Strata Mail works by performing a Microsoft Word Mail Merge using a mail shot document and a data source.  Most Strata Mail customers will be using a list purchased from one of the Business Strata products as their data source, however it is possible to use other types of data.

If you are using Business Search PRO or New Connections lists in exactly the same format as they were sent to you, then your data is in the correct format to be used with Strata Mail.

Simply select either ‘Business Search PRO Data’ or ‘New Connections Data’ (as appropriate) from the drop-down list when you upload your data to Strata Mail.

Uploading Other Data Formats

Strata Mail can accept data that has not originated from a Business Strata product.  You may wish to use data that originates from other applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Access and many others.  You will first need to export the data held in these applications to a format that is suitable for use with Strata Mail.

Strata Mail will accept data files that are saved as plain text (ASCII) using any character to separate the fields. It is important that the field names are included as the first row of data in the file. Common examples are as follows:

• Comma Delimited (also known as Comma Separated Values or CSV)
• Tab Delimited
• Semicolon Delimited
• Colon Delimited
  

To use data in any of the above formats, you should select the appropriate format from the drop-down list when you upload you data to Strata Mail. You must also ensure that any fields that you wish to use on your mail shot document are present in your data file.

Exporting Your Data From Other Applications

Microsoft Outlook 2003 - you may wish to use Strata Mail to send a mail shot to the people in your Microsoft Outlook Address Book. Follow these steps to create a suitable data file:

1. Open Microsoft Outlook.
2. Click the ‘File’ Menu and select ‘Import and Export…’
3. Select ‘Export to a file’ and click ‘Next’.
4. Choose ‘Tab Separated Values (Windows)’ and click ‘Next’.
5. Select ‘Contacts’ from the folder list shown and click ‘Next’.
6. Choose a location to save your file to by clicking the button labelled ‘Browse…’ and name your file.
7. Click ‘Finish’ to complete the file export of your Microsoft Outlook Address Book.

You can now use this file as the Strata Mail data source.

Microsoft Excel 2003

If you have your list of customers in a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, then this must be saved as a text file to be used with Strata Mail.

Follow these steps to create a suitable data file:

1. Open your spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel.
2. Click the ‘File’ Menu and select ‘Save As…’.
3. At the bottom of the window, select ‘Text (Tab delimited) (*.txt)’ from the drop-down list labelled ‘Save as type:’
4. Name the file and choose a location to save it to and click ‘Save’.
5. You can now use this file as the Strata Mail data source.

Microsoft Access 2003

If your customer list is held within a Microsoft Access database table then you can export the data to a suitable file by following steps:

1. Open your database in Microsoft Access.
2. Select the database table that contains your customer list.
3. Click the ‘File’ Menu and select ‘Export…’
4. At the bottom of the window, select ‘Text files. (*.txt;*.csv;*.tab;*.asc)’ from the drop-down list labelled ‘Save as type:’
5. Name the file and choose a location to save it to and click ‘Export All’
   This will start the Export Text Wizard. Select the ‘Delimited’ option and click ‘Next’.
6. Choose ‘Tab’ as your delimiter (Strata Mail will accept all other delimiter options if you prefer).
7. Tick the box labelled ‘Include Field Names on First Row’ and click ‘Next’.
8. Confirm that the location that you are saving the file to is correct and click ‘Finish’.

You can now use this file as the Strata Mail data source.