Pitney Bowes DocuMatch Integrated Mail System, DocuMatch Application Notes
While reasonable efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of
this material, the information in this document is provided “as is,” without warranty of any kind. This document may contain errors and omissions and is subject to change without notice. Pitney Bowes disclaims
all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of
merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Pitney Bowes shall
not be liable for errors contained herein, nor for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, performance or
use of this material.
These materials and the related software are confidential and proprietary property of Pitney Bowes, Inc. and may not be lent, sold, hired
out, or made available to others in any form, or be disposed of by way
of trade in any form, without the express written consent of Pitney
Bowes, Inc.
The data used in examples in this manual are fictitious unless otherwise noted, and are intended solely to document proper use of the
software.
SV60725 Rev. A
First Edition, August, 1999
©1999 Pitney Bowes Inc.
DocuMatch and SmartMailer are trademarks of Pitney Bowes, Inc. Microsoft, MS-DOS, Windows,
Access, FoxPro and Microsoft Word are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Emulex and NetQue are trademarks of Emulex Corporation. Novell and NetWare are trademarks of
Novell Corporation. WordPerfect and Paradox are trademarks of Corel Corporation. Rumba is a
registered trademark of Wall Data. AS/400 is a registered trademark of International Business Machines.
dBase is a trademark of Inprise Corporation. ZIP Code and PostNET are registered trademarks of the
United States Postal Service. All other devices and/or software mentioned in this manual are trademarks
or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part in any fashion or stored in a
retrieval system of any type or transmitted by any means, electronically or mechanically, without the
express written permission of Pitney Bowes.
Contents
Host Software Installation Notes for Windows 95...........................3
Installing the Driver ................................................................................3
Installing the Envelope Designer............................................................ 3
Selecting the DocuMatch Driver and Setting Options on a
Windows 95 System ..............................................................................4
Testing Driver Installation....................................................................... 5
Using DocuMatch on a Network ......................................................6
Using a Controlling PC...........................................................................6
Using the DocuMatch as a Shared Printer.............................................6
Using a Peer-to-Peer Network...............................................................6
Guidelines for Network Use ...................................................................7
Print Manager and Timeouts for Windows 3.1 Users.................... 10
About Print Manager ............................................................................10
Setting Options in Print Manager.........................................................10
Using Background Printing .................................................................. 11
Setting Timeouts .................................................................................. 12
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows......13
Importing Data .....................................................................................13
Using the Mail Merge Toolbar .............................................................. 15
Running the Merge............................................................................... 16
Address Detection Errors..................................................................... 18
Setting Up Files for Merging with Word Perfect for Windows...... 19
Importing ASCII Data into Word Perfect Version 6.0 ...........................20
Importing ASCII Data into Word Perfect Version 6.1 ...........................21
Accessing Database files from Word Perfect.......................................22
Running the Merge in Word Perfect 6.1...............................................23
Running the Merge in Word Perfect 7..................................................24
Using DocuMatch with SmartMailer for Windows ........................25
Printing Directly From SmartMailer ......................................................25
Printing Presorted Data with Another Application ............................... 26
Printing Presorted Data with Another Application ............................... 27
Contents
Handling Tray Breaks with Other Applications.....................................27
An Alternate Method of Processing the SRT File.................................28
Selecting the DocuMatch Driver from Microsoft Word 6 .............. 29
Selecting the DocuMatch Driver from Word Perfect.....................30
Word Perfect Version 6.1 .....................................................................30
Network Connections ..........................................................................30
Accessing the DocuMatch Setup Screen ............................................ 31
Word Perfect V6.0 ................................................................................32
Selecting DocuMatch Driver Options.............................................33
Generate Mail Option ...........................................................................33
Document Tab ......................................................................................33
Envelope Tab........................................................................................34
Inserts Tab............................................................................................34
Finishing Tab ........................................................................................ 35
General Tab .......................................................................................... 36
Saving and Retrieving Job Setups.......................................................38
Address Detection Options..................................................................38
Exiting the Driver Setup Screen ...........................................................39
Document Printer Setup Options.........................................................39
Automating Operations under Microsoft Word 6 ..........................41
Printing to a File with the DocuMatch Driver.................................44
Printing to a File from Microsoft Word .................................................44
Sending a Print File to the DocuMatch ................................................ 45
Printing an Address that Does Not Appear on the Document......46
Printing Barcodes on Documents and Window Envelopes .......... 47
Printing a Barcode on the Document...................................................47
Printing Just a Barcode on the Envelope.............................................47
Printing Just a Barcode on the Envelope.............................................48
