Arena Word Merge Templates

Transcription

1 Arena Word Merge Templates (Course #A224) Presented by: Staci Sampson Shelby Contract Trainer 2018 Shelby Systems, Inc. Other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective holders.

2 Objective: Arena Word Merge allows users to merge all or selected names from a List, Tag or Group with an available Word Merge document. In this session you explore how to add to or edit the available Word Merge documents in your Arena program. The following topics are presented in this session: What is Word Merge in Arena? How to locate and open an existing Word Merge document How to edit the sample template into a more useful merge option How to determine the fields available for merging (the Excel download) How to create a Word Merge document using available Arena fields How to upload the new merge document into your Arena program **Appropriate for customers using any Arena Product (Hosted or Local) but processes may be slightly different. 2

3 What is a Word Merge in Arena? Introducing Word Merge Templates From any page where the Word icon is available, you can merge records from the active page with available Word documents. The Word Merge icon presents on the bottom right of a List, a Tag or a Group. You can either select specific records or merge all records from the active page. You can use this feature from any browser, although some browsers may require you to first download the merge document and then open the file while other browsers may allow you to open the merge document without downloading first. 1. Use the check boxes to select the specific records or do not select any records to include all records across all pages. To select all records across pages you do not need to select records or adjust page size. To select specific records across multiple pages you first need to change the page size to display all records (e.g., 24 for the below example). 3

4 2. Select the desired word document from the Word Merge pop-up window. Contact your Arena Administrator regarding additional or customized documents. Default label documents are formatted for Avery 5160 labels. 3. On the pop-up, you can select to open or save the document. Options vary by the browser you are using. Some browsers require you to save the file before opening. 4. When you are using the Word Merge option, Arena attempts to combine families in the results. If the husband and wife are selected, it prints with nick names. If the list contains more than 2 people in the family, it prints as the family name. See sample below. Many new templates can be created to use with the Word Merge functionality various label sizes, form letters, envelopes, tables, or even simple directories. The basic steps covered in this session are the same for any new Word Merge document. The only element that varies is the type of merge file you choose to create. EXAMPLES: 2X10 labels (Avery X 4 ): 4

5 Shipping Labels (Avery X 4 ): 5

6 Self-Adhesive Nametags (Avery X 3.38 ): First Time Visitor letter or Regular Attender letter or Membership Seminar invite: Envelopes: 6

7 What is the File Browser? Because Arena allows you to edit the default templates or create brand new templates that reflect the merge letter, label, nametag, or envelope designs that you desire, knowing where to access these templates for deletion, edit, or upload is the first task. For those who are in a hosted environment, a module is automatically added to your Arena Installation to allow you easy access. It is called the File Browser module and is located under Administration. This HOSTED File Browser looks like the screenshot below: Folder navigation on the left panel shows the Word Merge folder. When highlighted, the list of Word Merge documents that are currently available in your Arena program show in the list. 7

8 For those customers who are locally installed, you have a combination of options: o Option 1: For uploading & deleting, you can add a similar File Browser module to a new page in your Arena site if it is not currently installed. See your Arena Administrator for assistance. Many of the same items are present (list of Word Merge documents, buttons to upload new templates, links to delete existing documents) the layout is just different. o Option 2: You can access the Web server where the Arena program is installed, navigate to the file structure directly at the following path or something similar that reflects your local installation. (C:\Program Files (X86)\ArenaChMS\Arena\Content\WordMerge) From this program directory location, you can simply copy or paste a file into the folder. For those who do not have this level of access, you can send the file to your Arena Administrator to copy and paste for you or request a copy of the file for editing. NOTE: This option is the only way to download Regardless of the way you access the list of merge documents, once there, it is a simple matter to delete the sample files you don t need, download those you wish to edit, and upload those you wish to add. 8

9 Example #1: Edit an Existing Document As an example, you customize the First Time Visitor letter for a local church, Hill Country Bible Church. Screenshots below show the File Browser module used on Hosted sites. Let s walk through the process together. 1. Go to Administration --> File Browser Hosted Sites, navigate to the WordMerge folder and find the 1st Time Visitor letter. Right-click the Filename (First Time Visitor) and select Download. Save to your Desktop (or desired location). 9

10 Locally Installed sites using the File Browser, the list of files should load immediately. Click the link of the desired Word Merge file. The document will download and you can save it to your Desktop or a location of your choosing. NOTE: It s a good practice to create a folder to collect your Arena Word Merge Files. Whether on your local computer or on a shared drive, it helps to keep all files together related to this task for any future editing or redesigning you might need to do. 2. Open the file and review the sample setup. Note the Arena-specific placeholder fields already included for salutation and address. These stay the same for a basic letter so that makes it easy to use this SAMPLE to create your own merge documents. 3. Edit the letter to include your custom text, insert your church s logo, and format the file layout as desired (font, margins, spacing, etc.) NOTE: As an alternative, if you already have a form letter saved for first-time visitor, simply copy/paste the placeholder fields from this Arena sample letter (circled above) into the existing letters, format them to match and then follow the remaining steps to add to that letter in Arena. 10

