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FAQ
General information
On what Macs does Mail Factory work?
It will run on Mac OS X v.10.2 and higher.
What if I don't have any of my own
images?
Don't worry. Mail Factory contains over 500 ready-to-use objects,
sorted into categories and available for preview. You'll surely
find something to your taste. A special collection of background
images will help to make your labels unique. Need more images? Check
out our clipart
collections.
Importing addresses
Where can I import contacts from?
Mail Factory is designed to work with Apple Address book as the main source for addresses.
However, it can also work with Entourage, Now Contact and Eudora. Besides that,
you can import addresses from text files (tab- or comma- delimited), vCard files,
Excel and FileMaker files (the applications must be installed on your system).
Many database applications and contact managers can export data as tab-delimited
text file, which can be easily imported into Mail Factory.
I keep several contact files in Now Contact. Which of them will Mail Factory use?
Mail Factory uses the primary contact file. That's the file that opens when you
launch Now Contact. To make a contact file primary, launch Now Contact and choose
File->Open. In the dialog, select the file you wish to make primary, enable the
"Make this file primary" option and click Open. Mail Factory can only
get data from the primary Now Contact file, it won't work if no file was specified
as primary.
How do I copy and paste an address from a text file or e-mail? I don't want to type it in manually.
Use the Paste as Address command in the Edit menu. This command analyses the text
on the Clipboard and associates the address elements — such as ZIP code, country,
name, etc. with the corresponding fields of the Address Panel. As an alternative
method, you can create a text block with the Text tool and paste the address into
it. However, in this case automatic address formatting, barcode and some other
features won't work.
I store all my contacts in Entourage (Now Contact). Can I always use it instead of Address Book?
By default, Mail Factory works with Address Book. However, it remembers the last
selected contact source, so if you select Entourage or Now Contact in the Contacts
window, and quit Mail Factory, this source will be selected by default. When you
first select Entourage or Now Contact, the program imports the contacts and caches
them in the Mail Factory internal database. After that Mail Factory will take the
contacts from it's cache, which works immediately.
I store a lot of contacts in Entourage, importing them into Mail Factory takes too long. Why?
Currently, Mail Factory uses AppleScript to pull data from Entourage and other
contact managers. This technology is slow by itself, and importing a large number
of contacts takes time. For this reason, Mail Factory caches the data during the
first import. Next time you launch Mail Factory and choose "Entourage"
as the source of contact, Mail Factory will show the contacts stored in the cache.
If you have a list of contacts that doesn't change a lot, such method should work
all right. If you click the Update button at the bottom of the Contacts window, Mail
Factory will sync with Entourage and update the data in the cache.
How can I import contacts from my AppleWorks database?
You can save your database as a tab-delimited text file and then import into Mail
Factory. In AppleWorks, choose Save As... from the File
menu. In the File Format pull-down at the bottom of the dialog
choose ASCII Text, and click Save. Your database will be saved
as a tab-delimited text file. In Mail Factory's Contacts window
select "To" or "Print List" tab, choose Text File in the
Source pull-down. The file dialog will open (if it doesn't —
click the Update button at the bottom). Select the text file you
saved from AppleWorks and open it. A dialog will come up where you associate the
fields in your database with the fields of Mail Factory address panel. Click
Import — and you'll see the records in the Contacts
window.
Working with addresses
What are the barcodes for and how do they speed up delivery?
Barcodes are used to speed up mail sorting. They are in fact a machine-readable version
of the ZIP (Postal) code. If there is a barcode printed on the envelope or mailing label,
such mailpiece can be scanned and sorted by a machine, which is many time faster and more
reliable, than a human. Otherwise, it has to be sorted manually and the delivery time
increases.
Why is the address formatted differently for different countries?
Mail Factory automatically formats the address according to the postal standards of the
destination country. Mail Factory does that based on the name in the Country field of
the address panel. If you wish to force the address format to one standard — for instance,
that of your country, you can do this in the Preferences, the Address Panel tab. Disable
the "Make address format country-sensitive" option, and choose the format
you want to apply to all addresses in the pulldown list above.
I'd like to add company name or other data to an address panel, but I don't see such field. What gives?
When you select an address in the Contacts window, Mail Factory by
default conceals empty fields in the address panel. If you want to add a field that
is not currently present (for instance, Company, Department or Prefix), select the
address panel and click the Show Blank Fields button in the Inspector window. This will show all available fields. Type in the
info and click Show Blank Fields again to hide empty fields.