ii
DocuMatch
TM
Integrated Mail System
Contents
Selecting Printer Trays Using Microsoft Word or
WordPerfect ....................................................................................49
Using Word to Switch Paper Trays ......................................................49
Switching Paper Trays Using WordPerfect for Windows,
Version 6.1 ...........................................................................................50
Formatting Mail Merge Documents Using IF Fields in
Microsoft Word................................................................................53
Using IF Fields for Merge Field Dependent Text.................................. 53
Procedure for a ZIP+4 Example...........................................................53
Procedure for Using IF Fields for a Variable Length Address
Example ...............................................................................................55
Customizing Your Mailpieces with Selective Inserting,
Variable Length Documents and Variable Envelope Data.............56
What's a Control Page? ....................................................................... 56
Setting Up Documents with Control Pages ......................................... 58
Running Jobs with Control Pages........................................................59
Control Page Command Summary...................................................... 59
Setting Up and Running Jobs with a Variable Number of
Printed Pages....................................................................................... 59
Table of Control Page Commands .......................................................60
Control Page Limitations...................................................................... 62
Diagnosing "Waiting for Host" messages......................................63
Factors Affecting Speed ...................................................................... 63
Complex Envelope Timeouts ............................................................... 63
Host-Induced Slowdowns.................................................................... 64
Common Causes of Slow Printing .......................................................65
Inefficient Print Files .......................................................................66
Selecting, Storing, and Loading Materials.....................................69
Document Printer Paper ......................................................................69
Envelopes............................................................................................. 70
Cut Sheets ...........................................................................................71
TM
DocuMatch
Integrated Mail System
iii
Contents
Inserts and Reply Envelopes................................................................ 72
Total Thickness Limits ..........................................................................72
Envelope Content Thickness Evaluation..............................................73
Reducing Wasted Materials............................................................74
Preserve Output Order.........................................................................74
Examining System Reports..................................................................74
Examining Materials in the Outsort Bin................................................75
Checking Your Data before Processing ......................................... 76
Missing Data ........................................................................................ 76
Checking Your Data in SmartMailer for Windows ................................ 76
Checking Your Data in SmartMailer for Windows ................................ 77
Checking Your Data in Microsoft Word ................................................77
DocuMatch Job Cancelling Tips ....................................................80
Using Rumba to Print to the DocuMatch from an
AS/400 System................................................................................81
Printing from Rumba ............................................................................81
Using the DocuMatch with an HP JetDirect Print Server..............83
Configuring the DocuMatch Printer ..................................................... 83
Testing the Link .................................................................................... 83
Connecting DocuMatch to a Serial Port ........................................85
Cable Requirements.............................................................................85
Setup at DocuMatch ............................................................................86
Setup at the PC....................................................................................87
Testing the Connection ........................................................................88
Changing the Baud Rate......................................................................88
Restoring Standard Parallel Port Options............................................ 89
Setting Paper Tray Options on DocuMatch Systems with
Lexmark Printers ..................................................................................90
Tray Options ......................................................................................... 90
Defining Trays.......................................................................................90
iv
DocuMatch
TM
Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Integrated
Mail System
Application Notes
These application notes were prepared by
the Pitney Bowes engineering staff to help
our customers take full advantage of the
DocuMatch System's capabilities.
The information in this book can help you
customize your mailings, speed up printing,
operate in a networked environment and use
various word processing and database
applications to help run your mail merges
more smoothly.
Some notes are technical in nature and are
directed at users familiar with the software
programs mentioned or at system administrators responsible for configuring and maintaining computer equipment.
DocuMatch Application Notes
2 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Host Software Installation Notes for Windows 95
Installing the
Driver
1. Start Windows 95.
2. Close any applications which may be running, and
place the driver disk in your floppy drive.
3. Click on Start, then Run and type a:\setupdm in the
entry box. Substitute the correct drive letter if your
floppy is not drive A. Normally, you should accept the
default directories it proposes and if it says a directory
already exists and asks if you want to install anyway,
answer YES.
If you are installing the driver on a system for the first
time, the install program asks which port to use (usually
LPT1:) and whether you want to make the DocuMatch
the default printer (usually yes).I f you are installing the
driver for testing on a PC that does not have access to
a DocuMatch system, you may want to choose FILE:
here. If you do, the system prompts you for a file name
when you try to print. You can then send the file to a
PC that does have access to a DocuMatch and print
the file there.
