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Table merge

Although most often used to create form letters for mail shots, merge can be used for other purposes as this short exercise will show. In it you will:

Data files can be CSV files, Tab separated text files and EasiWriter tables. In this exercise the Data File will be a Table.

Creating a table Data file

Tables can be selected and saved as a Tab separated text file but, provided a table is the first structure, an EasiWriter document can be used directly as a Data File.

Table cells can contain text, numbers, pictures and in TechWriter equations, all of which can be merged.

  1. Start a new EasiWriter document.
  2. Choose Table from the Structure menu and type:
Name 

  1. Press Tab to create a new column and type:
    English
  2. Complete the row by typing:
    Tab Maths Tab Science Tab History Tab Geography Tab Position
  3. Press Return to start a new row

Melanie Lee 78 55 46 82 45 1st

That completes the table.

Saving the
Data file

When you have finished you need to save the document.

  1. Open a directory viewer on the 'Tutorial' folder.
  2. Choose Document from the Save menu.
  3. Edit the name to 'Results' and drag the document icon into the 'Tutorial' directory.
  4. Close the document by clicking in its Close icon.

Opening the template

Next you are going to open a Template document which has already been created called 'Certify'. It is in the 'Tutorial' directory.

The document will open. You will see that it has merge fields in the text called «Field1» and «Field7».

You are going to add the missing ones, Fields 2 - 6, in the right hand column of the table.

Attaching the Data file

First you need to attach the data file you have created.

The Merge File dialogue will open.

You will see the headings have been added to the Merge menu.

Having 'seen' the data file EasiWriter updates the field names from «Field1» and «Field6» to «Name» and «Position».

Inserting fields from the keyboard

Pressing Ctrl-F1 followed by the field number is equivalent to choosing the field from the menu.

You are going to insert the fields for the subjects English (2) to Geography (6) into the right hand column of the table.

  1. Check that the caret is in front of the '%' in the cell where the 'English' results should go.
  2. Press Ctrl-F1 followed by 2. «English» is inserted in the cell.
  3. Move to the next cell (down arrow) and insert Field3.
  4. Repeat the process for fields 4-6.

The document is now ready for printing.

Printing the documents

That concludes this part of the tutorial. In this part you have learnt how to:

Now that you know how to create form letters you should practise your new skills. Why not see if you can send more mail shots to the Reader's Digest than they send to you?


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