The Mailsort companion module is designed for Enterprise users who also use the Royal Mail's Mailsort service. It provides an initial screening of Company addresses as they are entered, ensuring that Postcodes are valid, sorts mailshots into the correct order and produces reports which comply with the requirements of the service.
Setting Up Address Formats When setting up Address Formats using the Address Formats function on the Core menu in the Data Manager, there are two check boxes to consider, 'Check Postcode format (UK Style)' and 'Enforce Postcode format'.
These check boxes control whether postcodes entered on the Companies screen are checked for conformity with UK Post Office rules and, if so, how strongly the checking is enforced. Although designed mainly for use with the Mailsort companion module, they do have a value as a weapon against incorrect typing when used independently. One rule, for example, is that Q, V and X are not allowed as the first character of a UK postcode. The only difference between the Checking and Enforcing options is that the latter will not give you the option to 'Allow' an incorrect format - but will always force you to 'Try again'.
Checking must be switched on for Enforcing to be enabled. Note that foreign addresses will obviously not use the UK format. Therefore, if the UK Address Format is your default and you turn on checking, the checking will be applied to foreign addresses until you go to the Country field and specify a Country that has an alternative Address Format defined for it.
Note that the 'Check Postcode format' option must be turned on for Mailsort users. If you have not specified a default Address Format and you have purchased Mailsort, the checking option will be automatically activated.
Mailsort Menu