Installing the
Envelope Designer
1. Exit any applications that may be running.
2. Insert the first AddressRight Printing System for Windows 95 disk in your floppy drive.
3. Click on Start, then Run: type a:\setup and hit Enter.
Substitute the correct drive letter if your floppy is not
drive A. Normally, you should accept the default directories specified by the install program. If the program
says a directory already exists and asks if you want to
install anyway, answer YES. This copies the appropriate files into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory and an
ED directory, creating it if it does not already exist. The
install program gives you an opportunity to put the files
in a directory other than ED if you want.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
3
DocuMatch Application Notes
Host Software Installation Notes for Windows 95, continued
Selecting the
DocuMatch Driver
and Setting
Options on a
Windows 95
System
1. Click on Start, then Settings, then Printers. You should
see an icon labeled Pitney Bowes DocuMatch.
2. Once the Driver is installed, there are several setup
options that affect printing performance. Access these
by clicking on My Computer/Printers/Pitney Bowes
DocuMatch. From the DocuMatch screen, select
Printer/Properties/ Details.
a. On the Port Settings tab, DO NOT select the Check
Port State before Printing box. If you do, the driver
may erroneously report that the printer is off-line.
b. On the Spool settings tab, you can choose to spool
print jobs or to send them directly to the printer.
Sending jobs directly to the printer is very much like
running with Print Manager turned off in Windows
3.1; the job will start printing immediately but the
application will be tied up until printing is complete.
With spooling turned on and Start Printing after Last
Page selected, operation is like running with Print
Manager turned on under Windows 3.1; the application processes the job as quickly as it can, but
printing will not start until the application has finished. This may take several minutes, depending on
the size of the job.
With spooling on and Start Printing after First Page
selected, printing should start almost immediately,
and the application will also run as fast as it can.
This is the default choice and is the best option to
choose for most applications, unless jobs are
terminating early due to timeouts.
c. On the General tab, you should set the separator
page to None when generating mail. Any other
setting will cause errors when you run the job.
4 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Host Software Installation Notes for Windows 95, continued
Testing Driver
Installation
1. Click on the Generate Mail tab.
2. Click on Enter Setup.
3. Select Print Documents, then click on Save As… and
save the job as PRINT.JOB.
4. Click on OK to close the driver setup screen and return
to the DocuMatch Properties window.
5. Click on the General tab and then click on Print Test
Page. A single sheet with information about the driver
should print to the top of the printer.
If the test page does not print or jobs appear to print from
your application but nothing comes out on the DocuMatch,
first make sure that the port selected for the DocuMatch is
correct and that the system is connected to your computer.
Then click on My Computer/ Printers and double-click on
Pitney Bowes DocuMatch. If you have been experimenting
and there are jobs waiting to print, you may want to delete
them. To do this:
1. Select each one and press the Delete key.
2. Click on File and make sure that DocuMatch is the
default printer. If Pause Printing or Work Offline is
selected, click on it to deselect it. Any jobs waiting to
print should now start to print.
NOTE: If the driver is already installed on your system and
you upgrade to Windows 95, the driver may not work
properly after the upgrade. In this case, go to My Computer/ Printers and remove the DocuMatch driver, then
restart Windows and reinstall the driver.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
5
DocuMatch Application Notes
Using DocuMatch on a Network
Using DocuMatch on a network is straightforward and easy
if you follow the recommendations in this application note.
Pitney Bowes has extensively tested DocuMatch in the
Novell Netware 3.12 environment and also with Windows
peer-to-peer networking.
Using a
Controlling PC
Using the
DocuMatch as a
Shared Printer
The simplest way to use DocuMatch with a network is to
use one networked PC to drive the DocuMatch and directly
connect the DocuMatch to that PC. The controlling PC can
access shared data and documents through the network,
and all merging and formatting of data for the DocuMatch
is performed on that PC. In this case, the DocuMatch
driver only needs to be loaded on the controlling PC and
other PCs on the network could run different operating
systems.
