Mailshots

Use PipeDream's mailshot facility if you want to send a personalised version of a standard letter to every name and address stored in a database or if you want to print a label for each name and address in your names and addresses database.

First, you need to prepare a file of names and addresses which will be used to print your letters.

1. Load your database of names and addresses.

2. Save the database with a different name to the original. This is for safety. As you are going to make a selection from the records, you do not want to overwrite your original database. After saving the database, check that PipeDream has changed the name of the file in the window to the new filename.

3. Make any selections or deletions required. Your file should look something like this:

A B C D E
1 Mr Jones Managing Director Jones & Co Garden St York
2 Mr Byte Chief Programmer BCPL Ltd Lisp Road Cambridge
3 Mrs Brown Secretary Girton WI Huntingdon Rd Oxford

4. Save the file of names and addresses in ASCII format with a different name to the original database. This ASCII format file will be used to produce the letters.

5. Create the letter template.

If you want to send the following letter to all the people in your names and addresses database:

Mr. Jones,

Managing Director,

Jones & Co,

Garden St,

York.

23.3.2013

Dear Mr. Jones,

I am writing to tell you of the marvellous opportunity

available for Jones & Co. For the whole of May, our

prices will be reduced, so go along to our York branch

and take advantage of the low prices.

there are various items in the letter which you will want to vary for each individual to whom the letter is sent.

Type in the letter, replacing each of these items with an @ character, followed by a number. The number should represent the column in which the item is found in your names and addresses database.

@0@ is used to represent the first column of the database (ie Mr Jones, Mr Byte, etc); @1@ represents the second column (ie ManagingDirector, Chief Programmer, etc) and so on. Be particularly sure to remember that the first column is represented by @0@, not @1@.

@0,

@1,

@2,

@3,

@4.

23.3.2013

Dear @0@@@@@@@,

I am writing to tell you of the marvellous opportunity

available for @2@@@@@@@@@. For the whole of May, our

prices will be reduced, so go along to our @4@@@@@@@@ branch

and take advantage of the low prices.

As you can see, when an item is used more than once, the same @ number is used to represent it. Where an item appears within text, put enough @ characters after it for the largest entry of this type in your database. Here, for example, nine @ characters have been inserted to allow for Cambridge.

6. When you have created the letter template, save it in the same directory as the ASCII format names and addresses file.

Now that you have prepared your ASCII format file of names and addresses and your letter template, you can print out your personalised standard letters:

1. Ensure that the letter template file is loaded.

2. Give the Printer Config command and enter the settings appropriate for your printer.

3. Give the Print command.

4. Click Select on the Fill from database option.

5. Type in the name of the ASCII format file containing the names and addresses database.

6. If you have blank fields in your names and addresses file which you want to close up when printing, click Select on the Omit blank fields option to switch it on. If the last address item is not in the last column of your database, this may cause problems.

7. The letter will be printed with different names and addresses replacing the @ fields in each case. Justification will automatically be adjusted on each line to suit the actual number of characters in the inserted words.

For information on See
Using mailshots for label printing Label Printing
Selecting records from a database Database Use
Setting out your letter Page Layout