| If you've already used one of WordPerfect's built-in templates or projects which inserts your personal information into a document, you can probably skip the first step altogether. |
| Setting up Personal Information |
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On the menu bar, click File | New (in WP 9, it is File | New from Project). |
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Click the Options button and select Personal information from the popup menu. |
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If your name and address are listed in the Address Book, move to it and click the Select button. If not, create an entry in your Address Book and then select it. |
| Creating the Prompts |
| First you will need to create a new template. Then follow these steps: |
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On the property bar, click the button labeled Build Prompts. |
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On the Prompt Builder dialog, click the Add button. |
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For the name of the prompt, type Greeting and link it to the Address Book field of the same name by selecting it from the drop down list box of field names. Then click OK. |
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Repeat the previous step and add prompts named First Name, Last Name, Address, City, State, and Zip Code, linking them to fields in the Address Book with the same name (you can use different names for your prompts, but this keeps things simple). |
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Add another prompt named Re but do not link it to any Address Book field. |
| If you want to move a prompt up or down in your list, you can do so by selecting it in the Build Prompts dialog and clicking the button at the bottom labeled Move up or Move down. |
| Note: We will be inserting a date code in this example which automatically places a self-updating date in the letter. Techniques for changing this to normal date text are discussed elsewhere. You can create a prompt named Date if you just want to manually type in the date every time you want to create a new letter. |
| Inserting the Prompts |
| Now we will create a skeleton of our letter and insert our prompts where appropriate. Keep the Build Prompts dialog open as you do this. You will be able to switch back and forth from your document to the dialog though you may need to drag the dialog out of your way. Switch from the dialog to the document by clicking on the document twice. |
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Right justify the text (Ctrl-R) and insert a date code (Shift-Ctrl-D or Insert | Date/Time with the option to Keep the inserted date current checked). Today's date will be displayed. Press the Enter/Return key on the keyboard. |
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In the Build Prompts dialog, select the button labeled Personal and select Address from the list displayed. Click the Paste button. This will result in <Address> being pasted into your letter template. |
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Press the Enter/Return key to start a new line. The Personal Fields dialog should still be open. Paste the City field from the list provided. Type a comma (,) into your document and a space. Then move back onto the Personal Fields dialog and paste the State field into the document. Enter one or two spaces and likewise paste the Zip Code field into your letter template. |
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Press the Enter/Return key two or three times and press Ctrl-L to left justify the text. |
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In the Prompt Builder dialog, select the Greeting field and then click the Paste button. |
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Paste the remaining fields for the inside address into the document by pasting the appropriate fields where needed, being mindful to type in spaces and hard returns where needed. |
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After the inside address is completed, press two hard returns and one tab. Type Re. into the document (not italicized). Type one or two spaces and paste the field in named Re. |
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Insert two hard returns and type in Dear followed again by the fields Greeting, First Name, and Last Name. |
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Insert two more returns and a tab. Then insert a Quickmark (Tools | Bookmark and click the button labeled Set QuickMark). This will move your insertion point exactly where you will normally begin typing when creating a new document from this template. |
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Now insert two more hard returns and 6 tabs (assuming 1/2 inch tab stops), type a letter closing such as Sincerely, followed by three hard returns and another 6 tabs. |
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Now go back to the Build Prompts dialog and paste the personal info field named Name or the fields First Name and Last Name. |
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In the Build Prompts dialog, click the OK button. It will take several seconds for WordPerfect to generate the prompts you have created. |
| Now just save it into an appropriately named group such as Correspondence, Business and give it an appropriate name such as Standard Letter. |
| Testing the Template |
| Test your new template by clicking File | New, select the group in which you saved the letter (Correspondence, Business) from the drop down list, and then select the name of the template you just created. |
| If you move to any of the fields linked to the Address Book, you can fill in all the related fields by selecting the Address Book icon labeled Recipient Information and selecting a person from that list. If one of the fields is not filled out in the Address Book (e.g., Greeting), you can type that in manually. In fact, you can manually type in all the fields in the event the contact is not listed in the Address Book. You will need to manually fill in the field named Re. |
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| When finished filling in the prompts, click OK and the relevant address information will be inserted into the document, leaving you with the task of composing the body of the letter. |
| Using template prompts greatly increases the power of your WordPerfect templates. You can increase the power of templates even more through the use of template macros. That, however, is covered in the next topic. |