Another option is to connect the DocuMatch directly to the
network as a shared printer. This allows multiple PCs to
share a single DocuMatch system. The Novell environment
allows a printer to be either directly connected to the file
server or remote from the file server, with a separate print
server. We strongly recommend the separate print server
option for two reasons: First, the print server gives you
much more flexibility in locating the DocuMatch. Secondly,
the separate print server option provides approximately
30% faster performance. Pitney Bowes offers a high
performance print server option that is easy to install. The
vendor’s installation procedure and setup administration
software are included with this kit (order H5N0). Please
refer technical questions concerning installation and service of this print server to the vendor’s technical support
number included in the documentation.
Using a Peer-toPeer Network
With a peer-to-peer network, you do not need extra hardware. The DocuMatch connects directly to one of the PCs
on the network and is set up as a shared printer. See your
Windows documentation for information on how to do this.
6 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Using DocuMatch on a Network, continued
Guidelines for
Network Use
Regardless of the print server connection, please follow
these guidelines:
• Make sure a current version of the DocuMatch driver is
installed on any PC sending jobs to the DocuMatch.
• Break up large jobs into smaller batches (i.e., runs of
one mail tray) on Windows 3.x platforms. The reason is
twofold. Because the network must first print the entire
job to a network queue, the delay before the job starts
printing can be quite long. Secondly, the large batches
require a lot of memory from the file server. Windows
95’s print spooler is much faster than Windows 3.1, so
the job will start much faster.
• Use the Verify Setup Option on the DocuMatch’s driver
screen if different users’ jobs require different materials.
When this option is selected, the system pauses before
printing each job and allows you to run test pieces so
you can make sure the correct materials are loaded.
• Have your system administrator setup the “Notify
Delay” to two minutes or longer if your network uses
that Novell Netware feature. This avoids false Offline
warnings when the DocuMatch prints reports.
• Make sure Banner pages are disabled when generating
mail. Banner pages are fine for document-only jobs.
• You should also turn off the Form Feed, Enable Tabs, or
Timeout options under Netware. You can access these
checkboxes under Windows 3.1 by:
- Double Clicking the Windows Control Panel
- Selecting the Printer's ICON
- Selecting the Pitney Bowes DocuMatch Driver
(normally the default)
- Selecting the Connect Button, then the Network
Button
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
7
DocuMatch Application Notes
Using DocuMatch on a Network, continued
Guidelines for
Network Use
- Finally, selecting the Options Button
• You can access these checkboxes under Windows 95
by:
- Clicking on the Start Button, then selecting the
Settings menu item
- Selecting Printers and single clicking on the Pitney
Bowes DocuMatch Dx ICON
- Clicking the Right mouse button and choosing
Properties
- On the General Tab verify the following: Separator
Page (none)
• Now select the Details Tab and verify the following:
- Print to the following Port has your network queue
name selected. The pulldown arrow to the right
provides a list of choices
- Print using the following driver: Pitney Bowes
DocuMatch Dx
- The timeout settings should be 300 seconds for Not
Selected and Transmission Retry.
• Click the Spool Settings Button and verify the following:
- Spool print jobs so program finishes faster is
checked
- Start printer after first page is spooled is checked
- Spool data format: RAW
- All other entries under Spool Settings are unchecked
• Click the Port Settings Button and verify the following:
- Spool MS-DOS print jobs is checked.
- Check port state before printing is not checked.
8 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Using DocuMatch on a Network, continued
Guidelines for
Network Use
• Click on Capture Settings and verify the following:
- Timeout: 0 seconds
- Form: 0
- Name: Unknown
- Job Banner is not checked.
- Copies: 1
- Expand Tabs is not checked.
- Form feed after job is not checked.
- End capture if disconnected is not checked.
• Don’t power down the DocuMatch when it is not in use.
Other users may want to use it; in addition, as the
system will be reported Offline to the Network System
Administrator.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
9
DocuMatch Application Notes
Print Manager and Timeouts for Windows 3.1 Users
About Print
Manager
Print Manager is a Windows program that controls spooling to printers. You can turn it on and off in the Printer's
section of the Control Panel. The choice to use Print
Manager depends on your application and how you use
your computer. If the computer is dedicated to the
DocuMatch or if you produce long mail runs (over 200
pieces per job) you will probably have the best results
running with Print Manager off. In this case, your application sends data directly to the DocuMatch system. Mail
production starts as soon as your application has produced the first few pieces, but you can’t do anything else
with your computer until the mail run is almost over.
