For the past several years I have been interested in Visual Basic for Applications written for Microsoft Office. I use Outlook and am amused that they do not have a way to print envelopes directly from a contact in Outlook. Outlook has an excellent database available for all types of contacts and Microsoft Word has an excellent envelope/label printer built into it. I have put the two together with a small program written with Visual Basic 6.0. I use Microsoft Outlook to retrieve contacts from Outlook and use Microsoft Word to print envelopes for them in the background. That said, both Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Word are required to be installed on your computer.
I am distributing the Envelope Printer© program "as is" as freeware. If you find the Envelope Printer© program useful and keep it on your computer, please send me a check for $15.00. If it does not work for you, please delete it. I thank you for trying it out.
Mail Check to:
Larry Voight
PO Box 35211
Tulsa, OK 74153-0211
The Envelope Printer© program can be found at:
http://www.lgvoight.com/envelopeprinter/
The Envelope Printer© program is pretty simple but does require some setup.
SETUP:
Install the Envelope Printer© program by running the envelope.exe program. The program should be installed in your “program files” folder on drive C.
I have used a text file called “ReturnAddress.txt” to hold up to 20 return addresses. I use six lines to hold each address. The last line uses the key word “END”.
1. Name
2. Address1
3. Address2
4. City, State Zip
5. Blank
6. END
I place the return address file in the same folder that the Envelope Printer© program is installed in: usually c:\program files\Envelope\ Envelope.exe will load the ReturnAddress.txt file by default and will return the 2nd name in the list as the default return address name.
USING Envelope Printer©:
Opening Envelope.exe shows a form with two command buttons and a 3 tab display.
The First Tab “Envelope” shows the envelope with the default return
address and a blank mailing address.
The Second Tab “Contacts” is used to display a list of contacts imported from Outlook.
The Third Tab “Setup” is used to select the address used as the return address and also allows you to select a center fed envelope or an offset fed envelope.
There are three scenarios I use for the Envelope Printer© program.
1. Open the Envelope Printer© program. Clear the return address and add your own. Type in the address you want to use for your envelope. Load an envelope in your printer. Press “Print”.
2. Open Outlook. Select contacts. Highlight or open a contact you are printing an envelope for. Open the Envelope Printer© program. Press “Use Contact” and the contact will be loaded in the proper place on the envelope. Load an envelope in your printer. Press “Print”.
3. With Outlook closed, open the Envelope Printer© program. Press “Use Contact”. Select the proper contact folder from your Outlook explorer and press "ok". Click on the contact of your choice from the Contact list and the contact will be loaded in the proper place on the envelope. Load an envelope in your printer. Press “Print”.
This scenario has the added option of using the < button and the > button to cycle thru the contact list. You may also use your left and right mouse buttons to cycle thru the contact list by clicking on the yellow form behind the envelope.
Press “Exit” to close the program.
Larry Voight
PO BOX 35211
Tulsa, OK 74153-0211
Send Comments to larry@lgvoight.com
