR), the system imposes only one restriction on their names. APT Mailing Assistant address files cannot have an extension of .PTR. This is because when address files are created, a second file with a .PTR suffix is automatically created by the program. These two files work together to provide your address file. Delete Address File APT Mailing Assistant address files are a pair of normal OS/2 files working together and may be deleted by using the Delete Address File option. When this option is chosen, you will be shown a file dialog that allows you to choose the address file you want to delete. You must choose the base file name (i.e. not the .PTR name) to delete. You should not use this option to delete files that are not APT Mailing Assistant address files. List Address File This option allows you to list an address file to either the display or the system printer. List Dialog You may choose to list only those addresses in the file that are in a specific city, a specific state, a specific city-state combination, or within a range of zip codes. If you specify a city or state, the zip code range is ignored. Merge Two Address Files Merge Dialog APT Mailing Assistant allows you to merge the addresses from one address file into another ("target") file. If the target file does not exist at the beginning of this operation, it is created. If it does exist, all of the records in the from file are merged into the target file in their proper place. If you check the Check Duplicate Addresses box, a check will be made on each name being merged to determine if the target file already contains the name. When a duplicate is encountered, you are asked if you want to include the record in the target file or if you want to skip it. If the duplicate address box is not checked, any duplicate records are added to the target file. At the conclusion of the merge the target file contains all of its original records plus all of the selected records in the source file. The source file still exists after the operation. "Merging" an address file into a new file is an easy way to copy an address file. You may choose to merge only those records in the source file that are in a specific city, a specific state, a specific city-state combination, or within a range of zip codes. If you specify a city or state, the zip code range is ignored. ADDRESS MENU The Address Menu contains all options required to create and maintain addresses including: Changing the send or return address in the primary window Saving send or return addresses into the current address file Swapping the send and return addresses in the primary window Deleting an address from the current address file Change/Save Return Address Selecting this option brings up a dialog where you may type in the name and address information, or you can look up an address in the current address file (Find). This option only changes the return address in the primary window, it does not save the address in the current address file unless you select the Save pushbutton, in which case the return address is updated in the primary window and saved in the current address file. When saving, if a record with the same name exists in the current address file, you will be asked if you want to replace the existing name or add this name as a new record. Change Address Dialog Change/Save Send Address Selecting this option brings up a dialog where you may type in the name and address information, or you can look up an address in the current address file. This option only changes the send address in the primary window, it does not save the address in the current address file unless you select the Save pushbutton. When saving, if a record with the same name exists in the current address file, you will be asked if you want to replace the existing name or add this name as a new record. Swap Addresses This option exchanges the send and return addresses in the primary window. The addresses are not saved in the current address file. Delete an Address This option will display a list of names in the current address file. You may select the name and address to be deleted. If the address being deleted happens to be one of the addresses in the primary window, it is not removed from that window. BULK MAIL MENU APT Mailing Assistant provides a business or organization the ability to generate a bulk mailing using the current address file. There are three options under the bulk mail menu: Bulk Mail Statistics Return Envelopes All three are designed to work together to provide you with the function needed to complete a bulk mailing. Selecting any of the options will produce the dialog shown below that allows you to limit the bulk mailing (or statistics or return envelopes) to only a certain range of zip codes. Bulk mailing rates only apply to U.S. addresses and the bulk mail options default to using only U.S. addresses from the current address file. However, you may want to use the bulk mail facility to do other types of group mailings where you are not taking the bulk mail rate. If you desire to include non U.S. addresses in your group mailing, check the Include Non-U.S. Addresses box. Before beginning any bulk mailing process, it is very important that you accurately specify the type of mailing you will be doing (i.e. bulk, presorted first class, or nonprofit), the type of media being used in the mailing (i.e. envelopes, flats, or parcels), and the first 3 digits of the zip code for the post office where you will be taking the bulk mailing (called the "origin" post office). These factors have a bearing on how the bulk mailing will be sorted. Note that if the current address file contains the return address name shown on the menu, no envelope or label will be printed with this name as the send to address (or return address when printing return envelopes). Bulk Mail Dialog Bulk Mail The bulk mail option causes one envelope or label to be printed for each name in the current address file that meet any of the selection criteria you specify. The envelopes or labels are printed in zip code/ADC sequence. APT Mailing Assistant can also print your bulk rate, nonprofit, or presorted first class permit boxes on your envelopes by checking the appropriate box and completing the permit information. Statistics The statistics option allows you to obtain a statistics sheet with information about the zip code groupings for your bulk mailing. The statistics will tell you how your mailing breaks down into 9 digit zip code, 5 digit zip code, 3 digit zip code, ADC, and mixed ADC groups. Each total line will indicate the label that should be placed on a mailing tray assuming that the group starts a tray. The statistics also indicate if the mailing qualifies for automation (i.e. has all 9 digit zip codes) and information about how many (if any) of the addresses in the mailing would not fit on the current label using the current font. The current label is the last label selected using the Select Label menu. The current font is the currently selected send address font. This "fit" information is printed even if you are planning to use envelopes for the bulk mailing and allows you to specify a smaller font or larger label to correct the problem before the mailing is printed. Statistics should be run using the same selection criteria as is used to run the bulk mailing. Statistics are printed to the currently selected printer and paper as indicated by the APTMA Selections window. Therefore, before printing statistics, insure 8 1/2" x 11" paper has been selected for the printer. Return Envelopes APT Mailing assistant allows you to print personalized return envelopes for your bulk mailing. Selecting this option causes each selected address in the current address file to be