Title: | Converting a Roster to a PDF |
Submitted by: | Rapattoni Software Support |
Issue: | How can I save a roster as a file instead of just sending it to my printer? |
Have you ever wanted to e-mail a roster or be able to save a copy of the roster to your computer? You might not know that you can do more with a roster than just print it. Actually, after the addition of Adobe Acrobat Distiller to your workstation and the completion of a few simple steps, your roster can be converted into a PDF (Portable Document Format) file. This roster PDF can then be saved, displayed on your screen or even e-mailed.
The process of converting a roster or other report to a PDF file does require the installation of Adobe Acrobat Distiller on your computer. This program comes bundled in Adobe Acrobat and can be purchased from the Adobe Web site at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatstd/main.html. Check with your office manager or IT person; they may even have purchased this software for general use in your office already.
Once Adobe Acrobat is installed on your computer, create your roster in the usual manner. When the printer dialog box opens, click Cancel instead of Print.
At this point, Magic has created a roster.txt file and placed it in the same directory that is used for your merge data files. If you do not know what directory is used for your merge data files, you can check in the User Setup Form. On the Word Processing Setup tab, locate your user ID and make a note of the directory listed; in the example shown below, files would be saved in the C:\My Documents\ directory.
Next, use My Computer or Windows Explorer to open the directory and locate the file named roster.txt. Right-click the roster.txt file and choose Rename; then type roster.ps as the new file name. When you rename the file a warning message will display stating, "If you change the file name extension, the file may become unusable. Are you sure you want to change it?" Click Yes on this message.
Now that the file is renamed roster.ps, double-click the file. This will prompt Adobe Acrobat Distiller to open and automatically convert or, more accurately, distill the roster PostScript file into a PDF file.
You will notice that both files, roster.ps and roster.pdf, are now in your merge data directory. Delete the roster.ps file. At this point, you can rename the roster.pdf appropriately, making sure to keep the file extension of .pdf the same. For example, you might name your affiliate office roster affofficeroster.pdf.
Your roster.pdf file can now be e-mailed to your members or even to your webmaster for inclusion on your association’s Web site. You also have the added bonus of printing the file at your leisure, opening it to view on your screen or saving it to a disk.
Title: | Creating and Modifying Laser Rosters |
Submitted by: | Rapattoni Software Support |
Issue: | How can I create and modify laser rosters? Also, can I export these rosters? |
The laser rosters in Rapattoni Magic allow you to print professional quality rosters that are camera-ready for your publisher.We have many users who want to know about more advanced laser roster options, like exporting and saving these rosters. Here are some of the most common questions we receive that we will address in more detail. How do you set them up for export? What are the filenames that are created? What directory do the files get saved to? What is the file layout? What do the files contain? We want you to take advantage of all the features you have available to you with laser rosters, and here’s how!
Setting up Laser Rosters for export :
In addition to the existing rosters, you can create a variety of rosters based on various criteria. You may choose to modify the selection criteria of an existing roster or create a new roster. These can include Member Rosters, MLS Rosters, Committee Rosters, Affiliate Rosters, and more. State Associations can produce these rosters for the entire state or for individual local associations.
Creating an ASCII File for export:
Perhaps you would like to send your office and member information to an outside vendor (such as a printer), or sell the information to members who wish to load this information onto their personal computers. It is possible to export the roster information for use by any third party software package. You can choose whether to have the information copied to a diskette or formatted for export, where it can be modified. The files will be in ASCII fixed length format. ASCII files can be imported into many third party software packages, making them extremely versatile. The file formats are ".dat" and they use the following names:
NOTE: If you would like to copy to a diskette, you must select the Report Option "Diskette" in the Roster Selection Criteria Form.
assoc.dat
office.dat
member.dat
Magic will create a report that outlines the layout (field names, field type, and field size) for each of the files that are created when you create the roster. Magic will send these files to the same directory in which your merge files are sent, and you can specify this "User Setup Form."
