Publishing Your School’s Family Directory from Your Desktop
By: Tracie Oken
“Where’s the directory?” my son asked, as he realized, yet again, that he didn’t have the spelling words for the next day’s test. The family directory is a staple at many schools and a “must” for parents. We use it to contact kids and parents in my son’s class, create birthday lists, and look up addresses for Christmas cards.
And while it’s probably the most important document published by the school, it also has the reputation of being the worst job to do.
In this article, I’ll show you how easy it is to create this directory yourself using common (and some free) applications. I will also give you tips on making the job as painless as possible.
1. Decide what’s going to be in the directory.
This is the critical first step. You want the directory to be as useful as possible, but you also want to keep the printing costs down. Are there items that get repeated every year but are never read?
It took me two years to get the school map removed from the directory. We have 23 classrooms at our school, and we’ve haven’t lost a parent yet.
Challenge yourself to cut 10 percent out of the next directory. Also try to avoid time-sensitive data, as it can quickly become obsolete. Instead, consider moving this information to your school’s website.
2. Manage family contact information.
Managing the family contact data is critical to the final directory quality. You want the flexibility to add and delete families, while keeping the data grouped and alphabetized. Spreadsheets can accomplish this task, but you will then need to mail merge the data into a word processor to produce a finished product.
Do-it-yourself database programs are better suited to the data management task, but there is a fairly steep learning curve.
However you get there, make sure you have a solution that allows for easy data changes and can quickly produce rosters and alphabetical listings, preferably in a PDF format (more on that below).
3. Create the front and back covers (and other graphics pages).
As with any publication, you need front and back cover pages. You can include your school’s logo and fun clip art to make it more attractive. Also be sure to include school contact information.
Microsoft Word is good for this task. It has its limitations, but for simple formats, it works well. Just use the “insert picture” function and add text boxes to create some of the fun graphics.
Here’s a tip for inserting pictures—after you select insert, go to “text wrapping” and select “tight.” This will make easy to move the picture where you want it.
To make your documents work together uniformly, use only one font for all of the text. This is easy on the eyes and looks much more polished.
Make sure your final product has an even number of pages. For booklet directories, the page count should be divisible by four, as a booklet directory is really just letter-size paper folded in half.
4. Save all your files as PDFs.
When you’re done formatting the family data and the covers, you will want to save all your files in a PDF format. There are several reasons for this. First, a PDF can be read by most people using the free Acrobat Reader. When you’re done, you will want to send the final documents to several people in your school for review.
Second, PDFs are easier for most print shops. Because a PDF is “fixed,” they know what you want your finished product to look like. Some printers will even charge you more if you don’t provide PDF files.
Third, when all your files (Word, Excel, etc.) are in PDF, they can easily be combined. Remember, your directory is a combination of multiple documents, and when they’ve been saved in the same format, they can easily be combined together. Your print shop can do this for you or you can use some of the free tools available on the Internet.
You don’t need to buy special software to create a PDF. If you don’t have Adobe Acrobat, or Microsoft Office, you can download a free PDF print driver. Once installed, these drivers work through the “print” function on your computer, but instead of printing, they create a PDF.
Acrobat Reader has a page scaling option for booklet printing. Just remember to format your pages, so when they shrink to a booklet, the font isn’t too small.
5. Make sure you work with a digital print shop.
The most important question to ask your printer is, “Are you digital?” With a digital printer, you can take your combined PDF file (or uncombined files) on a thumb drive, and they should be able to print the directory from your document. You will then get back exactly what you gave them.
This year, our directory was printed by a shop owned by a school parent. I thought it would be nice to give him the business. I was shocked when he gave me a proof that was missing several pages. How could he have messed up a PDF? This is when I realized the difference between offset and digital printing. We went back and forth several times before it was right. Also, insist they give you a sample, or proof, before they create hundreds of copies.
Current technology has made creating a family directory for your school easier than ever. And, you don’t have to be a graphic artist to create a directory that is both attractive and functional.
Tracie Oken is co-creator of MyDirectoryMaker, a software system built specifically for schools, churches, and clubs that need to manage and publish a family directory, www.MyDirectoryMaker.com.
