Sorcerer Software Users Newsletter Issue 0410 Welcome to our users newsletter, covering the latest updates, tips and user questions about our software programs. If you have an issue or question you would like to see addressed in a future newsletter, either by me or by your fellow users, please email me and I'll include it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- September-October, 2004 CONTENTS: 1. The Abacus 2. Envelope Printer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Abacus http://www.TheAbacus.biz I get a lot of questions about these two related subject: 1. "How does Abacus count headers and footers?" 2. "I have an older version of Abacus (v 2.1) and a colleague has the newer version (3.0). (Or Abacus SE.) Sometimes our line counts are different. Why is that, and which count is more accurate?" There is a two part answer to these questions, so I'm going to take on one of them in this newsletter and the other one next time. Today let's deal with this: "How does Abacus count headers and footers?" The answer to this question is part of the answer to question #2. Abacus (both version 3.0 and Abacus SE) counts all of the headers and footers that you type. However it does NOT count the headers and footers (h/f) that Word automatically inserts into your documents. To understand this, you have to understand the "Page Setup" feature that Word uses, so let's go over that next. Page Setup - option 1 Start Word and click on "File->Page Setup->Layout". Notice that there is a section that says "Headers and footers", with two checkbox options: "Different odd and even" and "Different first page". Let's ignore the first checkbox and focus on "Different first page". If you check this checkbox, Word will let you put a header (or no header) on the first page, and a different header (or no header) on the second page. If you do that Word will automatically put your second page header on all subsequent pages. When Abacus goes to count this document, it will count the first page header and the second page header. They are different from each other and you typed them both in or instructed Word to enter some sort of text, such as the page number. But since you didn't type in the text for the header on page three and after, Abacus doesn't count these subsequent headers. (And everything I said here applies equally to footers.) Page Setup - option 2 Now let's assume that you didn't check the box "Different first page". Word will assume that you want the first page header to appear on all pages. So if you type in a header on any page of the document (not just the first page), the header will appear on all pages. Abacus realizes this and counts the header only once, even if you have a 10 page document with the header on every page. Now before you get upset with us and claim that Abacus is unfair, I ask you to consider these facts: 1. Abacus counts what you type; it doesn't count what you don't type. 2. Abacus needs to be fair to everyone -- not just the MTs but also the clients and employers who use Abacus and MT services. 3. This scheme was developed using the input of several of your fellow MTs. They thought that this was the correct way to count headers and footers, and we listened to them. They were, after all, our consultants and we solicited their opinions. Now let's bring it all together. The earlier Word add-in version of Abacus (version 2.1) counted ALL headers and footers, not just the ones that you type, as I described above. Version 3.0 counts just the ones that you type. This accounts for one of the reasons the line counts may vary from version 2.1 to version 3.0 (or Abacus SE). Next time we'll take this subject a step further. But for now, let me just add that in the latest build of version 3.0 you have the option of continuing to count only the h/f that you type OR you can now count all of them, even the ones that Word enters automatically. I should caution you that when this feature is used with poorly created templates, you may get an inaccurate count. To use this feature, download and install the current build of version 3.0, go to the Options screen, select the "Misc options" tab, and select the checkbox "Count ALL H/F". Then save your settings. The current version 3.0 Abacus build is 040915. If you have an earlier build of version 3.0, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the Word "add-in" version. To get your Abacus version and build number, start Abacus and click on the copyright message at the bottom of the main screen. The current Abacus SE build is 040623. If you have an earlier build of Abacus SE, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. This is the freestanding version. To get your build number, start Abacus and click on "Help->About". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Envelope Printer http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/envelope.htm A number of users have been having difficulty deleting entries from their address database. These are the entries that appear on the "Name and Address List" screen that you access from the program's main screen by pressing the F2 key. So let me review a few key points... First, you can delete entries from the Name and Address List screen ONLY if you have alphabetization turned off. To turn this feature on and off, use the button in the lower left hand section of the screen. When you first used the program, this button was captioned "Alphabetize". If you then click on it to alphabetize your entries by last name, the button will say "Alpha Off". If it says Alpha Off, you cannot delete entries. But if it says Alphabetize, you can delete single or duplicate entries. Next, most problems have come up when deleting duplicate entries, so let me go over this process. If you have a duplicate entry, it will appear in the Name and Address List screen, with the duplicate entries right after one another, like this: Bill Kneeland Bill Kneeland ...etc. Of course, from just the name you can't tell if the addresses are different or the same. If the next line of the entry (ie, the first address line) varies, we will have no problem. Click on either of the duplicate names and then click on the Delete button. A messagebox will appear, asking if you want to delete this entry. Click on "Yes". Next, the screen will change and you will see the first address line for the duplicate name. Click on the one you want to delete and then click on the Delete button again. The messagebox will appear and ask if you want to delete the selected entry. Click on "Yes", and the program will delete the entry. And that's all there is to it! Just remember that you cannot have the list of names alphabetized by last name if you want to delete entries. The current Envelope Printer build is 041026 of version 7.0. If you have an earlier build or version, you may want to download and upgrade to this build. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's all, folks. Look for our next newsletter in about a month. Or maybe two... -- Bill bill@sorcerersoftware.com Sorcerer Software http://www.sorcerersoftware.com To read all the old newsletters, go to: http://www.sorcerersoftware.com/archives.htm To be removed from our mailing list, send me an email with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.