The Mail Merge Export Profile Menu gives you access to the modules that maintain and manage mail merge profiles.
The Mail Merge Profile allows you to define the rules for creating a data file to use as a merge document or import into a database or spreadsheet. To use this profile there are several methods which must be followed. They will be covered later in this section.
Mail Merge Profile Additions
The Mail Merge Profile Maintenance modules let you add, change, delete, and view mail merge profiles.
Export Code
Enter an export code (up to 10 characters). This code is used to identify the type export you wish to perform. Search to view valid export/merge codes.
Description
Enter up to 30 characters of description.
Delimiter
Enter your delimiter. This is a single character (generally a comma, although other characters are used) used to separate the data in the export file. If in doubt check the documentation of the product you wish to import the data in to.
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Each entry under the headings, Character, Rule, Modifier represents a Method of handling a character in your data. At present there are 6 Methods available to define a profile. There are 3 basic guidelines which must be followed to allow this profile to function correctly.
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Methods which require items be enclosed must come first.
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A Method must be defined to handle an occurrence of your delimiting character in your data.
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The character used to enclose data must not be used as a preceding, following or replacement modifier.
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Character
Enter the character this Method will act on, for example if text containing a comma must be enclosed in quotes you would enter a comma in this field. There are also several keywords which can be entered, these are:
TAB - This represents the TAB character.
TEXT - This represents any TEXT field.
Further keywords will be added when required.
Rule
Enter the action this Method will take when one of the characters entered in the previous field is encountered. There are four single character options:
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Code |
Description |
|---|---|
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E |
Enclose the field containing the character with the modifier |
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P |
Precede the character with the modifier |
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F |
Follow the character with the modifier |
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R |
Replace the character with the modfier |
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L |
Convert upper case to lower case |
Modifier
Enter a character the Method will use to modify the data field, (single character entry. Space has been allocated for keywords in the event they become necessary, at present there are no keywords available. Note: If you use the 'L' rule to convert upper to lower case, put a '*' in both the character and modifier fields.
Mail Merge/Export Profile Report
The Mail Merge/Export Profile Report provides a listing of all merge export profiles. The following report displays the most common merge/export profiles used.