Hi All,

Can someone please tell me how to edit a letter already in the RE system? Thanks so much! melissa

[Melissa Siobhan]

Which kind of letter? They vary depending on how they were set up. Was it MAIL - Donor Acknowledgment. CONFIG - letters, or something else?

I am not quite sure. I am a little lost in this system. When I go into the "gifts" tab and then select a particular gift there is a drop down menu (on the right-hand side) of options of letter that I can choose to send the donor. Does that help? Thanks so much

[Melissa Siobhan]

Unfortunately that same drop down menu is used in MAIL and Config so I'll need to know how you run them.

[Harriet]

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissaheitz

I am not quite sure. I am a little lost in this system. When I go into the "gifts" tab and then select a particular gift there is a drop down menu (on the right-hand side) of options of letter that I can choose to send the donor. Does that help? Thanks so much

The "Letter Code" list that appears on Gift records allows you to indicate which of a variety of letter types you want used when running a conditional mail merge, from pretty much any mail program.

For example, if you are using conditional mail merge to produce tax receipts, donor acknowledgement letters, etc. ,with variable body text and/or layout, you can base that merge on the Letter Code. If that is the case, the only way to edit existing letters is to produce a "fake record" that is never marked as receipted, to be used for edting letters. I have a consituent called Edit R. Letter, on whose record I change the Letter Code ona dummy gift when I want to update/add conditional mail merge letters.

This is one of the processes I most hate in Raiser's Edge. I keep asking for a better way to edit letters without having to use false data.

[lanibersch]

OK, I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for. The letters that I use are added in config. so if you go to config, you can double click on the specific letter under the letter tab. Open the letter you want to edit. Then click edit export. After that window opens, then at the top, click edit merged document. Make your changes then back out by saving at each step. Does that make sense?

Lani in Baltimore

[nisaac]

i'm assuming you have the rights to change the letter. The changes you make will affect others who use Raiser's Edge. If you don't want that to happen, then change the letter after you pull it.

To modify a letter on the dropdown menu in a constituent record:
- choose Letter from the menu at the top of the constituent letter, then choose modify letter menu.
- choose edit export, choose edit merge document
- make the changes to the document
- then choose Save and Return to Raiser's Edge or if you are in Word 2007 Addins/Save and Return

Another way to get to this letter is through Config/ Letters. You basically edit the letter through the merge file/export.

Config/letters can be confusing.

[Melissa Siobhan]

Changing the letters in config only changes the letters that you can run individually from the constituent/gift record. It does not change or set up the letters in Mail - Donor acknowledgement letters (which is very unfortunate.)

[nisaac]

That is correct, Melissa, and a very cumbersome issue. You must change the letter in Mail by going through the Mail merge. We've struggled with this for awhile. Now we have a few conditional acknowledgement merges that run all our daily letters by batch. We output these letters to archive so that changes can be made as the letters move through our review process. We don't run acknowledgement letters through the constituent record.