Process to Create MS Word Merge Letters in iMIS©
Detailed steps to do this are in the iMIS Customer Management manual, the Word merge notes start at the
bottom of page 237.
There a two ways to get to the merge letters dialog window. One is for individual letters and one is for
mass (Ad-Hoc Query) letters.
Method 1 is to select ‘Generate Reports’ on the left hand menu. This allows you to use an Ad-Hoc query
and mass merge letters.
Then the ‘Letter System’ button is available.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 111 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Method 2 involves simply selecting the ‘Letters’ tab in the History frame while in a individual record iMIS.
This is the individual letter method.
Then click the ‘New Letter’ button.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 222 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
IMPORTANT:
Insure MS Word is closed before you edit or create or merge a letter in iMIS. Let iMIS open MS Word.
Click either ‘New’ to create a new letter or select a letter and click ‘Edit’ to modify an existing one.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 333 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
In the top text box type a representative name (you may use spaces) that describes the letter contents and
will be the name users will view in iMIS. In the lower text box type what will be used as the file name
using an underscore where a space exists in the letter name.
For example:
Report Title: Test Letter
Report File: Test_Letter
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 444 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
iMIS will open MS Word. The mail merge toolbar will be visible. Note the ‘Insert Merge Fields’ button.
This is where you will select the merge fields from iMIS to insert into the letter.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 555 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
As you begin to type your letter click on the ‘Insert Merge Fields’ toolbar button, select the data field from
iMIS and click the ‘Insert’ button anywhere you want to insert merged data from iMIS.
Do not use the Name.FULL_ADDRESS or Name_Address.FULL_ADDRESS fields as the empty fields
will not print correctly. Use the address components individually. See the test letter for an example.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 666 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Adding Fields from the iMIS User Defined (UD) Tables (the custom
ARDC tabs you see in iMIS)
Create the letter first; leave some blank space for the custom ARDC data in iMIS. Once the letters is
created save it and close.
First we must edit the iMIS Report Spec to add the custom table name and field name.
In iMIS select Utilities from the menu bar then the top option ‘Report Specs’.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 777 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Find the letter record in question. Click ‘Parameters’, then click ‘Edit’.
Add custom1 to the Main Tables text box like below.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 888 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Then take your mouse and click once in the Report Fields text box.
Press the keystroke combination Ctrl-Z. The window will expand like the one above. Add the fields you
want to include (all will probably come from the custom1 table) at the end of the list. Use the proper table
and field name. If you add more than 1 field remember the order in which you added them. Click OK and
Save and you may close all these Report Spec windows.
Page
P
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 999 of
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
w
w
w
m
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Next we need to add the new fields to the MS Word merge header document already created by iMIS.
Detailed steps to do this are in the iMIS Customer Management manual , the Word merge notes start at the
bottom of page 237. The steps to add the new field to the header document begin at the bottom of page
243.
Basically you have to add a new column to a MS Word table. The ASI documentation is a bit unclear on
how to do this and it helps to know MS Word tables. Open the document in the o:\MSWORD\ folder and
choose the header version (you will see 3 files for each letter). Click with your mouse in the far right hand
column and using your mouse select Table from the main menu bar, then Insert, then ‘Columns to the
Right’ option. This should insert the empty column. Then just add in your field name. If you added in
more than 1 field you must add a column to the table for each field in the same order.
IMPORTANT NOTE: MS Word will probably try and capitalize the first letter of whatever you type in
the new column. This presents a problem if the need is to begin with lower case, you either have to turn the
MS Word Auto-Correct option off or edit the document twice to preserve the lower case.
Save this header document. Close MS Word. Using iMIS open the Letter System dialog box again and
click ‘Merge’ to view the new data.
Page
P
1100 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 10
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Inserting Standard MS Word Merge Fields
To insert today’s date, select ‘Insert’ from the main menu bar. Then choose ‘Field’
Page
P
1111 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 11
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Scroll down the list of field names until you see date, choose the appropriate formatting option and click
‘OK’.
Page
P
1122 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 12
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Special Formatting of Merge Fields – Including Dates
There may be special formatting needed for dates. Once all the fields are set in the Word document and
you run the merge and you see a date you think is formatted incorrectly or not the way you want it you can
edit the merge field and apply a format.
See page 245 to view some of the MS Word formatting options.
To apply the formatting codes you must enter a special view that exposes the merge fields. You type AltF9 and the special view appears that displays the merge fields differently than the normal Word view.
Alt+F9 displays all field codes and Shift+F9 does this for a specific field when you have the cursor in it.
For example by inserting a \@ “M/d/yyyy” (short-date format, mm/dd/yyyy) after the field name, then
press Alt-F9 again to return to the normal MS Word view and save the document the date prints like this:
10/22/1986
Page
P
1133 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 13
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
To Insert a Date in the Future
To insert a date in the future we have created a special method. You run a MS Word Macro and it inserts
the date wherever the cursor is positioned in the document. To run the Macro each workstation must have
it installed. See the last page of this document for how to do this.
Position the cursor where you want the future date to go.
Run the macro by selecting Tools from the main menu bar, then Macros. This opens the Macros dialog
window.
IMPORTANT NOTE: This macro inserts the date, 22 days from the date that you insert it into the MS
Word document. It does NOT change. If you use the letter again, you must find the date and re-insert it
using the macro again.
Page
P
1144 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 14
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
The Macros window opens and you click the Run button to insert the date.
Page
P
1155 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 15
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Here is the test letter with a date 22 days in the future.
Page
P
1166 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 16
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
Technical Notes
Here is the macro to add 22 days to today’s date and insert it in the MS Word document where the cursor
is.
Sub Add_22_DaysOut_Date()
'
' Add_22_DaysOut_Date Macro
' Macro created 03/13/07 by ARDC
'
Selection.InsertBefore Format((Date + 22), "d MMMM yyyy")
End Sub
To add it to MS Word simply open Word, select Tools from the main menu bar, then Macros. The Macros
dialog window opens. Add in a macro name and hit Create. The VBA edit window opens and just copy in
this line of code:
.InsertBefore Format((Date + 22), "d MMMM yyyy")
The entire macro is above. The name does not matter.
Then just hit the save toolbar button and close the window.
Page
P
1177 of
ooff 18
1188
Paaggee 17
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII
If you have any questions, please contact BSCI:
Phone:
FAX:
Email:
Website:
(312) 553-1253
(312) 553-1256
[email protected]
www.bscichicago.com
P
P
Paaagggeee 111888 ooofff 111888
B
B
m
C
Buuusssiiinnneeessssss SSSyyysssttteeem
msss C
Cooonnnsssuuullltttaaannntttsss,,, IIInnnccc...
w
m
w
w
w
ww
ww
w...bbbsssccciiiccchhhiiicccaaagggooo...cccooom
m
©
©
W
G
B
C
©JJJW
WG
G///B
BSSSC
CIII