How do I get Mail Factory to automatically downsize some longer addresses so they fit on the label?
Mail Factory does it automatically when you print addresses, if the address doesn't
fit on the label. You can see how the address will look like in the preview area of
the Print dialog. Downsizing makes it more difficult to read the address, so, when
possible, position the address so that there's enough space to the edges of the label
or envelope.
How can I change the distance between the address lines?
To change the distance between the lines in the address panel without increasing the
font size, select the address panel and go to the Format menu, Font -> Baseline.
Choose Raise to increase the distance between lines (or press Option+Up Arrow), or
Lower to decrease the spacing (or press Option+Down Arrow).
I usually use 30-40 records from my
800-record Excel database. How to simplify access to that 30 records?
If you work with more or less the same scope of persons, the most appropriate way
is to add them to the embedded database My Recipients. My Recipients
database lets you edit personal data without running external database and it better
suits for keeping addresses and other personal information.
Can I save and use several print lists?
Yes. Mail Factory can keep several print lists in embedded Print List
database. The program saves all print lists and loads them when starts. Any print
list can be easily selected in the Print dialog.
Printing
Does the licensed version turn off the
line "Made with Mail Factory"?
This line will disappear immediately after you purchase the full
licensed version of the software.
The paper I use is not in the
list of supported label stocks. What should I do?
Mail Factory supports custom paper layouts (size and arrangement
of labels and envelopes). So now you can print labels of non-standard
form or add support for new label stocks. To configure a custom
layout, choose "Change Layout" from the Format
menu and switch to the Custom tab.
Graphics
Can I add my own artwork to the images
supplied in the application?
Yes. Open the Design window. Switch to the Image Collection
tab. Select "Custom Folder" tab. The file dialog will open (if it doesn't —
click the Browse button at the bottom). Select the folder you wish and
its contents will be displayed in the "Custom Folder" tab. You will be able
navigate there as in the built-in clipart collection.
If you use iPhoto as a storage of pictures, you can access, view and use them also from
the Design window. In Image Collection tab select iPhoto
tab. Select an album using iPhoto drop-list.
My logo is an .eps file. How can I add
it to my label?
If you use Mac OS X 10.3 Panther, you can simply drag-and-drop the
logo file into Mail Factory. Jaguar users can do the following:
Save your logo as PDF from the application, used for its creation
(or other graphical package). Then in Mail Factory, choose the File->Insert
Image command to insert this PDF image into the label.
The quality will not be lost.
Can I use text symbols as clipart?
You have discovered a new source of good-looking cliparts! You can
use symbols from the Mac OS X symbol fonts. In the Font Panel select
Show Characters from the pop-up menu. You'll get Character Palette window. Drag&Drop symbols to your label. Or toggle on the text
editing mode and double-click on the symbol. You can easily resize,
color and add shadow to this image.
How can I make all objects the
same color as that one?
It's easy! Select the required object. Its color buttons in the
Properties window will get its color. Drag&Drop the color with
the mouse to assign it to other objects.
Troubleshooting
The license code you gave me isn't being
accepted by my program. How can I register it?
Please carefully Copy&Paste your license code into the License dialog. If you enter
it manually — be attentive: don't use 'O' character, type only 0 (zero) digit in
the license code. Please pay attention that there is also no capital letter 'I', but
only 1 (one) digit in the license code.
The application quits. What should I do?
Please send detailed description to our Technical
Support of how it quits and what you did before this (to make it possible for us to repeat the problem). Besides that, send us log-file, which contains details on how the application quits (find it following the path:
~(Your Home)/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Mail Factory.crash.log
How can I uninstall Mail Factory?
1) Quit Mail Factory application.
2) Delete Mail Factory from Application folder.
3) Delete "Mail Factory" folder from ~(Your Macintosh HD)/Library/Application Support/BeLight Software.
4) Delete "Mail Factory.pkg" file from the (Your Macintosh HD)/Library/Receipts folder.
5) Delete com.belightsoft.mailfactory.plist file from ~(Your Home)/Library/Preferences/ folder.
6) Delete Mail Factory folder and com.belightsoft.mailfactory folder from ~(Your Home)/Library/Caches/.
What if I have technical questions?
If you have technical questions, please fill in the technical
support form on the site. Technical support is provided free of charge
for registered users by email.
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