Modifying/Creating a New Roster:
As you may have noted, Laser Rosters can be a very valuable and powerful tool. We hope you can take advantage of many of the features they have to offer. If you have any questions about exporting or creating these rosters, please contact Rapattoni Software Support.
Title: | How to Run Print Preview Before Printing in Rapattoni Magic |
Submitted by: | Rapattoni Software Support |
Issue: | How can I preview a report before I print it in Rapattoni Magic? |
Are you tired of wasting paper printing entire reports when all you need is a few pages? Or perhaps you just want to view the report on your screen for reference purposes instead of printing it. Did you know that Rapattoni Magic allows you to preview your reports before you print them? The process of redirecting these reports is very simple and it will save you time and money. This feature can be used for any report or printout in Rapattoni Magic (excluding Laser Rosters). In the example below, we will use a basic member report to guide you through the process.
Print Preview:
After filling in all the criteria that you need, click on the Create Report button. Now, before you click “Yes” to start the print job, you need to click on the Redirect button at the top of your screen (click the Redirect icon on the toolbar or hit Ctrl I on your keyboard).
Under Media, select the “Graphic Printer” option, and under Preview, click the drop-down and choose the “Yes” option. Then click the OK button.
You are now going to see the above screen. Click the Yes button.
You will be presented with the prompt to select your print as if you’re going to print the report out. Don’t panic! This is part of the process. Click the Print button here.
Your report should now be redirected to your screen! If you wish to actually print this report from here, please click the Printer icon on the upper left portion of your screen. That’s it! If you have any questions or need assistance, please call our support center at 1-866-730-7115, or email us at
Title: | Office Sort Sequence |
Submitted by: | Rapattoni Software Support |
Issue: | What is the office sort sequence field and when should I use it? |
The office Sort Sequence field allows you to override the normal sort order used in office reports, rosters and printing invoices/statements. In our example shown below, “The Real Estate Center” would normally be sorted with the T’s in reports or when printing invoices. We have renamed the office in the Sort Sequence field (see below). This allows us to utilize the “By Office Sort Sequence” sort option in our report or invoice/statement criteria, so that the office will instead sort with the R’s.
Another handy use for
the Sort Sequence field is for offices with similar names. Here in California,
Coldwell Banker is a very popular office name. Perhaps you have a Coldwell
Banker office that is particularly large, and you would like it to sort
first among all Coldwell Bankers on a report or even on a roster. You
could name the office “coldwellbanker1” or even just “coldwellbanker”
in the Sort Sequence field, and it should sort before all other Coldwell
Banker offices.
Throughout Rapattoni Magic you will find more and more opportunities for
creative use of the Sort Sequence field.
TIP: It’s a good idea to run the Update Sort Sequence
Utility found under Managers > Membership
> Utilities > Offices every six months to find any offices with
blank Sort Sequence
fields and automatically populate them (based on the Office Name field).
Title: | Printing Membership Cards |
Submitted by: | Rapattoni Software Support |
Issue: | How can I print Membership Cards? |
Rapattoni Magic gives you the ability to print membership cards for your members in a few easy steps. These cards can contain important information (license #, NRDS ID, MLS ID, etc.) for the member and can be used as a reference card. They can also be used to help identify the member when they attend classes, events, or make purchases at the board store.
Membership Cards:
The software will print cards for members who meet the criteria you specify in the Print Membership Cards form. In addition, members must meet three other criteria:
Billed Status = P (paid)
Member Status = A (active) in the selected association
Membership Card Status = Y (yes)
If a member does not match the above criteria, Rapattoni Magic will not print their membership card. After you fill in the form, click the Create Report button.
After the cards have printed, the above message will confirm with you that the membership cards have printed correctly.
Note: If there are members who do not meet the three criteria needed for printing membership cards, you can reset their membership card status using the Reset Member Bill/Card Status Update. (To access this program, choose Managers > Accounting > Billing Processes > Billing Programs > Reset Member Bill/Card Status.)