VUMC Post Office Station 17 - Download Data Page

POST OFFICE STATION 17

Data
Downloads

Below you can choose to download the Medical Center department name and address list. The information is downloaded as a text file, formatted to import easily into Excel. Text was chosen because it is relatively simple and quick to transfer this type of file out of the server. Excel is installed on virtually every workstation in the Medical Center, and can save a number of file formats compatible with other software packages. (NOTE: these directions have been tested and work with most software. Due to occasional browser differences, though, we cannot absolutely guarantee success.)
Basically, you will see the information you select in your browser screen. Choose File/Save As, type a name followed by .csv, and save the file in text format. You can then open it in Excel.
Detailed instructions on how to complete this process appear at the bottom of this page, or you can download a PDF with the same information here. You may wish to print these instructions and keep them handy while going through the downloading process.
NOTE: After some experience, we have found that the key that users often need to complete this process successfully is buried in the last two sentences on this page--it is a COMMA and not a TAB delimited file. This is what you need to select in the Excel text wizard's second screen.


DEPARTMENT ADDRESSES
*Points to Note:* There are more department names in this file than there are campus zip codes. For instance, Medical Scientist Training Program operates in conjunction with Biomedical Research Education & Training and shares its address. Thus zip code (0301) appears more than once. These records are not accidental duplicates, but are included for completeness and convenience in referencing each of the Medical Center's activities. All department names appear alphabetically. If you just need to search for an address or two, you may do so online without downloading the file—click here. This list is intended as an offline reference document. It is not recommended that mailing labels be generated from this information, as there is a simpler way to distribute materials to each department. To see how, see our Frequently Asked Questions here. DOWNLOAD FILE

DEPARTMENT ADDRESSES

Points to Note:

There are more department names in this file than there are campus zip codes. For instance, Medical Scientist Training Program operates in conjunction with Biomedical Research Education & Training and shares its address. Thus zip code (0301) appears more than once. These records are not accidental duplicates, but are included for completeness and convenience in referencing each of the Medical Center's activities.

All department names appear alphabetically.

If you just need to search for an address or two, you may do so online without downloading the file—click here.

This list is intended as an offline reference document. It is not recommended that mailing labels be generated from this information, as there is a simpler way to distribute materials to each department. To see how, see our Frequently Asked Questions here.

DOWNLOAD FILE

PROPER USE
Address data from Post Office Station 17 files is furnished to Vanderbilt departments only for purposes of mail forwarding, address correction, or other postal purposes.
NEW AND RELOCATING DEPARTMENTS
New or changed address information will usually reflect in the downloadable lists about 2 weeks before the expected move date, in order to allow time for users to update their files.
CORRECTIONS
If you become aware of any typographical or other errors in this data, please e-mail us here.

HOME

DOWNLOADING ADDRESS DATA INTO EXCEL
CHOOSE DATA Select the data list(s) you wish to download. Lists are generated from the server at the time you make your selection and this may take a minute or two. VIEW DATA Your browser screen will fill with data. Each data field is surrounded by quotation marks and fields are separated by commas. This is CSV format, which stands for Comma Separated Values, although it is often called a comma- delimited file. SAVE DATA Choose File from your browser's menu bar, and then Save As. At the top of the window that appears, the Save In box shows you where the file will be saved. Change this if you want it to go into a different subdirectory. At the bottom of this window, type a name for your file inside the File Name box, followed by the file extension .CSV (the file extension is important!). Below that, you will see the Save as Type box. Click the down arrow at the right of this box and choose Plain Text. Then click Save. USE DATA Once your CSV data is on disk, you can easily open it in Excel (although it will take slightly longer to load than a native Excel file). You can print it for reference, or save it back to disk again in Excel's own XLS file format (using File/Save As on the Excel menu). You can then use Word to set up a mail merge document. Alternatively, Excel has several file type options under Save As, and you may be able to use one of them to put the data into a format that your favorite database program can read. NOTES l A handful of browsers may not support the Save As function after a text download. In this case you can try selecting the text on the screen and pasting it into your spreadsheet or word processor. We cannot guarantee that this will give a usable data file, however. l The normal style for a campus zip code is to write it in parentheses: (0050). However, Excel sees this as accounting notation for a negative number and changes it to -50. For this reason, campus zips in these files are downloaded within square brackets instead: [0050]. l Addresses are updated frequently. The date of the download is printed at the bottom of each list to help you remember how old the data is. If you use these lists on a continuing basis, we recommend coming back to the page occasionally and doing a fresh download to make sure you have the most current information. l If you accidentally download the file with something other than the .CSV extension (say, HTM), you can still use it. Try opening it in Excel, and Excel will realize it's a text file and bring up the Text Import Wizard. The Wizard will try to guess how to handle the file; one of its guesses will be right and the other one wrong, so you need to make one change to read your data correctly. The first Wizard screen will show that you have a delimited file. You do, so you can click Next. The next screen will show that it is tab-delimited (tab characters between fields). It isn't, so you need to check the Comma box instead. Then click Finish.

DOWNLOADING ADDRESS DATA INTO EXCEL

CHOOSE DATA
Select the data list(s) you wish to download. Lists are generated from the server at the time you make your selection and this may take a minute or two.
VIEW DATA
Your browser screen will fill with data. Each data field is surrounded by quotation marks and fields are separated by commas. This is CSV format, which stands for Comma Separated Values, although it is often called a comma- delimited file.
SAVE DATA
Choose File from your browser's menu bar, and then Save As. At the top of the window that appears, the Save In box shows you where the file will be saved. Change this if you want it to go into a different subdirectory. At the bottom of this window, type a name for your file inside the File Name box, followed by the file extension .CSV (the file extension is important!). Below that, you will see the Save as Type box. Click the down arrow at the right of this box and choose Plain Text. Then click Save.
USE DATA
Once your CSV data is on disk, you can easily open it in Excel (although it will take slightly longer to load than a native Excel file). You can print it for reference, or save it back to disk again in Excel's own XLS file format (using File/Save As on the Excel menu). You can then use Word to set up a mail merge document. Alternatively, Excel has several file type options under Save As, and you may be able to use one of them to put the data into a format that your favorite database program can read.
NOTES
l A handful of browsers may not support the Save As function after a text download. In this case you can try selecting the text on the screen and pasting it into your spreadsheet or word processor. We cannot guarantee that this will give a usable data file, however.
l The normal style for a campus zip code is to write it in parentheses: (0050). However, Excel sees this as accounting notation for a negative number and changes it to -50. For this reason, campus zips in these files are downloaded within square brackets instead: [0050].
l Addresses are updated frequently. The date of the download is printed at the bottom of each list to help you remember how old the data is. If you use these lists on a continuing basis, we recommend coming back to the page occasionally and doing a fresh download to make sure you have the most current information.
l If you accidentally download the file with something other than the .CSV extension (say, HTM), you can still use it. Try opening it in Excel, and Excel will realize it's a text file and bring up the Text Import Wizard. The Wizard will try to guess how to handle the file; one of its guesses will be right and the other one wrong, so you need to make one change to read your data correctly. The first Wizard screen will show that you have a delimited file. You do, so you can click Next. The next screen will show that it is tab-delimited (tab characters between fields). It isn't, so you need to check the Comma box instead. Then click Finish.