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WELCOME TO LASER-READY LABELS Laser-Ready Labels is an all-in-one combination of software, fonts and templates for printing great-looking labels on laser, DeskJet and dot- matrix printers. This README file contains information not included in the Laser-Ready Labels manual. In particular, it explains how to choose label sizes; describes how to type labels "from scratch" and import label information from other PC programs; introduces searching, copying, sorting, printing and saving; and lists the files contained on the Laser-Ready Labels disk. Use DOS's TYPE command to view README on your PC's screen - just type Ctrl-S periodically to "freeze" each screen as you read it. Or use DOS's PRINT command to output README on your printer. CHOOSING LABEL SIZES Laser-Ready Labels supports 11 different sizes of labels. Which size you should use depends on what kind of label you want to print, what printer you are using, and the label information you'll be printing. You can print three kinds of labels with Laser-Ready Labels: 1. Mailing Labels. Six sizes (33, 30, 24, 21, 20 and 14-up) are for envelopes, postcards and all smaller addressing jobs. 2. Shipping Labels. If you need both a "To:" and a "From:" address, use shipping labels. 8-up and 6-up sizes are for boxes, large envelopes and any parcel requiring a return address. 3. General Purpose Labels. Four sizes of general purpose labels (12, 10, 9 and 6-up) fit your "miscellaneous" labeling jobs. There are at least two sizes of labels available for each application. Choose a larger label size (i.e. 14-up instead of 30-up, 6-up instead of 8-up, etc.) if: - You have a lot of information to type on each label - You are using a dot-matrix printer - You are using a laser printer and LR-Elite font, or a DeskJet printer and Courier font. Once you have chosen the size of label for a list, you can reset the size as often as you like. However, since Laser-Ready Labels lets you fill as much of the label as possible with text, when you change to smaller labels you must allow Laser-Ready Labels to "truncate" the contents of each label. Truncation means characters that would extend beyond the right edge of the new label size are dropped, or lines that would extend below the bottom edge of the new label size are dropped, or both. Truncation happens not only when you move a list to smaller labels, but also if you print a list on a printer that prints fewer characters across the width of a page than your original printer. In this case, Laser-Ready Labels truncates the extra characters at the right edge of each line. TYPING A LIST There are a variety of ways to make lists in Laser-Ready Labels. The simplest is to type labels using the keyboard. First choose the type of label you want. Then, in the menu that follows the opening menu, choose "Create a New List of Labels." The Laser-Ready Labels manual contains complete step-by-step instructions for typing a variety of mailing, shipping and general purpose labels. It explains how to choose label sizes and fonts, and how to move through the list typing one label at a time. Please make the following corrections in your manual: - Where the step-by-step instructions say, "When you finish typing a label, press Enter on its last line to move to the next label" they should say "When you finish typing a label, press PgDn to move to the next label." - Where the step-by-step instructions say, "Press F10 to save", they should say "Press F9 to save". When typing labels, there are two "shortcuts" you can take advantage of. If you need a number of identical labels, type the first label, then copy it to make duplicates. To create lists with a high degree of similarity between labels, first type one label, copy it to make the remaining labels, then edit each label to type the unique information. IMPORTING LISTS FROM DISK FILES A second way to make a Laser-Ready Labels list is to import label information from disk files. To be imported, a disk file should contain ASCII text in the following format: 1st column v Name, company and address Dr. Fred J. Smith <---------- on separate lines 123 Broadway Suite 1200 New York, NY 10010 <---------- Blank line between Ms. Annalyn Turner each label 987 Sunset Apartment 12 Knoxville, TN 23911 Included on your Laser-Ready Labels disk is a sample import file, SAMPLE.IMP, that illustrates the correct format. Import files should omit all formatting or special characters. A quick way to test a file to see if it is in the proper format is to use DOS's TYPE command. As the file scrolls across your screen, each label should look very much like it will when it is printed. In particular, there should be one line on your screen for each line on the finished label, and there should be no extra characters. Once you've verified your import file is in the proper format, start Laser-Ready Labels and choose the type of label you want: Mailing, Shipping or General Purpose. Then select "Import Label Information", type the name of the file to be imported, name the list, choose a label size and (if asked) font, and you'll soon have a new list - without typing! BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING WORDPERFECT In WordPerfect, label information is stored in two ways: as "documents", or standard WordPerfect text files, and as "secondary merge files", which are special files used for mailing lists, telephone lists, etc. If your label information is stored as a WordPerfect document, use WordPerfect's Text In/Out command create an import file for Laser- Ready Labels. Follow these steps: 1. Press Ctrl-F5 to begin the Text In/Out command. 