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| Home > Products > Mail Factory > Reviews and Feedback |
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Such address parts need to be in the correct order to simplify mapping the imported records to the Mail Factory. Since you can export a selected part (found set) or all of a FMP database to a tab-text file this is a good way to get started. Doing so is an initial, minor, hassle, but was easy to do. Indeed, exporting addresses is better than cutting and pasting them individually each time you want use an address in Mail Factory. By the way, if your database was configured to keep the city-state-zip information as one field, you’ll need to create a custom address template. If you, in days gone my have a mixed set of data, you need to fix each individual address that contains a combined city-state-zip as you need it. Despite my rapid success with exporting tabbed-text from FileMaker Pro, exporting addresses directly to Mail Factory was more trouble. I used my 3000 items professional contacts database for testing. My problems were based on the structure of the databases I created. My contacts databases, whose initial content was created on my first Macintosh, have evolved, perhaps mutated, into my current FMP contact databases. Direct Export From File Maker Pro — For the second test of FMP address data, I worked entirely within Mail Factory. I used the program itself to extract the FMP address containing information. None of the problems in using FMP as a source of Mail Factory addresses, described below, were caused by problems created by the Mail Factory interface. They were due entirely to the pedigree and organization of my databases, which had evolved over my years of using a Macintosh to store address information. I’ll detail those FMP export problems and their solution in my June Tips column. Never the less, I could have saved my self an hour of trial and error importing FMP addresses by seeking help. I should have checked Mail Factories Help, then and there, the folks at Belight are conscientious about writing good help files. But I didn’t, I tried to tough it out. If I’d checked I would have found in the Help files, an item called — Mail Factory Help > Integration with Third-Party Databases and Contact Managers > Importing Data from a FileMaker Database. For most folks, these instructions would have done the job. “You
will need to associate the fields in your source file with the fields in Mail Factory address panel. Look at the
fields in the Contact Data column, and, opposite the fields you need imported, click on the
corresponding cell in the Map To column. A pop-up list will appear. In the list, choose
the appropriate field name. For instance, if the first cell in Contact Data column contains
"Peter," choose "First Name" in the corresponding Map To cell.
“You don't need to map each and every field. For instance, if your FileMaker database contains phone numbers, and you don't need them in Mail Factory, just leave the corresponding cells in the Map To column blank.” In reality, the way my data views in FMP were configured, during my fist attempt at data extraction, I sucked in the whole record (say PIM please). That information from my existing, more complex data views (full PIM information) made it frustratingly difficult to map only address-associated data. My FMP
databases are an accumulation of contacts exported from MS File, and AppleWorks. They also represent countless
database formate revisions, some which were created on my SE-30.
Finally, they are an accumulation of what, often partial, information I had the time, not the full sets of contact information I get when I scan business cards.
Therefore I eventually created a new view (report) in my professional contacts database that focused only on address list attributes. That greatly facilitated the direct export process. Mail Factory gleans information from whichever report (view) you’ve last used in the database. (This observation in not in the otherwise excellent documentation.) It turned out that by using a (report form) focused solely on address list information, ordered appropriately, mapping the information to Mail Factory was indeed simple Address
Extraction from FMP — Use FMP’s Export Features.
Dealing With Other Address Data Sources — An addition feature of the product is its ability to deal with non-address addresses. If your address source is a web page or eMail, the software’s “Paste as Address” option will intelligently parse your clipboard’s contents and insert them into the appropriate address field. Is all of this worth the trouble? Yes. Once you make the commitment to one of the supported address books or extracting addresses from a database e.g., Eudora or FMP), mailing with Mail Factory moves much faster and beat the heck out of the alternatives Okay, I’ve the best set of address data I could acquire imported into Mail Factory, What’s next? Obviously I could now get onto the business of creating envelopes and labels. Working With Envelopes or LabelsCreating An Envelope — Open Mail Factory and you see the Assistant, ready to create labels or envelopes for you. We’ll start with envelopes, although I alternate between printing labels and printing addressed envelopes. Its left hand window shows a long list of envelope names and sizes. A preview pane at the right shows the relative sizes of the envelopes as you select (click) between them. Now, since I only use to US No.10 business envelopes or more rarely to a #6 envelope size for bills and letters to friends. My LabelWriter is loaded transparent labels that I use for holiday or greetings cards or larger envelopes – envelopes I don’t want to push through my color laser HP printer. The other envelope sizes are of little interest to me, but they’re available when needed. I did not do much with the ability to add graphics to my envelopes. I did a test or three using the design window to add clip-art, photos, or other designs a test #10 envelope. Since I’m not into personalizing envelopes, not even with my business’ logos, but you may like it. You