creating db of contacts to export for mailings

[LML]

Hello all,

I don't know if this is the right place to post this question, but I hope someone can help.

I want to make a FM db that holds a list of contacts for my small business. These would be prospects/clients/vendors.

I want to be able to check for each prospect/client "include in mailings: yes or no", and I want to designate whether they are a prospect, or a client, or vendor.

I want to be able to use this list mostly for postal mailings and email mailings of newsletters etc. I want to keep track of who got what, and when. And, I want to be able to print labels from it. However, if it had a few other neat features, like keeping notes about each client/prospect, maybe the ability to make an invoice with my specific design business data and other things would be neat too (but not required yet)

Although I have made FM dbs a few times before, I've never done anything like printing labels etc from it. I haven't a clue how that is set up.

That said, I downloaded two free things at the Filemaker main web site. One was by a developer and it contained so much stuff for things I will never use I don't understand how to make it work (plus I can't access the layouts to change it) .. and the other was made by Filemaker, is changeable, but I find it frustrating to use, and difficult to modify.

Can any one suggest how to begin? Or if there is some other freeware out there for this to use in Filemaker?

Thank you!

-Lynn

[bbaliner]

File Maker is the king for what you need to do.

To create a layout for letters use Merge Fields (Insert, Merge Field) to automatically insert names, dates, etc.

To print labels create a new layout, choose the "Labels" layout type, and follow the instructions.

Good luck

[kenneth2k1]

Your post has many different aspects to it. So I will just talk about generalities.

I want to be able to check for each prospect/client "include in mailings: yes or no", and I want to designate whether they are a prospect, or a client, or vendor.

You can do this with a value list field to select "yes" or "no." The same can be done to select "vendor" "client" or "prospect." If you have specific questions on doing this, use the Value Lists forum.

I want to be able to use this list mostly for postal mailings and email mailings of newsletters etc. I want to keep track of who got what, and when. And, I want to be able to print labels from it

You will most likely want to script this process. First write down the process so that it includes everything you want to do in a logical fasion. Every time an item is printed, set a field to put a date and/or type of item to identify what printed. Use ScriptMaker to script the process once you have thought it out. The script would have these components:

Enter Find Mode [ ]

**Find Criteria here ***

Perform Find [ ]

Go to Layout

***Letter or Newsletter***

Print

Set Fields

***letter or newsletter that printed and dates***

-----or-------

Send e-mail after performing find

You can find great ScriptMaker help in the ScriptMaker forum. To print labels, there are label layouts already included with FM.

keeping notes about each client/prospect, maybe the ability to make an invoice with my specific design business data and other things would be neat

You would just need a field in your db to keep notes for a record. If you are going to have an invoicing system, you will want to set up a relational db using multiple files to keep track of your client records, invoices and line items.

Sorry this info isnt very specific, but perhaps more information would help us help you.

Ken

[LML]

Thank you both for the help.

I have been able to make some progress with your suggestions. Actually, I don't think the suggestions were too vague, because they got me thinking in the right direction.

I still need to figure out certain aspects, but I'll submit those each as specific questions to specific forums on here. I'm heading over to "The left brain" forum now to find out why I can't make my calculation work properly. That's the first order of the day anyway.

I didn't quite understand the script you wrote, because I've never written a script inside FM before, but I'll hold onto that and study it when I get that part of the db going.

Thanks again.

-Lynn