This section describes EasiWriter's merge facility.
Merging is the ability to produce several similar documents by combining variable information from a Data file with a Template into several Merged documents.
A Data file contains the information (often names and addresses) that will vary from one document to the next.
"Total: £","Date due:","Firstname:","Surname:","Address:","","","","Salutation:","Sign off:"
125.00,"31/3/92","David","Rushden","16 Aintree Road","Bury St Edmunds","Suffolk",
"IP23 4DX","Mr Rushden","Yours sincerely"
125.00,"31/3/92","John","Chapell","23 Union Lane","Southampton","Hampshire","PO12 R45","Chairman","Your obedient servant"
105.00,"31/3/92","Julian","Richardson","The Willows","Little Sheperdston","Braintree",
"Essex CM21 2AT","Julian","Kind regards"
The Template document contains the fixed information, that is common to all documents, and the position and names of the variables that will be inserted from the Data file.
«Firstname» «Surname»
«Address»
«Field6»
«Field7»
«Field8»
Wednesday, May 20th, 1992
Dear «Salutation»
Overdue fees
I am writing to you to ask you if you would please pay your subscription which became due on the «Date due»
At the time of writing your account stands at £ «Total due»
I look forward to receiving your remittance by return post.
«Sign off»
Membership Secretary
The Merge documents are created by combining the Variables from the Data file with the Template document.
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:
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.
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.
Name
| Melanie Lee | 78 | 55 | 46 | 82 | 45 | 1st |
| James Brown | 67 | 45 | 87 | 34 | 67 | 2nd |
| Mike Smith | 56 | 67 | 32 | 78 | 43 | 3rd |
That completes the table.
When you have finished you need to save the document.
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.
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».
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.
The document is now ready for printing.
That concludes this 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?
This completes the tutorial. Now you should build on your knowledge by experimenting. Try creating your own styles for structures, paragraphs and emphasis. Create and use your own Stationery pads.
Use the information contained in Chapter two to help you; it contains detailed information on each of EasiWriter's features and commands. Look at the examples provided on disc for more help in using EasiWriter.