With Print Manager on, mail production will not start until
your application has generated the whole print job, which
might be 30 minutes or more, depending on the speed of
your machine and the size and complexity of the job. In
addition, you will need enough disk space available to hold
the entire print job. This could require tens of megabytes if
the job is long and complex. However, with Print Manager
on, you will regain control of your machine as soon as your
application has finished generating the print file so you can
do other things while the mail is being generated.
WordPerfect contains its own print spooling system which
is controlled from within WordPerfect. See Setting Up and
Running Merges with WordPerfect on page 19 for more
information.
Setting Options in
Print Manager
Print Manager normally runs in the background. However it
does have a setup screen which you can access by
double-clicking on the Print Manager icon (usually in your
Main program group). You can only access Print Manager if
you have turned it on in the Printers section of the Control
Panel as described above.
10 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Print Manager and Timeouts for Windows 3.1 Users, continued
Microsoft has distributed two versions of Print Manager,
one with the original Windows 3.1, and an updated version
with Windows for Workgroups and the free Windows 3.11
update. The newer version is generally better. It has a
button bar to control printer operation and shows Version
3.11 under Help/About Print Manager.
For best performance with the DocuMatch system, set the
Printing Priority to High. In the 3.11 version make this
selection from the Print Manager’s Options/Background
Printing screen. In the 3.1 version make the selection
directly on the Options menu.
You can also select the default printer and connections
from within Print Manager if you have it turned on.
Using Background
Printing
If you are using Microsoft Word with Print Manager enabled, you can have control returned to your PC even
faster if you turn on Background Printing. To do so:
1. Choose the Print tab under Tools/Options.
2. Select Background Printing.
NOTE: DO NOT use background printing if you are
using Microsoft Word 97.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
11
DocuMatch Application Notes
Print Manager and Timeouts for Windows 3.1 Users, continued
Setting Timeouts
You may want to extend printer timeouts to avoid spurious
“busy” and “off-line” messages from the DocuMatch
system. The Windows Control Panel settings affect
timeouts only when Print Manager is running. If Print
Manager is off, follow this procedure to extend timeouts:
1. The driver installation process normally sets the default
timeout to 300 seconds. To adjust the timeout, use a
text editor or SYSEDIT to modify the WIN.INI file. This
is normally in the WINDOWS directory. Make a backup
copy of WIN.INI before making changes.
2. Open WIN.INI and find the
“DeviceNotSelectedTimeout=“ line. This tells Windows
how many seconds to wait before it shows an error
message if the system is off-line. (The timeout is
usually caused by pausing, Verify Setup, a jam or
supply-out condition).
A good setting is about 300. (The default is 15, but
driver installation automatically extends it to 300.)
3. Find the “TransmissionRetryTimeout=” line. This tells
Windows how many seconds to wait if the system is
not accepting data because it is busy.
Because of the complexity of the DocuMatch system,
also set this value to about 300. (The default is 45 but
driver installation automatically extends it to 300.)
4. Restart Windows to make these changes to take effect.
12 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows
Importing Data
Word supports a variety of file formats for merge data,
including the following:
• Access, dBase, Foxpro, and Paradox data base formats
• Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel Spreadsheets
• A variety of word processors
• Delimited ASCII text
The converters are not always installed when you install
Word, so if the one you need is missing, rerun the Word or
Microsoft Office Install program. It will tell you what is
installed and what other options are available. You can also
get other converters from Microsoft’s Web site or through
online services like America Online.
The internal error handling in the converters is sometimes
not very good. For example, if your machine does not have
the dBase converter installed and you try to open a document that was created on another machine to merge with a
dBase file, Word may exit with a General Protection Fault
or other error message and offer no further explanation.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
In the Office 97 Small Business Edition, Word Stand-alone
version, Microsoft Home Essentials, and perhaps other
versions of Office 97, the Data Access options are in the
Value Pack section of the Install. See Microsoft Knowledge
Base article Q180120 for further details.
If your merge data is in an ASCII file from another system
or application which is not supported directly by Word, you
must define the format of the file so Word can tell where
the fields and records begin and end.
• The first step is to find out exactly what character(s) are
used to mark field and record boundaries in your data
13
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows,
continued
file. For example, one common format is to enclose the
field data in double quotes, separate fields with commas, and mark the end of each record with a carriage
return/line feed pair. You may be able to find out the
format of your data from the supplier of the data or the
other application, or if necessary, you can use Word,
Notepad, or a text editor or file-dumping utility to
analyze the data.
• Make sure there are no control characters such as
escape sequences in the merge data. These can interfere with the formatting of your file when you perform
the merge.