can even use downloaded images from Google, if you like, personalizing your envelopes. By transferring the image to your word processor, you can even create a stationary set, but this is easier to do in Belight’s Swift Publisher. Creating a Label Sheet — The capability to create label sheets from your address lists allows you to avoid having to feed envelopes though your printer. To do so, you will need to Mail Factory’s label assistant. The Assistant’s list of included label sheets is impressive, and included the Avery address label stock I use. If I had not had a Mail Factory supplied template available. I could have created a custom label layout to fit the labels I had. That's cheaper than buying new labels and tastier than printing off center or poorly spaced labels. The tools are there, except for a ruler, which you’ll need to provide the label assist the needed label dimensions. Fingers work too, so you can count the number of labels on a sheet. A Kudo – Mailing Tips to Save You Time and MoneyPostal service in the USA and some other countries uses special equipment that sorts mail automatically and helps to deliver mail faster and more accurately (and sometimes at less cost). To qualify for automated processing, your mail must be prepared properly. Check out the Postal Guidelines in Mail Factory’s help. Minor DiscomfortsStreet Address_2 and Other Glitches — Many of the business addresses I use require a two line street address. I could not, in the time I had available for review and testing, figure out how to add the second street address line. It is likely, based on my reading of the Mail Factory help files, that I need to create a custom template with two address lines, sometimes soon. Real soon. The “comma” Inc. Problem — Many of my address in FMP lists the affiliates as the So-and-So Company, Inc. The Mail Factory import process treated anything following the comma as a separate data “field” separator. I’m not sure I can resolve this issue, except on a case-by-case basis. To do so would require manually adding the word “Inc.” to each address to which it applied. Alternatively, my solution, ignore the absence of “Inc.” — Again not a Mail Factory Problem. To Zoom or Target — Zooming, in contact view, to tune an address on an envelope, does not focus on the selected field (Sender or Addressee). It would be nice to zoom to the spot I want to fix, having previously selected it. ConclusionMail Factory from BeLight Software is an excellently crafted program that produces great looking labels and envelopes with a minimum of effort. Its interface, like the other programs in the Printfolio suite, is clean and intuitive. The software’s rich and varied features are conveniently accessible but never obtrusive. My testing showed, the program was solid and stable. Perhaps due to the import problems caused by my FMP databases, I did not notice any rough edges in the interface or gotcha’s that interfered with its use. (There’s a bit of that in other reviewers’ comments, but I found nothing in such Google posted reviews worthy of repeating.) For a change, I have no serious suggestions for improvements to this product. BeLight has been shipping regular updates for all of its products, responding to user feedback and an evolving Macintosh operating system. They continue to add, an impressive array of new features with each release. Compare the features and limitations of version 1.1 to 2.5, a quantum leap of enhancements over a period of a bit more than a year. So now when I want to print an envelope, I click on Mail Factory, select the address and do so. Alternatively, if the address has not been entered into the Mail Factory database, I manually add it. Then it’s available for future use.
RecommendationMy editor insists I answer the following question. “What you’d suggest a friend consider before spending hard-earned cash on this product. If you are tired of struggling with the paltry address features in MS Word, or Apples address and mail utilities, order this product. Unless your address collections are as dispersed and messed up as mine, you’ll get instant gratification. Despite all the initial problems, I had importing my FMP address collection into Mail Factory; it was well with the effort. Now if I want to write a letter to Dr. XXX at MIT, a contact I made in 1974, I’m a click or two away from an addressed envelope. [Yes I checked the Internet; he’s been prompted but is still on the faculty?] This program has a lasting place on my hard drive; let it be so for you, Doc |
BeLight Software, Ltd
$40 USD for the download with an added $9 USD S/H or the physical product, a CD; Academic Price $28 USD
You’ll note that there is a vast selection of available
label formats from manufacturers (e.g., Avery, Decadry, DYMO, MACO, Xerox). Should you want to address an
envelope, available formats include the more standard U.S., European, and Japanese sizes and configurations
as well as many specialty formats for greeting cards or post cards.
Flexible Printing — Mail Factory supports
labels from most popular companies, including Avery, APLI, A–One, prints on DYMO (LabelWriter–series),
Seiko (SLP–series) and Brother (QL–series) printers. Mail Factory can let you fine-tune the
output to make up for variations in different printers' paper-feed and it is completely compatible with
Dymo's LabelWriters.
Label/Address Design Tools — Add personalized,
corporate look to your mailings with dozens of ready-made designs. You can also insert custom images with your
company logo or other graphics, apply masks and control transparency. More than 800 clip art images, collection
of postcard designs and 100 unique masks are included. One thoughtful feature is the separate clip art library
of all those special handling labels like “Magnetic Media” or “Fragile-Hand Stamp”
that you so often need but never seem to have at hand. Furthermore, the fact the Mail Factory graphic interface
was virtually identical to that in Business Card Composer, helped me to become instantly comfortable with designing
labels and address with graphic elements.
I knew I had to find a better way.
