Sales > Contact Manager > CM-L Enter Form Letters

CM-L Enter Form Letters

Purpose of Program

Use this program to create form letters for use by AR-P Generate Dun Letters.

Form letters can be designed to automatically bring in selected fields from the account master file, customer master file, and AR transactions file into your letter at specified points.

You can create form letters, memos, faxes, and AR collection letters (dun letters) by specifying margins, page lengths, and other parameters.

Field Explanations

Code

A user defined code which identifies the form letter. This is a 15 character alphanumeric field.

Desc

A description of the form letter. This is a 30 character alphanumeric field.

#Chr Lft Mrg

This controls the left hand margin of your letter. Text form letters will print using standard 10 characters/inch spacing. So, if you want your left margin to be one inch in from the left, you would enter a 10 in this field. Whenever you enter a new line on the entry screen, the program will start the line indented by the number of characters specified in this field. There is no field for specifying the right hand margin; you would simply cease entering characters beyond your right hand margin point.

Lns/Pg

The number of lines per page. The default is 66, which is for a full 11 inch letter size. Form letters will print using standard 6 lines per inch vertical spacing. If your form letter is to be printed on a smaller sheet, such as a memo, enter the appropriate number of lines in this field.

Start Ln Pg2

If your form letter exceeds one page in length, indicate how many lines down you want printing to begin on the second and succeeding pages.

Dun Ltr?

If this form letter is to be used by AR-P Generate Dun Letters, enter a Y in this field. Whenever a dun letter is printed for a customer, the Last Dun? field and date in the customer's master record will be updated.

Cur Line

This shows you the line number that you are currently entering. This field is for reference only.

Total

The total number of lines that currently comprise the form letter. This field is for reference only.

General Program Operation

Give your form letter a code and description. Specify the number of characters you want the left margin indented by, then accept or change the number of lines per page specification.

If your letter will print on more than one page, enter the starting line number on which page two and succeeding pages are to begin printing. If this form letter is to be dun letter for AR collections, enter a Y in the Dun Ltr? field.

Begin typing your letter in the entry area in the middle of the screen. Type the letter exactly as you wish it to print. As you advance to a new line, the cursor will automatically be indented by the number of characters specified in the #Chr Lft Mrg field.

When you are finished entering your form letter, press F10 (or click on the Save button) to save it.

Using Inserts

You can insert selected fields from the account file, customer file, and AR transactions file into your form letter. To do so locate your cursor at the spot you wish to insert a field value. Press F2 (or click on the Display Inserts button) and a list of available inserts will be presented in a pop-up window. Highlight the insert you want and press <Enter>. The insert name will now be in your document, surrounded on both sides by two @@ symbols. The insert field value will print where the first @ symbol is located.

The following inserts are available:

Date

This insert will default to your computer's system date when the form letter is printed. If you don't want to use your system date, an alternative would be to type in the actual date without using an insert and modify the date on the form letter each time it gets printed.

Contact Name

The person to whom the letter is addressed. If you select this insert, you will be presented with another pop-up window which will ask you which of the nine contacts you want.

Title

The title of the person to whom the letter is addressed. If you select this insert, you will be presented with another pop-up window which will ask you which of the nine contact titles you want.

Company Name

The company name from the account file.

Address Block - Acct

The address block will bring in the complete address (address 1 thru 3, city, state, and zip) from the account file. If the account record does not use all three address lines, the address block will automatically squeeze the address so there are no blank lines within the address.

Address Block - Cust

The address block will bring in the complete address (address 1 thru 3, city, state, and zip) from the customer file. If the customer record does not use all three address lines, the address block will automatically squeeze the address so there are no blank lines within the address.

Dear (Name)

The Dear field from the account file. If you select this insert, you will be presented with an additional pop-up window which will ask you which of the nine contact names you with which you wish to associate this field.

AR Block

This is a set of fields from the AR transactions file that can be used within the body of the letter to show the status of unpaid invoices. The AR block consists of the invoice number, invoice date, original amount, remaining amount, and age in days. These fields will all be located on the same line, and the line must be dedicated to this insert. When the form letter gets printed, an AR block line will be printed for each open (not fully paid) invoice for each customer.

Address 1-3

The address lines from the account file.

City

The City field from the account file.

State

The State field from the account file.

Zip

The Zip field from the account file.

Country

The Country field from the account file.

Invoice No

The invoice number from the AR transactions file. This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.

Invoice Date

The invoice date from the AR transactions file. This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.

Invoice Desc

The invoice description from the AR transactions file. This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.

Orig Amt

The original invoice dollar amount (from the AR transaction file). This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.

Rem Amt

The invoice amount remaining to be paid (from the AR transaction file). This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.

Age

The age, in days, of the invoice (from the AR transaction file). This field must be on its own line (with other AR transaction file fields) because there can be multiple lines printed if the customer has multiple open (not fully paid) invoices.