• Also check to make sure there are no blank lines or
extraneous characters at the end of the file. This will
generate errors on the last record when you do the
merge.
A word of caution: many text editors (such as the DOS
EDIT program) change the control characters in a file
without warning: tabs may be converted to spaces,
linefeeds to carriage return/linefeeds, etc. You can use
these to examine files, but be very careful about making
changes or saving over original copies.
In Word for Windows Version 6, there are some limitations
on the format of text files which are outlined on pages 6823 of the Microsoft Word Users Guide. If the field data is
enclosed in quotes, make sure the file is saved as a text file
and not a Word document, because Word’s “smart quote”
characters are not recognized as quotation marks for
merging.
In Word 97, the converter for TXT files assumes that the file
is comma delimited. If your file uses a different delimiter,
such as TAB, you may need to rename the file with an
extension other than TXT, or open it in Word and save it as
14 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows,
continued
a DOC file before Word will accept it as a data source.
To set up the merge and define the data file:
1. Choose Tools/Mail Merge from Word’s menu bar. This
brings up the Mail Merge Helper. Follow Step 1 to
create a Form Letter main document, then choose Get
Data. If the first record of your data file does not contain the names of the fields, choose Header Options to
define them.
2. Now choose Open Data Source to specify the merge
file. Check the Confirm Conversions box to verify that
Word is using the expected conversion routine.
Using the Mail
Merge Toolbar
3. Choose Text Files in the Confirm Data Source dialog.
Word checks the file to determine its format and if
necessary displays a dialog for you to verify the delimiters.
Once the data source has been opened, you can proceed
to add the merge fields to your document. This is done
using the Insert Merge Field button on the Mail Merge
toolbar. To see what your document will look like after
merging, click the button marked ABC on the toolbar. You
can use the arrow keys on the toolbar to check the appearance of different documents. You can also go to a particular record by entering its number on the toolbar. To find a
particular record in the data base, click on the button with
the binoculars and specify the field to search and the data
to look for.
When your document is set up, you can do a trial merge by
clicking the Check for Errors button (with the document
and check mark on it) in the Mail Merge toolbar. This will
run through all your data and notify you of any improperly
formatted records.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
15
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows,
continued
If the trial merge gives errors, use the arrow keys or the
number entry on the Mail Merge toolbar to go to the bad
record and examine the problem. Usually errors about too
many fields in certain records are caused by the field
delimiter character appearing inside a field. Errors about
too few fields in certain records may be caused by extra
blank lines in the merge data. If there are too many or too
few fields in all the records, there is probably a mismatch
between the header record and the data.
Running the
Merge
Once you have the merge set up and the trial merge runs
smoothly, you are ready to generate mail. Go to Tools/Mail
Merge and click on Merge or click the Mail Merge button
(with an arrow and three dots) on the Mail Merge toolbar.
Under Merge To: it is usually best to choose Printer. This
will send your job directly to the printer, rather than a new
document. On this screen, you can also choose whether to
run the whole job or just a range of records. To practice,
you can produce just the first 10 mail pieces of the job by
choosing 1 to 10 under Records to be Merged. If your job
is over about 1,500 records, you may get better performance by breaking it into sections of about 500 records
each.
You will usually want to select Don’t print on blank lines
when data fields are empty. With this selection, any blank
lines in the middle of your address are skipped, improving
the appearance of the result. From this screen, you can
also select and sort records to be merged, but this may
slow down the merging considerably. When you have made
your selections, click on Merge.
This will bring up Word’s Print screen. Check that Pitney
Bowes DocuMatch is selected as the printer. If it is not,
select it.
16 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows,
continued
From the main Print screen, you can select printing choices
by clicking on Options. Do not check Reverse Print Order
when you are generating mail. For information on using
Background Printing, see Print Manager and Timeout
Notes starting on page 10.
Back on the main Print screen, always set Copies to 1 and
Print Range set to All when you are generating mail. You
can also select Print to File and the print job will be sent to
the file name you specify rather than the printer. This is
convenient for experimenting, since it will work even if you
do not have a DocuMatch connected to your system. See
Printing to a File on page 44 for more information.
Click on Properties (or in Word 6, Printer, and then on
Options) to call up the DocuMatch Setup screen. It is
usually best to leave “Display this screen on every print
job” unchecked. If you select this option, the Setup screen
displays automatically at the start of each job, allowing you
to make changes to the job settings. This may be convenient, but certain changes, such as fonts used on envelopes, do not take effect until the following job, which can
be confusing.
