Formatting Addresses for International Mailings

Typically, the desired format of an address in a mailing depends on both the country the mailing is being sent to and the country of the originator of the mailing. For example, you might want to include a contact’s country when mailing to a foreign address, but you may want to suppress the country when mailing to a contact within your country. InterAction supports international mailing rules when printing labels, envelopes, and mail merges. These rules facilitate including the country name only when it is different than the user’s country.

Formatting International Addresses for Envelopes and Labels

When editing the contents of an envelope or label, select the address or mailing address, and choose Format to specify the layout of the address. You can choose whether to use the address layout specified for each country in the mailing or use a custom layout for addresses. If you choose to use the address layout specified for each country, you can select to apply international mailing rules. These rules allow you to choose one of the following behaviors:

• Use the current user’s regional settings - the country name prints only when it is different than the user’s country and prints in the language of the user.
• Select a specific country and language - the country name prints for contacts who are located in a different country than the one specified and are printed in the language selected. Use this option when mailings always occur from a specific location.

The figures below show the international layout options of the Format Mailing Address and the Format Address dialog boxes, respectively.

Format Mailing Address - International Options

Format Address - International Options

The following tables help you determine which address formatting options to choose.

Formatting Addresses - Layouts

To	Then
Use the full address layout defined for the country on each address.	Select the Use the address layout specified for each country option.
Use the same layout for all addresses, ignoring the layout defined for the country on each address.	Select Use a custom layout for addresses. In the text box, use the Backspace or Delete keys on your keyboard to remove items. To add items, type in characters or carriage returns. To add fields to the address layout, choose Insert.
Set the layout to only include certain fields (for example, you want the field to only include the city and state so you can later group contacts using this field).	Select Use a custom layout for addresses. In the text box, use the Backspace or Delete keys on your keyboard to remove items. To add items, type in characters or carriage returns. To add fields to the address layout, choose Insert.

Formatting Addresses - Displaying the Country

To	Then
Only display the country in the address if the country for the contact is different than the user printing the envelopes/labels. For example, the user works in France (the regional settings on the user’s PC are set for France) and some of the contacts that the user is mailing to reside in the United States. All contacts who reside in France will NOT have the country in the address and all those who reside in the United States WILL have the country in the address. The country names for all countries print in French.	Select Apply International Mailing Rules. Select Use the current user's regional settings.
Always display the country for each address even if the country is the same as the user running the report.	Clear the check box for Apply International Mailing Rules.
Always use a specific regional setting instead of the user's when formatting addresses (not common). Use this option for a mailing that always occurs at a specific location. For example, a company with offices in France, Germany and the US handles marketing in one central location in France. When printing mailing labels, the country is printed in French. The country does not print for the contacts that reside in France.	Select Apply International Mailing Rules. Select Always use the following (ignore the user's regional settings). Select the country and language to use for the address in the Mailing From and Print Country In drop-down lists.

Formatting International Addresses for Mail Merges

InterAction’s mail merge features uses InterAction Automated Export to create form letters, envelopes, mailing labels, and other mass mailings. To take advantage of regional settings and use international mailing rules for mail merge, format the export instructions for the mail merge to use the full address option.

To modify the layout of an address, add the address field to the list of fields included in the export instructions. Select the address field from the list and choose Edit. Select Use the full address layout specified for each country, which allows you to apply international mailing rules. These rules allow you to choose one of the following behaviors:

• Use the current user’s regional settings - the country name prints only when it is different than the user’s country and prints in the language of the user.
• Select a specific country and language - the country name prints for contacts who are located in a different country than the one specified and are printed in the language selected. Use this option when mailings always occur from a specific location.

The figure below shows the international layout options of the Full Address Options dialog box.

Full Address Options Dialog Box for International Mailings

Refer to Formatting Addresses - Layouts and Formatting Addresses - Displaying the Country to help you decide which options to select on the Full Address Options dialog box.