Setup Letter

NAVIGATION: TOOLS menu > Merge Setup

1.  Enter a unique Code for the letter/form.  Codes cannot be changed after they are saved
2. Enter a unique Description. Descriptions may be changed at any time. Descriptions must be unique.
3. Select a Letter Type of Standard Employee Letter/Form
4. Enter the number of Pages the letter will have. The number of pages can be edited later if needed
5. Press PICK SAMPLE and select an employee (optional - this will not be a permanent part of the letter but may help show some information during the design)
6. Press DESIGN to open the Edit Layout
7. Press CANCEL on the Project Wizard
8. Uncheck Base and Following Pages under Layers on the upper left of the view

Include a Letterhead Shared Component Template

You can skip if you do not have one setup or if you do want one on this letter.

NAVIGATION:  PROJECT menu > Include and press the icon to open the dialog box

1. Browse to where the letterhead template is stored
2. Highlight the file and press OPEN
3. Press OK (the letterhead should now be shown on the page)

Add Current Date

This step will put the date on the letter/form.  The date will always print with the actual date the letter was printed.

1. Press TEXT icon
2. Go to the page, hold down the left mouse button and draw a box where you want the date to be
3. Double click the box to open Paragraph Properties
4. Press the  icon or double click the dotted lines
5. Press the Date Format tab
6. Highlight a date style and press INSERT 
7. Press OK twice to close all dialog boxes - the current date will now be shown in the text box
8. The box can be moved anywhere on the page

Add an Employee's Address

1. Press the + in front of the Employee folder under the list of variables on the right side of the view to open the list
   1. Use the left mouse button to press Full name - keep the button down and "drag" Full_Name over onto the page and release the button - a box will appear
   2. NOTE: The box will look empty in preview unless a "sample" was picked - but will have the head of household's full name when the letter is printed.
2. Further down the listing under Family find Address1 or Address2 lines - repeat the "drag" and drop action to drag unit or mailing address lines over - drop them into the same box that Full name was dropped into
3. For City, State and Zip look for the City_State_Zip (do not add City, State, etc separately)and repeat the drag and drop process into the same box
4. Double click the box to open it
5. Look at the order of the listed lines
6. Use the up or down arrows  to move lines that may be out of order, if applicable
7. Press OK to close the box
8. The box can be moved anywhere on the page
9. NOTE:  Other variables can be "dragged and dropped" in the same manor and placed or moved around the page.

Add the Body of the Letter

1. P ress the  formatted text icon on the left side of the view
2. Go to the page and while holding down the left mouse button - "draw" a box for the body of the letter (the box position and size can be adjusted anytime)
3. On the left side of the view under Properties (underneath Layers)
   1. Change Page Break = Yes to No
   2. A formatted text box should always have the Page Break property set to No or forms/letters with more than one formatted text box will not print properly
4. Double click the Formatted Text box to open it
5. Type the information into the body of the letter - there is no spell checker - can do some formatting of the text, i.e. bold, underline, etc.
   1. Information can also be copied from a Word document
      1. Open the Word document
      2. Highlight the text that is to be copied
      3. use CTRL+C to copy the highlighted text
      4. in the open Formatted Text box use CTRL+V to paste the text
6. When information has been entered, press APPLY and then OK to save the information and close the formatted text box

Add a Merge Variable into the Body of the Letter

1. With the Formatted Text box open and the cursor where you want to have the variable appear.
2. Press the  icon.
   1. NOTE:  Variables with a # sign need assistance to insert correctly - variables with an A usually do not
3. Number Variable
   1. Press the Number Format tab
   2. Highlight and insert the first number in the list -{Number} will be highlighted do not change that
   3. Press the Data and Functions tab to open the list
   4. Press the + beside the Variables folder to open the list
      1. Double click a # field
      2. The highlighted {Number} will be replaced with the variable value (in our example it will show Fstr$(Employee.Local.Effective_Rate,"#####&.##") in the window and 0.00 below the window.
         1. NOTE:  if we had selected a "sample" using the PICK SAMPLE, we should see the employee's effective rate amount.
      3. Press OK to close the Edit Function box and return to the formatted text box
   5. Press APPLY and OK to save the information and close the formatted text box when done.

Finish the letter

1. When the letter is completed, press  close icon to close the Edit Layout,
2. if information has not been saved, the user will be prompted to save changes, press YES unless you do not want to save the information.
3. The letter template will be available to print from the Employee Master or Print Batch Letters. 

NEED MORE HELP?  Submit a ticket to the Help Desk or call (814) 535-7810 or (800) 889-3388