Template for Neighborhood Directory

Welcome to Apple Discussions Dick

The best kind of application for a directory of this sort would be a database. Unfortunately, neither Numbers nor Pages does this. You could, though, create a table with headings for each element. The sorting & filtering abilities of Numbers mimic a bit of a database.

Pages uses Address Book for mail merge. You may be able to create custom fields in Address Book for year & pet names, but Address Book isn't very good at sorting. Since Pages will only print one record per page, making a printed directory would limit you to one household per page. The same applies to the "database", Bento, by FileMaker. (The quotes express my opinion of Bento.)

I did a directory for several years for my church using AppleWorks. If you have AppleWorks, let me know & I'll send you a blank copy of the database that you can modify as needed. It has most of the fields you want, as well as some that might be useful that you haven't mentioned. I have also moved the data from that database to a Numbers spreadsheet, but I would still use AppleWorks for printing a directory.

Dick,

There are some templates out there and Peggy's advice is well worth considering. However, here is a chance for you to be creative with Numbers. You already have a list of data you wish to keep about your neighborhood. Some of the information is quite practical and others may be historical (not a bad thing). I, like Peggy, also have a list of neighbors and, as a matter of fact, my entire address book is in an AW database, but your question got me thinking about what could be done with Numbers.

The "500 Block" table is created based on some of the items you mentioned. It's the product of my first thoughts but should certainly be modified to fit individual needs. Since it seemed that a phone list was the first information I would want from this list, it was designed. But depending on how you plan to use this table, there are a whole host of additional possibilities. For example, if you're interested in children's birth dates and those were placed in a separate column, a table that selects children born in a given month could be designed.

Notes and memos also could be designed and printed. This may be practical for a small number, but as Peggy points out, Numbers lacks a mail merge and printing is difficult.

Basically, I don't care for templates, They are often too confining and don't follow the pattern of my thinking. So here is the chance for you to be creative and design the project to your own specifications and needs.

pw

This is actually the type thing that Bento was made for. I have it now and have used it for a few small projects like this. Works fine. It does cost a little bit more money, but for a database, not much at all. (I still had to wait till someone else bought it for me, couldn't justify it when I know Mysql.)


Jason