Exporting an AviSys Columnar Report to Microsoft Word

(For Species Seen, Species Not Seen and Checklist Reports)

NOTE: If you are using AviSys 6, using the RTF facility from Print Preview is by far the best way to export to Word. Try RTF first to see if your version of Word handles complex RTF documents.

These instructions are for Microsoft Word 97. They can easily be applied to other versions of Word, although some menu items may be different. The concepts can be applied to any word processor.

Print this page to use as you work.

• Set up the AviSys report (Species Seen, Species Not Seen, or Checklist) in the Report Criteria dialog.
• Click Run.
• At the Print Options dialog, select Family Names and Latin Names as you wish. The other selections here will have no effect on the output.
• Click Text File.
• At the Save as dialog, name the file with a .TXT extension. Remember the name and the folder where it is saved. Click OK.
• A single stream of bird names (with optional family and Latin names) is written to the file.
• Start Microsoft Word 97. You are placed at a blank page. Optionally, you can select File, New, and select Blank Document from the list.)
• Type any major heading text you want for this page. Using Enter, move the cursor down a couple lines below the heading.
• Select Format and then Columns.
• Don't select one if the "page" icons presented in the Columns dialog. They represent unbalanced column formats.
• At the Number of columns: edit, select the number you wish by "spinning" it up. (Don't just enter the number from the keyboard -- there is a bug in Word that doesn't activate the other options when you enter the number.) The usual number of columns is 3 or 4 -- but for those with really good reading glasses, you can use more columns.
• At Apply to: select This point forward.
• Be sure Equal column width: is checked.
• "Spin" down the Spacing: entry to .1" -- there is rarely need for more space between columns.
• Check Line between: if you wish.
• OK the columns dialog.
• At this point, the cursor is still where you left it after typing the header and creating a couple lines of space. Normally, you should be able to select a font for your data, but some copies of Word have a bug that makes this impossible. So, we'll go on and do it the hard way later.
• Click Insert on the menu bar, and select File...
• At Files of type: in the Insert File dialog, select Text files (*.txt).
• Drop down the selector from the Look in: edit, and browse to find and select the folder where you saved your report output file.
• Your output file will be in the large panel. Double-click it.
• Your report data will be "poured" into the columns you just created.
• Note that the report header information is at the start of the first column. Block that header text and tap the Del key to get rid of it.
• If bird names wrap in columns, if things look too crowded, or too sparse, or if you just don't have the font you want, start at the very beginning of the first entry in the first column, hold down the left mouse button, and "drag" the mouse down until you have blocked (highlighted) all the text. Release the left mouse button, leaving everything blocked.
• If you have successfully blocked the text, select Format from the menu bar, and select Font... At the font selection dialog, select the font, style and size you wish. You may have to experiment with various fonts and sizes to get the effect you want. Fortunately, the text remains blocked after a font selection, so if you don't like what you see, just select a new font, style or size until you get what you want. Also, you can change the column count by selecting Format and Columns... and "spinning" in the desired count.
• So, you can make all kinds of changes with everything blocked, until you have it just right.
• For example, with 5 columns and Times New Roman 8 point font, you can get about 950 species on three pages -- 900 with Arial 8 point. Using a larger font requires fewer columns and more pages, but is more readable. Avoid "display" fonts, as their metrics cause poor formatting and readability.
• If the margins are too wide, restricting the amount of information you can get on a page, select File and Page Setup... to change the margins. Reducing the left and right margins will increase the space within the columns, possibly allowing you to add an additional column with the same readability.
• After you have things as you like them, you may want to triple-click the family names and click Bold and/or Italic on the tool bar to separate them visually.
• When you save the document, be sure to reset the File / Save dialog to where you keep your documents -- it's probably still pointing to where your AviSys data is.
• Consult your Microsoft Word documentation, or Help, for more information on such things as headers and footers, page numbering, two-sided printing, etc.

If you find errors in these procedures, or have suggestions for improvements, please let us know at <support@avisys.net>