printed in the return address portion of the envelope and the return address portion of the dialog to be printed in the send address portion of all the envelopes. This pull down option is only available if an envelope has been selected as the paper type. Any permit box information is ignored. IMPORT/EXPORT MENU The Import/Export menu allows you to import or export APT Mailing Assistant address files in two different formats. One provides a means for you to transfer data between the APT Mailing Assistant and your favorite database program. The second provide you with a facility to create files to send to the U.S. Postal Service for CASS certification and to build new address files from the certified files returned to you. Exchanging Data with Databases Using Text Files Names and addresses you already have in another database program (such as PC File or DBASE) can be imported into APT Mailing Assistant. You can also "export" name and address information from an APT Mailing Assistant file to another database. In each case the information is transferred by creating an intermediate file in the common "comma delimited string" format. Most common database programs can import and export files with this format. Check your database program's documentation to see if it supports this format. To use the import or export capability you should be aware of the field definitions within APT Mailing Assistant that make up a name and address record. These definitions are as follows: Field Name Length First 39 line (usually name) Second 39 Line (company, attn., etc.) Third 39 Line Fourth 39 Line City 26 State/Province 19 Zip 10 Code Country 19 In the import file, there must be exactly 8 fields for each record in the order shown above. If one of the fields empty its position in the import record must contain "",(quote-quote-comma). Importing a file is similar to merging two address files. That is, if a record already exists with the same name as a record being imported, you will be asked if you want to add, replace, or ignore the duplicate record. Additionally, if the target address file does not exist, you are asked if you want to create it. For more information see your database manual. CASS Certification for Mailing Lists You may export an APT Mailing Assistant database to create a file to send through the U.S. Postal Service's CASS certification process. If your mailing list has been CASS certified, then you may be eligible for some automation discounts when using bulk or presorted first class mail. To obtain certification for a mailing list contained in a APT Mailing Assistant address file, you would follow the following steps: Export your mailing list using the Export to CASS File option. Only U.S. addresses will be exported. Complete the Address File Standardization on Diskette form available from your post office. The field lengths you must specify in this form are shown in the Completing the Address File Standardization on Diskette Form section below. Send the form and a diskette containing the exported database to the address listed on the form. When your certified diskette is returned, import the file on this diskette using the Import CASS File option. You will only be allowed to import into a new address file. As part of the certification process you will get a list of any error codes associated with records in your address list and the meaning of these codes. Some codes require you to take some action to ensure certification of the mailing list, while others are for your information only. In addition, you can request APT Mailing Assistant to generate a list of each record being imported and any associated error or information codes associated with it. Some of these informational messages can be used to make your address list more accurate even if it did not fail certification. When you have completed these steps, you will have a CASS certified mailing list. COMPLETING THE "ADDRESS FILE STANDARDIZATION ON DISKETTE" FORM When sending an address list to the U.S. Postal Service for certification, you must complete the Address File Standardization on Diskette form. This form provides the Postal Service with information about how the data is stored in the file you are sending them. The following information must be placed in the appropriate place on the form: Section C Record length = 189. Section D Note - Leave output field lengths empty. Name Length Input Field Start 3. 40 1 Name 4. 40 41 Firm Name 5. 40 81 Delivery Addr. 6. **leave blank**leave blank Puerto Rico 7. 26 121 City 8. 2 147 State 9. 5 149 Zip code 10. **answer NO 11. **leave blank**leave blank County code 12. 4 154 Carrier route 13. 10 158 Zip+4 15. 2 168 DPBC 16. **leave blank**leave blank DPBC Check 17. 16 170 Footnote 18. 2 186 Record Type 19. 2 188 Return Code Import Text File The Import Text File option imports a comma delimited string ASCII text file into a APT Mailing Assistant address file. The import window has two fields: Import Text File Dialog Text File Name The path and name of the text file to be merged into an APT Mailing Assistant address file. This file must contain comma delimited strings as described in the previous section. Address File Name The path and name of an APT Mailing Assistant address file to contain the records being imported. If this file exists, the imported records are merged into it. If a name being imported already exists in the address file, you are given an option as to accept or reject the duplicate name. If the file does not exist, it is created. Export to Text File The Export to Text File option exports an address file into a sequential ASCII text file containing comma delimited strings as described in the previous section. This window has two fields: Address File Name The path and name of an APT Mailing Assistant address file to be exported. Text File Name The path and name of the text file to contain the exported information from the address file. This file will contain comma delimited strings as described in the previous section. Import CASS File The Import Cass File option imports a file that has been CASS certified by the U.S. Postal Service into a new address file. A CASS certified file must be imported into a new address file to insure that all records in the address file are certified. This window has the following fields: Import Cass File Dialog CASS File Name The path and name of the CASS certified file returned to you from the U.S. Postal Service National Customer Support Center to be used to create an APT Mailing Assistant address file. This file must be have originally been exported using the Export CASS File option. Address File Name The path and name to be used to create an APT Mailing Assistant address file that will contain the certified mailing list. This file must not already exist. Print CASS Report Checking this box will produce a report detailing each record being imported and any associated certification codes. Many of these codes will not be errors and the meaning for all of the codes is shown in the "Address File Standardization on Diskette - Order Form and Instructions" pamphlet available from the Postal Service. Export to CASS File The Export to CASS File option exports an address file onto a diskette in a form acceptable to the U.S. Postal Service's mailing list certification process. This window has two fields: Address File Name The path and name of an APT Mailing Assistant address file to be exported. CASS File Name The path and name of the text file to contain the exported information from the address file. This file will be in a format that can be sent to the Postal Service Customer Support Center for certification. Also see the previous section on Completing the Address File Standardization on Diskette Form.