At this point, you can make your selections for the job as
described in Selecting DocuMatch Driver Options on page
33.
When you have made the selections and clicked on OK,
the job will start to run. If Print Manager is turned off (see
Print Manager and Timeout Notes on page 10), the
DocuMatch should start printing envelopes almost immediately. If you are running Windows 3.1 and Print Manager is
turned on, or if you are running Windows 95 and you have
selected “Start printing after last page is spooled”, printing
will not start until the whole job has been processed.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
17
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up and Running Merges with MS Word for Windows,
continued
Address Detection
Errors
Address Detection Error messages mean that the driver
was not able to find an address to print on your envelope.
This often happens when the number of pages specified in
the driver does not match the number of pages in your
document.
Address detection errors can also occur if some documents flow onto an additional page. The record number for
the address detection error will be one more than the
record that caused the problem. Use the ABC button and
the record number entry on the Mail Merge toolbar to go to
the problem record and see what is wrong. Sometimes
adjusting margins or font sizes, or removing extra blank
lines will make all the documents fit on the same number of
pages.
If you are using search mode in the driver to locate addresses, missing ZIP Codes or international addresses will
cause address detection errors. See Address Detection
Options in Selecting DocuMatch Driver Options on page 33
for more information on specifying how the driver should
search for addresses.
18 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows
WordPerfect supports a variety of file formats for merge
data, including these:
• Access, dBase, Foxpro, and Paradox database formats
• Lotus 1-2-3 and Excel Spreadsheets
• Many word processors
• Delimited ASCII text
All the file format converters are not necessarily installed
when the word processing application is. If a necessary
converter is missing, rerun the install program. The program tells you what program components are installed
and what other options are available. You can get other
converters from WordPerfect Customer Support or through
online services such as CompuServe or America Online.
If your merge data is in an ASCII file from another system
or application not supported directly by WordPerfect, you
must define the format of the file so WordPerfect can tell
where the fields and records begin and end.
The first step is to find out exactly what character(s) are
used to mark field and record boundaries in the data file.
For example, one common format encloses the field data
in double quotes, separates fields with commas, and
marks the end of each record with a carriage return/line
feed pair. You may be able to find out the format of the
data from the supplier of the data or the other application,
or if necessary you can use a file-dumping utility to analyze
the data.
Make sure there are no control characters such as escape
sequences in the merge data. These can interfere with the
file formatting during the merge. Also check to make sure
there are no blank lines or extraneous characters at the
end of the file. These generate errors on the last record
when the merge is performed.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
19
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows, continued
CAUTION: Many text editors (such as the DOS EDIT
program) change control characters in a file without warning. They may convert tabs to spaces, linefeeds to carriage
return/linefeeds, and so on. You or the customer can use a
text editor to examine files, but be very careful about
making changes or saving over original copies.
Importing ASCII
Data into
WordPerfect
Version 6.0
1. Select File/Preferences.
2. Double-click on Import to bring up the Import Preferences box.
3. Enter the delimiters in this box. In the case of a
comma-delimited field, place a comma in the Field
Delimiter entry box. To define carriage return and
linefeed as the record delimiters, click on the arrow to
the right of the entry box and select Carriage Return,
then click again and select Line Feed. The entry box
will show [CR][LF]. A double quote in the Encapsulated
box indicates that the field data is surrounded by
double quotes.
4. When the definitions are done, check the selections as
follows:
a. Select Tools/Merge and then click on Form.
b. If the Create Merge File dialog appears, choose
New Document Window.
c. When the Create Form File box appears, enter the
d. You will see a blank document with WordPerfect’s
e. This brings up the Convert File Format dialog.
If everything worked, you will see a new document window
with a FIELDNAMES section at the top. This has a number
20 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
name of the merge file.
Merge button bar at the top. Click on Go to Data.
Select ASCII (DOS) Delimited Text.
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows, continued
for each field in your data file. Following that is a section for
each record with an ENDFIELD at the end of each item of
field data. Check to make sure the data is correct. If the
last record is missing, its record terminator may be missing
from the original file. You can now return to the document
window with the merge bar and start adding the fields to
the document.
Importing ASCII
Data into
WordPerfect
Version 6.1
1. Select Edit/Preferences.
2. Double-click on Convert to bring up the Convert Preferences dialog. The delimiters and encapsulation characters are defined as in Version 6.0.
