Exporting Addresses. for Use in Outlook Express

Transcription

1 Exporting Addresses for Use in Outlook Express If your Keystroke Customer database includes addresses, it is a relatively simple and easy process to export the Customer records and import them into Microsoft Outlook Express for mass ing. This document assumes you already have both Keystroke POS and Outlook Express installed and operating properly. Before Exporting: Choose a field in the Customer database to use for addresses. The Customer database does not currently include an field; however, one of the other fields can easily be used for that purpose. If at all possible, do not use the field you intend to use for the address for any other purpose. It is also recommended that you use one field consistently for addresses. In most cases, we recommend using either the Phone 2 field or the Comment field (SE). The Phone 2 field may be more convenient since it is always visible; it may also be more practical to reserve it for addresses only. This field, however, can only hold a maximum of 30 characters, which may exclude some long addresses. The Comments field can hold longer addresses. This field, however, already be in use for other purposes, which could cause complications. While the Phone2 field may be the most obvious choice to use for addresses, it may not be long enough to accommodate some long addresses. Customer Database record Exporting Addresses Introduction 1

2 Keystroke POS Steps for Exporting Data 1. From the Main Menu, press c to go to the Configuration Manager. 2. From the File menu, select Export Select Customers..., then Quote/Comma Delimited.... To export the Customer database, perform the above steps. Selecting the above options should result in a Keystroke screen that looks like this. Exporting Customer Data 4. Select the desired sort order, or accept the default (Customer Name). 5. The Range dialog box allows you to specify Starting and Ending Strings, define a Filter, or accept the default settings. Using the default settings will cause Keystroke to export the entire Customer database. The default Start String and End String indicate a Range of First to Last; leave these settings as is to export the entire Customer database. To narrow the scope of the information being exported, enter a new Range (e.g., when exporting by Zip Code, entering a Start String of and an End String of will export database information for only those Customers with Zip Codes from to ) The appropriate filter conditions may allow Keystroke to export only addresses, if they are mixed with other data in the same field (e.g., Comments). See the section on Separating Addresses from Other Data for more information on using this feature. 6. Select [Ok] to display the OutPut File dialog box. Enter the name of the file to which the data will be exported; the default file name is EXPORT.TXT. Select [Ok] to save the customer data to the specified file. 7. Use Windows Notepad (or a similar text editor) to open the file CUSTOMER.HDR in the KEYSTROK\DOC directory. This file contains a comma-separated list of all of the field names from the Customer database, in the same order that they appear in the export file. Press the } key to go to the end of the line, and add a comma directly after the word Comment (no space). Press S~ to select the text, then Cc to copy it. 8. Close CUSTOMER.HDR and, still using Notepad or the text editor, open the file containing the exported Customer data (EXPORT.TXT, if you accepted the default name). Position the cursor at the beginning of the first line of the file, before the first character. Press E to create a blank line at the beginning of the file. Move the cursor back up to the beginning of the blank line and press Cv to paste the list of field names into the beginning of the file. Outlook Express requires this header information in order to import the data. Save the export file and exit Notepad. 2 Introduction Keystroke Point Of Sale

3 Separating Addresses from Other Data: Phone2 Field If the Phone2 field contains addresses on some records, and alternate phone numbers or fax numbers on other records, using Filters will allow you to export only the records containing addresses: 1. In the Range dialog box (see Step 6, above), select Filter and press E. 2. In the Filter dialog box, select Field 1 and press E. 3. Press p to highlight Phone2, then E to select it from the list. 4. Type *@ in the Condition field. The Filter Condition *@ tells Keystroke to export only those records where the selected field (Phone2) contains the The * specifies that could be anywhere in the field (it could be the only character, or it could be anywhere in a string of characters). Since all addresses include the and since that character is not usually included in phone numbers, this filter will export only those records with addresses in the Phone2 field. 5. Select [Ok] to exit the Filter dialog box. 6. Select [Ok] again to continue with the Export process. The Filter dialog box can be used to export only those records with addresses in a particular field. Filtering on the Phone2 field Comment Field If the Comment field contains addresses, but also includes other text in some records, separating out addresses may take a little more work. 1. In the Range dialog box (see Step 6, above), select Filter and press E. 2. In the Filter dialog box, select Field 1 and press E. 3. Press c to highlight Comment, then E to select it from the list. 4. Type *@ in the Condition field. 5. Select [Ok] and press E to continue with the Export process. Exporting Addresses Introduction 3

