September, 2004

By: Carlene Brown, AAUG member

Mail Factory is a new software product from BeLight Software. BeLight Software specializes in the production and distribution of Mac software and technologies for business and personal productivity. The company was founded in January 2003 in Odessa, Ukraine.

Mail Factory allows you to print envelopes and labels with ease. You can print plain or fancy envelopes and labels using the ready-made designs and images included in the program, or use your own customized designs and images.

The key features of Mail Factory include:

• Integration with Apple Address Book, Entourage, Now Contact & Eudora.
• Support for most popular labels templates from Avery, DYMO, APLI, A-One & Siegel
• US Postal Service POSTNET barcodes can be printed on labels and envelopes to expedite delivery.
• Automatic address formatting for more than 50 countries.
• The ability to set up custom-sized envelopes and label layouts.
• Dozens of built-in designs for addressing and shipping labels, & envelopes.
• More than 500 supplied clipart images and built-in internet image search.

Since the developer of Mail Factory is based in the Ukraine receiving a hard copy of the product is not a choice. My installation went smoothly. I was furnished a url address that automatically downloaded the product into my Mac. I then used the serial number provided to unlock the program.

Mail Factory is very intuitive and easy to use. Not very often can I sit down and begin using a software product without first reading the instructions, but this time I could. Mail Factory is pre formatted with dozens of envelope sizes and label formats from popular manufacturers. A customized format for size or layout that is not included can be created. The program lets you design and print single envelopes and labels one address at a time or batch print them; print from your address book or enter addresses manually; and print a single label or a page full of labels, identical or multiple design.

Mail Factory allows personalization of envelopes and labels. You can use the designs and clipart furnished or customize the design and use your own pictures or graphics. It’s all pretty simple to do. I was able to edit and move objects and address panels at will, and to remove, add, and resize objects with ease. Envelopes and labels can appear professional, creative or just plain fun. Whatever you choose.

Product	Mail Factory 1.1
From	BeLight Software, Ltd.
Phone	380 48 738-08-49
Web	www.belightsoft.com
Price	$29.95 Free Demo Available
Pros	Easy to use. Professional looking results
Cons	No file folder label format
Moose Rating 1 - 5
	(Impressive!)

I only had one problem while creating a customized label or envelope. After choosing new blank label or envelope when I tried to insert an address. either sender or recipient, without a business name, I was left with a blank line in-between the name and the address which was impossible to edit out. I created a personalized address panel but could not apply it to the blank envelope or label. BeLight tech support was fantastic in responding to my dilemma. I sent an email describing the problem and received the solution back in less than three hours. The program contains an Inspector window where the individual address components can be turned on and off. Now the custom creations look great.

To make the program even more useful it would be nice to have a window to type file folder labels, and divider labels. I was able to figure a way to do this through the manual address window, but it would be helpful and easier if it was setup in the program.

Mail Factory is a fun and easy to use application, it does what it says it will do with no fuss. I would highly recommend it for either business or personal use. Mail Factory allows you to be as straightforward or creative as you want to be.

Requirements:
Macintosh G3 or higher
Mac OS X 10.2 or later
50 MB of available disk space