When preparing a mailing, you sometimes have to deal with a file that contains records that you want to exclude because they are also in another file. Examples are: Customers who have already responded to a previous mailing, customers who do refuse direct mail etc.
Using the purge function of Flexmail you can process one or more suppression lists to remove records from the destination file. Purge checks for duplicates between the destination file and up to 31 other files. The duplicates are deleted from the destination file automatically or after manual inspection, depending upon parameters you define. The comparison is always between the destination file and one of the source files, never between the source files. Also, the destination file will not be checked for duplicates within itself.
Purge tasks work on the file that is currently linked and displayed in the datasheet against which the source files are processed. You may select to directly change the destination file or create a new file with the survivor records. For more information on how purging works, see How Find Duplicates, Merge, and Purge work.
When you select this function, a wizard will be started that guides you through the process of setting up and starting a purge task. Setting up the task involves selecting the files to be processed, linking the fields of each source file to the fields in the destination file, setting de-duplication options, and selecting the various output files.
Note: If you want to find duplicates in a single file you can use the Find Duplicates function (see Find Duplicates). If you want to combine multiple files with or without duplicate detection use the Merge function (see Merging Files).
You start Purge in the Tools group on the Data Tools tab that is available when the datasheet is active. The wizard that appears will take you through the following steps:
The first step of the purge process is to select the files you want to purge. Records in these files that are also found in the file that is currently linked to FlexMail (as displayed in the datasheet) will be removed (purged) from that file.
Through this dialog box, you connect the fields of each source file with a field in the destination file. See Defining Field Links for further instructions on linking fields.
Note: Since records will only be deleted from the master file, the field links are only used for identifying duplicate records. You therefore only have to link the fields that you want to use in the match code (see step 4).
On this dialog you specify the de-duplication action you want to perform when a duplicate pair of records is detected:
Automatic. Select this option if you want FlexMail to purge all detected duplicates from the destination file automatically.
Manually confirm. Select this option if you want to have the program to display each duplicate group so you can review the group and decide if you want to purge the record from the master file.
List duplicates only. Choose this option if you only want to review the duplicates. The detected duplicates will be displayed, but not be processed by FlexMail. The active file will remain unchanged.
In this step you select the fields you want to use for finding duplicates and set the compare options for each field. For more infomation see Match Codes.
Through this dialog box, you can select the output files generated by the purge process. See Output Files for more information.
Note: The output files that can be selected depend on the action you have chosen. Besides, if FlexMail needs to update the currently linked file and it is in a format that FlexMail cannot update, you have to select a new survivor file.
While the processing takes place, a window will be displayed that informs you about the progress of the purge process.
If the selected purge action requires manual intervention, FlexMail displays the Process Duplicates window.
Manually process the duplicates that FlexMail has detected. Select Process All to process your selections and close the Process Duplicates dialog. For more information on processing duplicates manually, see Manually Processing Duplicates.
The Results window marks the end of the purge process. This window displays a summary of the results for the task:
The Status group summarizes the fields that you included in the match code, the number of records and files processed, and the number of duplicate records and duplicate groups detected.
The Results list box shows the duplicates found. The first line of the list shows the duplicate records in the file that are also found in one or more of the source files. For all source files, the list shows the duplicates found against the master file.
You also have the option to review and print the duplicate records. To do so, click the Show Dups button. For more information, see Reviewing Results.