[Odb-help] ODB Call; Donation Reporting; Printing Issues
odb-help@lists.democracygroups.org
odb-help@lists.democracygroups.org
Thu, 08 Jan 2004 08:03:32 -0500
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Dear ODB Users:
We had a good phone conversation among 8 users on Tuesday evening. You
all can expect another call in couple of months (during the day next time);=
we used
the free service at www.freeconference.com so it was not difficult or=
expensive to
set up. Both the call and other feedback we received have led to changes in=
ODB.
We will address the call outcome first, and then we'll provide tips on=
sending
those January 15 letters that the IRS requires of larger donors, as well as=
a
workaround (thanks Nadia) to temporarily address the label printing issue
for those of you who have experienced it.
1. Conference Call. A large portion of the call addressed timetables for
when certain features could be added to the ODB software. In several cases,
users requested some features only to find that ODB already had them!
In other cases, we had a conversation about what kind of changes were
easy to make, and what changes might be harder to make, particularly
if we also have to support those features.
a. Users wanted the ability to find a record by the ID number: actually
ODB already allows you to do that. You just type '#1234' to open up
the person who has the ID number 1234. Or you can type '$1234' (from
the main menu screen) to add a payment for that person...
b. Users wanted some optimizations to allow you to enter data without
using the mouse as much. For example, when you click the search
button, you shouldn't have to use the mouse to go down to the box
with the search results. Well, within 48 hours of the call we fixed this;
you can go to the main ODB web site (www.organizersdb.org) to
download it now. You will also see that if your search finds nothing, you
will the blinking cursor will remain in the main menu "search text" box,
so you can correct it and search again -- another requested change.
c. We talked about whether pressing enter (while highlighting one of
the items in the search results) should have the effect of opening a
record. This will likely be added as well but as an option that's off
by default.
2. Donor Reporting. We received a call from the Michigan Peace Team
requesting help with printing donation reports. Specifically what they
needed to do was to generate a mailmerged letter to over 500 donors that
included the total gift for the 2003 fiscal year. The IRS only requires
this for people who give $250 or more -- by January 15 -- but they
wanted to go further as it provided an opportunity to thank donors one
more time, leading to additional gifts.
Now this should be incredibly easy to do in ODB; the only problem was
that the donation report data did not provide a full mailing address; just
the donor's name and data specific to the report. THIS IS NOW FIXED:
- click on select records, then click the 'donations' radio button
- enter 1/1/03 and 12/31/03 as your start and end dates, click 'search'
- click on 'Save Donation Report...'
- choose the tab or comma separated option under 'save file as type'
- pick a location to save and click the Save button
Then open the file you saved; it will probably open in Notepad or Excel,
depending on which option you choose (and how your computer is set up).
You should see the entire mailing address included, with a 'header row'
containing your mail merge field names.
3. Label Printing. We received some user comments on this issue. It
is definitely a concern so we also wanted to address it soon. Some
help from the ODB community would be useful here, because we can
only test the software on 2 or 3 printers from here. There are probably
about 1000 different models in use at all of your homes and workplaces!
It looks like part of the answer to this problem might be at this URL:
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q193/9/43.asp
Which talks about the how different printers have different "printable
areas" and suggest ways that ODB programmers can take those into
account. Another technical pages suggests that we might need to
explicitly "initialize the printer object". If you have a printing problem
let us know so we can get you some test fixes in the next week or so.
