In this part of the tutorial you are going to use Merge to send reminders to several members of a golf club who have not yet paid their subscriptions.
You are going to learn how to:
The Data file holds the variable information. It can be one of three types of file:
In this exercise you are going to use a CSV file. The file has been saved from a database and has this format:
"Firstname","Surname","Address"
"David","Rushden","16 Aintree Road"
"John","Chapell","23 Union Lane"
"Julian","Richardson","The Willows"
The information about each member is divided into fields which are separated with commas. The names of these fields have been saved in the first line of the file.
The Template document has the names of the fields inserted into it at the position you want the information to go:
«Firstname» «Surname»
«Address»
Date as postmark
Dear «Firstname»
I am writing to tell you that...
You are going to create the 'reminder' Template document from a Stationery pad that already has the styles you need for letter writing (similar to the one created in Exercise eight).
A new 'Untitled' document will be opened which is a copy of the Stationery pad used to create it.
It has the name of the golf club running across the top and has three additional paragraph styles - Date, Title and Address.
Next you are going to show the Template document which Data file to use.
You do this by dragging the Data file into a merge dialogue.
The Merge File dialogue will appear.
The pathname of the file will be automatically entered into the File : writable icon.
If the Headings option icon is turned 'on', (the normal condition) the field names are taken from the first line in the data file and appended to the Merge submenu.
If EasiWriter finds a blank item in the list of field names it creates a name. The first field without a name would be called Field1 the next Field2 and so on.
Next you are going to insert some of the field names into the document to set up the address:
Note: It is important to use Adjust so that the menu remains open after you make the choice.
The field name will be inserted into the document at the caret position. It will be enclosed in angle brackets « ».
The next three fields didn't have names so EasiWriter has called them Field6, Field7 and Field8.
Next you are going to add the date.
The date will be inserted at the caret position.
A style has already been created to control the format of the date.
The date will be reformatted to use the Date paragraph style which is right aligned, with 36 points additional space both above and below.
Next you are going to start a new line and use the normal paragraph style.
The style indicator will now show that you are using the default paragraph style.
The next part of the letter is a bold centred heading. A style called Title has been created which will format this for you automatically.
The document is now ready to be merged with the Data file to produce the form letters.
The actual merging is done just before you print the letters.
The Print dialogue will appear.
The print dialogue has two option icons Merge and Preview which control merging.
The first letter will be previewed on the screen and the Print dialogue will appear:
Note: It is possible to make changes to a form letter before it is printed, but take care as any changes made will be carried forward to the next letter. They can of course be edited out.
When you have merged all the letters the Print dialogue will disappear.
That completes this exercise. In it you have learnt how to: