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Configuring Mail Merge Letters

Updated this week

In each workbench you can generate letters to send to one or more individuals or companies. You need to set up a mail merge document in Word, using a datafile that Coins ERP+ generates. On some letters, you can include information from the relevant captions.

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To configure a letter:

  1. Configure the letter record:

    1. Go to Letter Configuration.

    2. Use the filter to display the letter type you want to add.

    3. Click Add (Add Button) to add a new letter.

    4. Fill in the fields (refer to the side-frame help).

    5. Select any captions that you want to include in the letter.

    6. For purchaser letters, select any utility companies that you want to include information about.

    7. Click Save (Save Icon) to save the letter.

      The letter description will appear on the Options menu for the relevant workbench.

  2. Generate a sample data file that you can use to set up the Word document:

    • If the letter will be run from an event, run that letter event.

    • If there is a mail shot function in Coins ERP+, run that to generate the data file.

      Coins ERP+ saves the data file (either in the location you specified in Letter Configuration,or in a temporary folder on your PC, depending on the HS/OAMMDF parameter), but since the Word document does not yet exist, it produces an error.

  3. Create a mail-merge letter in Word, using the data file as the data source. Note that there are various merge fields for the different people on the record; the combined name fields, like Combined_Names and Combined_Full_Names, will be different depending on whether the letter is configured to create a single letter, one per address, or one per person.

  4. Save the document. Depending on the setting of the HS/OAMMDOC parameter, either:

    • put the document in the /word/ subdirectory of the Coins ERP+ environment on the Coins ERP+ server.

    • put the document in the location you specified in Letter Configuration.

    • The filename must be the same as the name you entered in the Document field.

Now when a user chooses the letter from the workbench Options menu, Coins ERP+ generates the mail merge and opens the Word document in a new window.

Letter configuration

To use mail merge features, you need to download and run the COINS-MailMerge.exe file, to install the COINS Mailmerge helper. Download the file.

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