Your comments and feedback:
a. we received a workaround in case you have the same issue and
you can't wait for the fix, from Nadia Akbar:
Hi,
I don't know if this will work for other people, but we've been printing
our labels by first converting them into a word document (I don't think
we had a problem when we printed directly either, we did this to
separate our lists better).=20
=20
We export the selected records, convert it to an excel sheet, remove
the extra columns (phone, email, etc.) and when you open word, for
new document select mailing label wizard, then "create labels for
mailing list and you just kind of follow the directions. When you get to
'insert merge field' you can select the name for each column to make
the label appear as you want. Ours usually looks like this:
=20
=ABFirst=BB =ABLast=BB
=ABAddr1=BB
=ABAddr2=BB
=ABCity=BB, =ABState=BB =ABZip=BB
Best,
=20
~nadia
b. and a confirmation from Jon Falk:
I have seen the same problem printing Avery labels in several places, using
a couple of different models of HP Deskjet printers. However, I have not=
been
able to figure out a way to tweak the settings -- everything should be moved
down about half a line. I have not yet had the time to search the HP support
site, so it's possible there is an answer there.
c. And another suggestion from Australia, though this did not work for
the person here in Mass. who originally had the problem:
Greetings,
If the problem is only the first line and the rest are properly alligned,
then do not read on, otherwise please do:
I have not really used ODB yet and therefore no label printing with it
either. Although I have seen a similar problem with certain Avery labels
through even Excel and Word. What I found was that the Avery label sheet I
was using was not precisely symmetrical (as far as distance from the edge of
the label to the top of the sheet compared to that to the bottom of the
sheet). Therefore it may make a slight difference which direction the paper
is inserted into the printer. The user must try inserting the sheet from
either end and try out. (With my printer it works with Avery logo triangle
pointing down)
hope this helps,
-Hamid Homayouni
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<body>
<br>
Dear ODB Users:<br><br>
We had a good phone conversation among 8 users on Tuesday
evening. You<br>
all can expect another call in couple of months (during the day next
time); we used<br>
the free service at
<a href=3D"http://www.freeconference.com/" eudora=3D"autourl">www.freeconfer=
ence.com</a>
so it was not difficult or expensive to<br>
set up. Both the call and other feedback we received have led to changes in=
ODB.<br><br>
We will address the call outcome first, and then we'll provide tips=
on sending<br>
those January 15 letters that the IRS requires of larger donors, as well as=
a<br>
workaround (thanks Nadia) to temporarily address the label printing=
issue<br>
for those of you who have experienced it.<br><br>
<br>
1. Conference Call. A large portion of the call addressed=
timetables for<br>
when certain features could be added to the ODB software. In several=
cases,<br>
users requested some features only to find that ODB already had them!<br>
In other cases, we had a conversation about what kind of changes were<br>
easy to make, and what changes might be harder to make, particularly<br>
if we also have to support those features.<br><br>
a. Users wanted the ability to find a record by the ID number: =
actually<br>
ODB already allows you to do that. You just type '#1234' to open=
up<br>
the person who has the ID number 1234. Or you can type '$1234'=
(from<br>
the main menu screen) to add a payment for that person...<br><br>
b. Users wanted some optimizations to allow you to enter data without<br>
using the mouse as much. For example, when you click the search<br>
button, you shouldn't have to use the mouse to go down to the box<br>
with the search results. Well, within 48 hours of the call we fixed=
this;<br>
you can go to the main ODB web site (<a href=3D"http://www.organizersdb.org/=
" eudora=3D"autourl">www.organizersdb.org</a>) to<br>
download it now. You will also see that if your search finds nothing,=
you<br>
will the blinking cursor will remain in the main menu "search=
text" box,<br>
so you can correct it and search again -- another requested change.<br><br>
c. We talked about whether pressing enter (while highlighting one of<br>
the items in the search results) should have the effect of opening a<br>
record. This will likely be added as well but as an option that's=
off<br>
by default.<br><br>
<br>
2. Donor Reporting. We received a call from the Michigan Peace=
Team<br>
requesting help with printing donation reports. Specifically what=
