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[WriteLog] QSL Label Printing

To: <writelog@contesting.com>
Subject: [WriteLog] QSL Label Printing
From: w5xd@writelog.com (Wayne Wright, W5XD)
Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 20:34:38 -0600 (CST)
> Since being unable to find anything in the past year's archive about
> this subject, I'm asking for some help for the first effort to print
> laser
> QSL labels, which will put up to 3 QSOs on a single label. The help file
> is difficult for me to interpret.
>
> 1. Will it be possible to combine up to 3 QSOs per laser label?

Not with WriteLog's File Print Qsls menu entry. Probably the easiest
way to see what WL is doing is to do these commands in order:

Edit Select All
Edit Mark QSO to Print QSL
File Print QSLs...

WL will use the dimensions in File QSL Page setup to lay out
QSLs onto printer pages. I use Avery #8160, which has 3 across
and 10 down. The numbers in File QSL Page setup that work for
#8160 are: 3, 10, 0, 141, 229, 10, 14

> 2. If QSOs are marked to print a plain sheet to check format,
>     will it be possible to print them again with actual labels?

Yes.

> 3. Are there examples of various formats somewhere in WL
>     which suggest measurements for layouts, fonts, etc.?

No

> 4. Is there a reference anywhere to various Avery numbers?

If you run M/S Word and do "Tools, Envelopes and Labels" it knows
a large number of them.

> 5. Are multi column label sheets supported?

yes

> 6. Does the printing program simply generate a file of multiple pages,
>     where a single page can be edited and printed as a test?

You can use WL either way. You can use WL to load a .WL file,
and do what I suggested in (1) or select individual QSOs, and
then print all the QSLs from that file.

Alternatively, you can create a series of print files as you go
along. when you are through marking all the QSOs in a .WL file,
do a "File QSL Labels to File" (instead of File Print QSLs).
I use the ADIF format. After you have created all the ADIF
files for all the .WL files you care about you can get WL
to print them all at once.

> 7. Is it better to convert somehow to another program, such as
>     MS Word, to adapt to particular Avery types?

A completely different alternative to all the above is to do
what you suggest. Use WL to do a File Export and chose .WK1
format to make a spreadsheet file. (As I typed this up,
I actually tried this and discovered my Word 2000 won't
do mail merge with a .WK1 file--so I opened Excel, opened
the .WK1 file and did a Save As .xls--then Word was happy).
Also at this step if you want the labels to come out in
a certain order, use Excel to sort them. Also if you want to
combine multiple .WL files, use Excel to open and copy and
paste everything into one.

Then open MS Word and do a Tools Mail Merge. It wants to know
the label format first (chose the Avery of your choice or
design your own). Then it wants a "Data Source". Pick the .wk1
file you made (or .xls if it won't take it--older versions of
Word were happy with the .wk1 as a data source).

Finally, you have to use the tools in MS Word to design
the label you want, but its quite flexible. It will print them
in the order they appear in the Data Source.

You still end up with one QSO on each label. I don't know of
any way to make the standard MS Office tools to print any other
way.

> 8. Am I wasting time trying to print from WL?

Depends on exactly what you want to accomplish. If you can live
with one QSO on each label, then the above scheme works.

>
> Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!
>
> 73, Jim
> W6YA
>
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