4 This process will export all of the records in which the Comment field contains addresses; however, it will also include records which contain other information besides an address. Since Outlook Express will not be able to import these addresses properly, you will need to open the document in Notepad or Excel, and review/edit the information in the last field to ensure it only contains address information. The Filter dialog box can be used to export only those records with addresses in a particular field. Filtering on the Comment field Outlook Express Importing Data 1. From the Tools menu, select Address Book...(CS b). 2. From the File menu, select Import., then Other Address Book... from the pop-up menu. To import the Customer database into Outlook Express, perform the above steps. Selecting the above options should result in a screen that looks something like this. Importing Customer Data into Outlook Express 3. From the Address Book Import Tool dialog box, select Text File (Comma Separated Values). Click on the Import button. 4. In the CSV Import dialog box, enter the name and path of the file to import, or click on the Browse... button to locate the file you created (you may hneed to change the file type to *.txt). After entering or selecting the file, click on Next. 4 Introduction Keystroke Point Of Sale

5 5. The dialog box will display a list of fields used in the Customer database (which it gets from the first line of the import file). To map a field with one of the fields in Outlook Express, click on the checkbox to the left of the field or select the field and click on the Change Mapping button. It is not necessary to map all of the fields. For an list, the only required field is the one containing the address (i.e., Phone2 or Comments), although usually you will want to map at least the following additional fields: FirstName, LastName and Name (mapped to the Outlook Express Company field). Click on the checkbox to the left of a field to map it to an Outlook Express field. Mapping Fields to Outlook Express 6. In the Change Mapping dialog box, select the appropriate Outlook Express field from the pull-down list. The Import this field box should be checked. Repeat steps 5 and 6 for each field to be mapped. 7. Once you have mapped all the necessary fields, click on the Finish button. Outlook Express will import the data and display the message Address book import process has completed. Click OK, then close the Address Book Import Tool dialog box. Click on the down arrow to display a list of Outlook Express fields. Mapping Fields to Outlook Express Exporting Addresses Introduction 5

6 Adding the Exported Customers to a Group 1. From the File menu, select New Group In the group Properties dialog box, enter a name to represent the group. 3. Click on the Select Members button. The Select Group Members dialog box will display a list of Contacts in a box on the left-hand side. Select the Contacts who should be members of the new group (use C+Click and S+Click to select multiple entries). 5. Click on the Select-> button to add the selected contacts to the new group. Then click on OK to exit the Select Group Members dialog box. Click on the Select Members button to add new Contacts to a group. Setting up a Goup in Outlook Express Highlight a Contact and click on the Select button to add the Contact to a group. Adding a Contact to a Goup in Outlook Express 6 Introduction Keystroke Point Of Sale

7 Sending a Message to the Exported Customers Recommended Method We recommend that you use the following procedure to send mass s from Outlook Express. This method protects the identity of the recepients because it does not allow others to view the addresses. 1. From the File menu in the Address Book, select New Contact...(Cn). Name the Contact something descriptive relating to the above Customer Group (e.g., Valued Customers, or Frequent Shoppers Club ). Enter your address in the Addresses field and click on Add, then OK. Setting yourself up as the main Contact sends a copy of the to your address, providing a verification the was sent. 2. From the main Outlook Express window, click on the New Mail button, or select New from the File menu and Mail Message from the pop-up menu. 3. In the new message window, type (or paste) the text of the message. 4. Click on the To: button (just below the Send button in the New Message window). In the Select Recipients dialog box, select the Contact that you just set up. Click on the To:-> button to place the selected Contact in the list of message recipients. This places the descriptive text in the To: field on every message. 5. In the Select Recipients dialog box, select the group that contains the imported Customer list (you can also select individual Customers from the list). Click on the Bcc:-> button to place the selected group(s) or Customer(s) in the list of message recipients for a Blind Carbon Copy this prevents others from viewing their addresses. 6. Click on OK to return to the New Message window. The descriptive text for the Contact you set up will be listed in the To: field. 7. Click on the Send button. Outlook Express will send the message. We recommend sending mass s using the Bcc method to ensure the privacy of the recipients. Sending Mass s Using the Bcc Method Exporting Addresses Introduction 7

8 Optional Method If you aren t concerned about security (allowing others to view your Customers addresses), follow the setup below: 1. From the main Outlook Express window, click on the New Mail button, or select New from the File menu and Mail Message... from the pop-up menu. 2. In the new message window, type (or paste) the text of the message. 3. Click on the To: button (just below the Send button in the New Message window). 4. In the Select Recipients dialog box, select the Group that contains the imported Customer list (or select individual Customers from the list). 5. Click on the To:-> button to place the selected Group(s) or Customer(s) in the list of message recipients. 6. Click on OK to return to the New Message window. The Group(s) and/or individual recipients will be listed in the To: field. 7. Click on the Send button. Outlook Express will send the message. This optiona method is not recommended because it allows others to view the addresses of the recipients. Sending Mass s Using the Group Method 8 Keystroke Point Of Sale