2. Choose 1-DOS Text to tell WordPerfect that you want the contents of the document written to a DOS-Text file. 3. Choose 1-Save and enter a filename for the new file. We suggest naming it with the suffix ".IMP" to identify this as an import file for Laser-Ready Labels. After you exit WordPerfect, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. If your label information is stored as a secondary merge file, it will look something like this: Column 1 v Dr.^R <---- Ctrl-R separating each field Fred J. ^R Smith^R 123 Broadway^R Suite 1200^R New York^R NY^R 10010^R ^E <---- Ctrl-E separating each label Ms.^R Annalyn^R Turner^R 987 Sunset^R Apartment 12^R Knoxville^R TN^R 23911^R ^E : : To create an import file for Laser-Ready Labels from the secondary merge file, follow these steps: 1. Create a new primary merge file that arranges label information in the right format for Laser-Ready Labels to import. For the example above, the primary merge file is: ^F1^ ^F2^ ^F3^ ^F4^ ^F5^ ^F6^, ^F7^ ^F8^ <---- Blank line at the end of the file The ^F1^ tells WordPerfect to place the contents of the first field, "Mr.", at the beginning of the first line. ^F2^ says to place the contents of the second field, "Fred J. ", immediately after it on the same line. The blank between ^F1^ and ^F2^ tells WordPerfect to separate the two fields with a blank. Enter each merge code by pressing Shift-F9, then F-field, then 1 for the first field, 2 for the second field, and so on. 2. Merge the primary and secondary merge files by pressing Ctrl-F9, then 1-Merge. Identify your primary merge file, then identify your secondary merge file. If all has gone well, you'll see the message: * merging * at the bottom of your screen. 3. After merging is complete, press Ctrl-F5 to begin a Text In/Out command, choose 1-DOS Text, and then select 1-Save. Enter a filename ending in ".IMP" for the new import file. After you exit WordPerfect, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING MICROSOFT WORD In Microsoft Word, label information is stored in two ways: as documents, or standard Word text files, and as "data documents", which are special documents used for mailing lists, telephone lists, etc. If your label information is stored as a Microsoft Word document, print it to a file as follows: 1. Start Microsoft Word and load the document containing label information. 2. Press Esc to enter a command, P for Print and F for File. 3. Before typing the name of the file, press Tab to move to the Formatted choice. Press N to choose No. 4. Type a filename that ends in ".IMP". Microsoft Word will print your label information to a file. After you exit Word, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. If your label information is stored as a data document, it will look something like this: honorific,first,last,address1,address2,city,state,zip Dr.,Fred J.,Smith,123 Broadway,Suite 1200,New York,NY,10010 Ms.,Annalyn,Turner,987 Sunset,Apartment 12,Knoxville,TN,23911 : : The first line is a header containing a list of field names. Remaining lines contain data in the order specified by the header. To create an import file for Laser-Ready Labels from the data document, follow these steps: 1. Create a main document that writes the list information in the right format for Laser-Ready Labels to import. For the example above, the main document is: <<DATA list.doc>> <---- Identifies data document <---- Blank line <<honorific>> <<first>> <<last>> <<address1>> <<address2>> <<city>>, <<state>> <<zip>> Note: The << and >> characters represent "chevrons", entered from the keyboard as Ctrl-[ and Ctrl-]. The <<honorific>> tells Word to place the contents of the first field, "Mr.", at the beginning of the second line. <<first>> says to place the contents of the second field, "Fred J.", immediately after it on the same line. The blank between <<honorific>> and <<first>> tells Word to separate the two fields with a blank. 2. Print Merge Document the main and data documents by pressing Esc P M D. Then type a name for the merged document. 3. Print File the resulting document by pressing Esc P F, then press Tab to move to the Formatted choice. Press N to choose No. 4. Type a filename that ends in ".IMP", then press Enter. Word will print your label information to that file. After you exit Word, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING WORDSTAR In WordStar, label information is stored in two ways: as "documents", or standard WordStar text files, and as "data files", which are special files used for mailing lists, telephone lists, etc. If your label information is stored as a WordStar document, print it to disk as follows: 1. Start WordStar and press P to print a document. 2. In the Print dialog box, type the name of the file containing label information. 3. Under Printer Name, select "ASCII" from the directory. 4. Next to "Redirect output to", type a name that ends in ".IMP". 5. Begin printing. After you exit WordStar, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. If your label information is stored as a data file, it will look something like this: Dr., Fred J., Smith, 123 Broadway, Suite 1200, New York, NY, 10010 Ms., Annalyn, Turner, 987 Sunset, Apartment 12, Knoxville, TN, 23911 : : To create an import file for Laser-Ready Labels from the data file, follow these steps: 1. Create a new shell file that writes the list information in the right format for Laser-Ready Labels to import. For the example above, the shell file is: .PL 9 <---- Page length is 9 lines .MT 1 <---- Top margin is 1 line .MB 0 <---- No bottom margin .PF OFF <---- No print-time formatting .OP <---- Omit page numbers .PO 0 <---- No page offset .DF list.dta <---- Identifies data file .RV honorific, first, last <---- Identifies variables .RV address1, address2 .RV city, state, zip &honorific& &first& &list& &address1/o& &address2/o& &city&, &state& &zip& <---- Blank line .PA <---- Unconditional page eject The &honorific& tells WordStar to place the contents of the first variable, "Mr.", at the beginning of the first line. &first& says to place the contents of the second variable, "Fred J.", on the same line as the first variable. In several variables, /o keeps WordStar from leaving a blank line in the output if that variable is blank in the data file. The blank between &honorific& and &first& tells WordStar to separate the two fields with a blank. 