3. After closing the Convert Preferences dialog, open the
data file using File/Open. This brings up the Convert
File Format dialog.
4. Choose ASCII (DOS) Delimited Text. You'll see the
Import Data dialog box. Specify the data type as ASCII
Delimited Text and next to Import As: choose Merge
Data File.
5. Check that the file name and delimiters are correct,
then click on OK. This converts the data into a merge
data file which is displayed in the active window. Check
it as described above, save it, and you are ready to do
the merge.
If the converted data file does not have a FIELDNAMES
section at the top, you can add one at this time. If you do
not add a FIELDNAMES section, you must refer to the
fields by number in your main document.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
To add the FIELDNAMES to the converted data file in the
active window:
1. Select Tools/Merge and click on Data.
2. Select Use File in Active Window.
21
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows, continued
3.Answer Yes to Do you want to create new field names.
4.Enter the names of the fields in your data base, clicking
on Add after each name and OK when done
5.The Quick Data Entry dialog displays. Check that the
field names and corresponding data are correct.
6.Click on Close when done.
7 Answer Yes to Save to disk and choose a new name for
the converted file. WordPerfect’s default extension for
data files is DAT.
At this point, you can click on Go to Form and proceed to
create your letter.
Accessing
Database Files
from WordPerfect
If your data is in a database format such as Dbase, there is
a more direct procedure you can use to set up the data as
a merge file.
1.Click on Insert, Spreadsheet/Database, Import.
2.Click next to Data Type for a list of the supported
database formats. If yours is not on the list, you may be
able to add it by installing the appropriate converter
from your installation disks.
3.Next to Import as: choose Merge data file.
4.Click on the folder button next to Filename: and select
your file.
5.Click on OK. A list of the fields in your database appears. If you only want to import certain fields, you can
select them on this list. By default, WordPerfect uses
the database field names as the merge fields in your
document. If you need to rename them, you can
uncheck the box below the list of field names. If you
want to select records from the database for merging,
you can click on the Query button.
22 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows, continued
6. Click on OK again and the records and fields you have
selected will be imported.
7. Save the imported data, then click on Go to Form on
the Mail Merge toolbar to create or select your form file.
Running the
Merge in
WordPerfect 6.1
1. Once your data and form files are set up, click on
Merge on the Mail Merge toolbar
2. Click the Merge button, bringing up the Perform Merge
dialog.
3. Select your Form (usually Current Document) and Data
files if they are not already selected. If you click on
Select Records, a dialog will display that lets you
choose a range of records to be merged or filter
records based on the data in the merge fields.
4. Under Output file you can select New Document or
Printer.
If you select New Document, WordPerfect will create a
new document which contains the results of the merge.
You can then examine the results of the merge and, if
all is OK, print the merged document to the DocuMatch
system. This is helpful for testing or if you are printing
in batches of no more than a few hundred pieces, but
can be very time consuming if you are running large
batches. It also consumes large amounts of disk space.
DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
A better method for large jobs is to select Printer under
Output file. With this option selected, WordPerfect sends
its output directly to its print spooler rather than creating a
new document that must be printed separately. However, if
you are using this option, you should add a hard page
break (Ctrl-Enter) at the end of the last page of your letter.
Make sure there are no blank lines (Enters) after the page
break. Then click on Options in the Perform Merge dialog
and deselect Separate each Merged Document with a
23
DocuMatch Application Notes
Setting Up Files for Merging with WordPerfect for Windows, continued
Page Break. If you do not do this, the program sends each
mail piece to the DocuMatch as a separate job, causing
the system to run much slower than it should.
With Printer selected under Output File, WordPerfect still
completes the merge before starting to print. Depending on
the speed of your computer and the amount of memory
you have, this may take several minutes. You may find it
more convenient to break the file into sets of several
hundred records as described earlier, rather than printing it
all at once.
Note that WordPerfect does not reset fonts, margins, etc.,
to their defaults at the beginning of each document. Thus
the format of the second and subsequent documents may
not match the first document. To prevent this, choose the
fonts and other settings explicitly at the beginning of the
master document to make sure they are reset during the
merge.
Running the
Merge in
WordPerfect 7
In WordPerfect 7, do not select "Display this screen on
every print job" on the driver set up screen. You must
define the job setup before starting the merge.
24 DocuMatchTM Integrated Mail System
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