iData 3 Files

iData 3 makes use of three kinds of files:

Datafiles contain your data, organized into records. Datafile file names end with .id3.

Envelope template files tell iData 3 how to print envelopes in different formats. Envelope template file names end with .ienv.

Label template files tell iData 3 how to print labels in different formats. Label template file names end with .ilabel.

NOTE: The .id3, ienv, and .ilabel file name extensions may not show up in the Finder, depending on your preference settings.

File Locations

Here are where various iData-related files should be placed, and where others may be found:

         1. The iData 3 application should go into your Applications folder, or in a sub-folder within it. This is critical if you want iData 3 services to show up in your Services menu (under the Apple menu).

         2. Datafiles should go into an iData 3 Datafiles folder, inside an iData folder. The iData folder also contains an iData 3 Templates folder.

or said another way: ~/Documents/iData/iData 3 Datafiles  (The tilde ~ is commonly used as shorthand to indicate your personal folder, which is located inside the Users folder on your start-up drive. Folder names are separated by the forward slash / character.)

The iData 3 Datafiles and iData 3 Templates folders are used to build the Datafiles and Templates menus in iData 3.

Although you can put your datafiles anywhere, you must specify the location of the iData folder when iData 3 asks for it. Only those files that are in that location will show up in the Datafiles menu in iData 3.

If you need to put datafiles in other locations, you should make an alias to those datafiles, and then put the alias files into the iData 3  Datafiles folder. It is also possible to put your  iData folder, and its contents, in some other location--even on a different drive or drive partition. In that case, you should create an alias to that iData folder and place the alias in your Documents folder. Then, remove the " alias" from the name of the alias folder (making sure to remove the space in front of "alias").

You can also create sub-folders within the iData 3 Datafiles folder, and use those to further organize your datafiles. Sub-folders will show up as sub-menus in the Datafiles menu. Only one level of sub-folders is supported by the Datafiles menu.

         3. If you want to share datafiles with other users who log in separately, you can place them in the /Users/Shared/ folder on your hard drive, and then place aliases to them in each user's iData 3 Datafiles folder.

         4. The iData 3 preference file is named com.idata3.iData.plist and appears in

Users
         <your user name>
                   Library
                            Preferences
                                     com.idata3.iData.plist

or said another way: ~/Library/Preferences/com.idata3.iData.plist

On rare occasions, you may need to trash your preference file, so it's a good idea to know where it is located.