they<br>
needed to do was to generate a mailmerged letter to over 500 donors that<br>
included the total gift for the 2003 fiscal year. The IRS only=
requires<br>
this for people who give $250 or more -- by January 15 -- but they<br>
wanted to go further as it provided an opportunity to thank donors one<br>
more time, leading to additional gifts.<br><br>
Now this should be incredibly easy to do in ODB; the only problem was<br>
that the donation report data did not provide a full mailing address;=
just<br>
the donor's name and data specific to the report. THIS IS NOW FIXED:<br><br>
- click on select records, then click the 'donations' radio button<br>
- enter 1/1/03 and 12/31/03 as your start and end dates, click 'search'<br>
- click on 'Save Donation Report...'<br>
- choose the tab or comma separated option under 'save file as type'<br>
- pick a location to save and click the Save button<br><br>
Then open the file you saved; it will probably open in Notepad or Excel,<br>
depending on which option you choose (and how your computer is set up).<br>
You should see the entire mailing address included, with a 'header row'<br>
containing your mail merge field names.<br><br>
<br>
3. Label Printing. We received some user comments on this=
issue. It<br>
is definitely a concern so we also wanted to address it soon. Some<br>
help from the ODB community would be useful here, because we can<br>
only test the software on 2 or 3 printers from here. There are=
probably<br>
about 1000 different models in use at all of your homes and=
workplaces!<br><br>
It looks like part of the answer to this problem might be at this URL:<br>
<a href=3D"http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q193/9/43.asp"=
eudora=3D"autourl">http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q193/9/=
43.asp</a><br>
Which talks about the how different printers have different=
"printable<br>
areas" and suggest ways that ODB programmers can take those into<br>
account. Another technical pages suggests that we might need to<br>
explicitly "initialize the printer object". If you have a=
printing problem<br>
let us know so we can get you some test fixes in the next week or=
so.<br><br>
Your comments and feedback:<br><br>
a. we received a workaround in case you have the same issue and<br>
you can't wait for the fix, from Nadia Akbar:<br><br>
Hi,<br>
I don't know if this will work for other people, but we've been printing<br>
our labels by first converting them into a word document (I don't think<br>
we had a problem when we printed directly either, we did this to<br>
separate our lists better). <br>
<br>
We export the selected records, convert it to an excel sheet, remove<br>
the extra columns (phone, email, etc.) and when you open word, for<br>
new document select mailing label wizard, then "create labels for<br>
mailing list and you just kind of follow the directions. When you get to<br>
'insert merge field' you can select the name for each column to make<br>
the label appear as you want. Ours usually looks like this:<br>
<br>
<font size=3D2>=ABFirst=BB =ABLast=BB<br>
=ABAddr1=BB<br>
=ABAddr2=BB<br>
=ABCity=BB, =ABState=BB =ABZip=BB<br><br>
</font>Best,<br>
<br>
~nadia<br><br>
<br>
b. and a confirmation from Jon Falk:<br><br>
I have seen the same problem printing Avery labels in several places,=
using<br>
a couple of different models of HP Deskjet printers. However, I have=
not been<br>
able to figure out a way to tweak the settings -- everything should be=
moved<br>
down about half a line. I have not yet had the time to search the HP=
support<br>
site, so it's possible there is an answer there.<br><br>
<br>
c. And another suggestion from Australia, though this did not work=
for<br>
the person here in Mass. who originally had the problem:<br><br>
Greetings,<br><br>
If the problem is only the first line and the rest are properly=
alligned,<br>
then do not read on, otherwise please do:<br>
I have not really used ODB yet and therefore no label printing with it<br>
either. Although I have seen a similar problem with certain Avery labels<br>
through even Excel and Word. What I found was that the Avery label sheet=
I<br>
was using was not precisely symmetrical (as far as distance from the edge=
of<br>
the label to the top of the sheet compared to that to the bottom of the<br>
sheet). Therefore it may make a slight difference which direction the=
paper<br>
is inserted into the printer. The user must try inserting the sheet from<br>
either end and try out. (With my printer it works with Avery logo=
triangle<br>
pointing down)<br>
hope this helps,<br>
-Hamid Homayouni<br><br>
<br>
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