2. Merge Print the shell and data files. First press M to open the Merge Print dialog box and select your shell file as the file to print. 3. Under Printer Name, select "ASCII" from the directory. 4. Next to "Redirect output to", type a name that ends in ".IMP". 5. Begin printing. WordStar will print your label information to the file you redirected output to. After you exit WordStar, the ".IMP" file is ready for importing into Laser-Ready Labels. BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING LOTUS 1-2-3 Use the Print to File command to create a .PRN file containing label information. For this to work, your spreadsheet must have been created with a layout very similar to Laser-Ready Labels' standard label layout - i.e. with the first line of the label in the first cell of the first row, the second line of the label in the first cell of the second row, etc. BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING DBASE In Dbase, the best way to create an import file for Laser-Ready Labels is to write a brief Dbase program that extracts label information and writes it to disk. If you prefer not to write a Dbase program, use the COPY_TO command to dump the database into a file. Then edit the file to insert Carriage Return/Line Feeds at the end of each label line. BUILDING IMPORT FILES USING OTHER PC PROGRAMS If you wish to import label information into Laser-Ready Labels from a program other than the ones listed, see if your program supports ASCII text as an output format, either through printing or saving. If it does, you're in luck. If your PC program cannot save data in an ASCII text file, and its data storage formats are not compatible with one of the programs listed above, try this: 1. Use one of the excellent PC data conversion programs available either commercially or through bulletin boards to translate your data into an ASCII text file. 2. Use a text editor to manually re-format the file and strip away unnecessary characters. Though more time-consuming than you might like, this usually takes less time than retyping labels via the keyboard. SEARCHING, COPYING, SORTING, PRINTING AND SAVING Once you've typed or imported a list, you can search for a certain label, copy a label to make identical labels, sort the list, print it, and save the list to disk. Search, copy, sort, print and save are invoked as you view a page of labels on your screen. Search (F2) Specify a search string of up to 30 letters and digits, and Laser- Ready Labels locates the next label in the list containing that string. Copy (F3) Use the copy function to insert up to 999 identical labels after the label being copied. Sort (F4) Use the sort function to reorder mailing and shipping lists by last name or zip code, in ascending or descending order. Laser-Ready Labels interprets the last 5 or 9-digit number in a label as the zip code, and the last name in the first line as the name to be sorted on. Note that for larger lists (over 1000 labels) sorting can take several minutes or more. Print (F5) Use the F5 key to print a list of labels. If you wish, you can print less than the entire list, and you can print more than one copy of the list. As it prints, Laser-Ready Labels centers the non-blank lines of a label vertically. For example, if you are using 30-up labels, which allow addresses of up to 4 lines, and one of your addresses is only 3 lines long, leave the fourth line blank. When printing, Laser-Ready Labels will automatically adjust the 3 non-blank lines downward to center them between the top and bottom edges of the label. Save (F9) Use the Save function to store a list in a DOS disk file. File names can be up to 8 characters long and must conform to DOS file naming conventions. Laser-Ready Labels automatically appends .LRM (mailing), .LRS (shipping), or .LRG (general purpose) to names to identify the type of list the file contains. DISK CONTENTS File Description _________________________________________________________________ README This text file LRL BAT Batch file to start Laser-Ready Labels LABELS EXE Executable file run by LRL.BAT MSHERC COM Monitor compatibility program run by LRL.BAT H DAT Help file FONTS DAT Font mapping file SAMPLE IMP Sample import file LRL_BLAK GX1 Graphics file LRL_DJFT GX1 same LRL_FONT GX1 same LRL_MENU GX1 same LRL_MLB GX1 same LRL_MLFT GX1 same LRL_MLS GX1 same LRL_MLW GX1 same LRL_OPEN GX1 same LRL_PRTR GX1 same LRL_RAS GX1 same LRL_RAW GX1 same LRL_SLB GX1 same LRL_SLS GX1 same LRL_SLW GX1 same LRL_SPLB GX1 same LRL_SPLS GX1 same LRL_SPLW GX1 same LRL_WHIT GX1 same E100R MPP Font file E110R MPP same H100R MPP same H120R MPP same H180B MPP same T100B MPP same T100R MPP same T120B MPP same T120R MPP same 35 Files Total (c) 1989 Mind Path Technologies, Inc. DeskJet is a registered trademark of Hewlett-Packard, Co. WordPerfect is a trademark of WordPerfect Corp. Microsoft and Microsoft Word are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. WordStar is a trademark of MicrPro International Corp. dBase is a trademark of Ashton-Tate. Lotus 1-2-3 is a trademark of Lotus Development Corp.