11 4. Save your edited file with a custom name, and the file type of the oldest Word version that any of your Arena users would have installed on their systems. (e.g..doc). 5. Navigate back to Administration --> File Browser in Arena. Select the Word Merge folder. Click the Upload button on the toolbar. Click Select on the first row and then navigate to the location of your saved file; highlight it and click Open. Click Upload. Hosted: Locally installed: 6. Go to Administration. Click Refresh Cache. 7. Go to Membership > Public List and test the new document with a List result. 11

12 Example #2: Create a New Document There are 3 basic steps to creating a new Word Merge Template: (Word 2016 is used in this handout and all examples.) Summary: 1. Download an Excel file from Arena (to grab placeholder fields). 2. Create your merge file in Word. 3. Upload the finished template to your Arena site. Step 1: Download an Excel File 1. Go to Membership- > Public Lists. 2. Locate the List named 1st Time Visitors and run it (by clicking on the name of the List). 3. Click the Excel icon at the bottom right to download a file. 4. Open first, then Save As How this happens exactly depends on your browser and your download settings. 12

13 Choose the Open option from whatever browser you are using. Even though the exact process looks and feels a bit different with each browser, there is one thing all processes have in common it s not really an Excel file yet! Take the following steps every time you download an Excel File from Arena. o Click Yes to the message that appears about the file being in a different format than specified by the file extension. o After the file opens (even though it LOOKS LIKE it is an Excel file), click File > Save As and save the file as an.xls file type (the older version Excel Workbook). 13

14 Pay attention to location and name: 1. LOCATION Choose a location to save this file where you can easily retrieve and use it in the next step. I recommend designating a folder specifically for managing your Word Merge files. 2. NAME For clarity, I also recommend naming your EXCEL files with the word DATA or something that makes it quickly recognizable as a data source for a merge. WordMergeDATA_Tags.xls or WordMergeDATA_Lists.xls or WordMergeDATA_Events.xls NOTE: In the template building stage it does not matter WHO is in this file. The main goal is to export a file that contains the column headers you need in the Merge process. Make sure you can get back to it in the next step! NOW you are done with the first step! Let s talk about the difference in the fields/columns included in that Excel document based on WHERE you click that Excel Download button. The Excel download icon appears at the bottom of Tag Lists, Group Lists, Search lists, Public Lists/My Lists, and many other places. But each of these sources creates a file with somewhat different fields included. It s important to distinguish between them since those fields are what you use to create the Merge documents. I group the core lists into 3 categories for description purposes: 14

15 Tag or Group Member lists columns generated include basic fields (name fields, address fields, demographic fields, Volunteer Info fields, and Tag Info fields). Personal, Ministry, and Serving tags are mostly alike in the field generated. But an Event tag member list has significantly different fields of data and includes any custom registration fields created with the Show on List box checked. Search lists columns generated include basic fields (name fields, address fields, demographic fields, membership fields, Volunteer Info fields). Public List/My Lists columns generated include the fields marked as Required in List Configuration tables PLUS any additional fields selected in the process of building your List. All these core areas contain some common fields, such as name and address fields, but they also each have unique fields. The main thing to remember is make sure that you run the Excel Download file from the same place where you most commonly choose that Word Merge document. Every merge document does NOT necessarily work everywhere in the program. Labels, nametags, and letters work almost anywhere because they use the basic fields. But if you are building a more unique Word Merge document be careful! **See Appendix for a sample listing of fields included in the Excel download for each of these three areas. 15

16 Step 2: Create your Merge file in Word (EXAMPLE: LOGO NAMETAG). 1. Open Word and create a new document. 2. Click on the Mailings ribbon. Then select Start Mail Merge. (If you prefer, you can use the Mail Merge Wizard.) 3. For this example you create a Nametag design with a logo, so select the Labels option. 4. Select your label product and click OK. For our Nametag you use the Avery 5395 Self Adhesive option. 5. After the blank document opens, click on the Select Recipients button, and choose Use Existing List. This step is where you use the Excel file that you downloaded from Arena. 16

17 6. In the browse box, navigate to the location where you saved the Excel file. Click to highlight the file and then click Open. (You receive a Select Table dialog box confirming the worksheet to open. Click OK.) 7. The empty nametag label template appears. Click Insert Merge Field button to begin selecting the placeholder fields you wish to include in the Nametag design. This list of fields comes from your downloaded Excel file and, thus, appears in the correct naming syntax necessary for your WordMerge template to function correctly in your Arena program. 17

18 Click each field that you wish to insert into the label. In the next step, you format those fields to appear as desired. Insert nick_name Insert last_name 8. Format your selected fields with Font, Font size, alignment, inserted images, etc. until you have the Nametag design that you need. For example: o Insert line break between nick_name and last_name. o Center both nick_name and last_name. o Increase font to 36 for nick_name; Set to bold formatting. o Increase font to 14 for last_name. o Insert church logo resize and center as needed on top of nametag. 18

19 9. After the label layout is finalized, click on the Update Labels button on the Mailing ribbon to propagate the design to all labels on your nametag template. (Notice the <<Next Record>> command that is inserted. This text does not mess up your design even though it looks like it does.) Another Bunny trail here REMEMBER that the <<nick_name>> field has a special property. If you choose this field for your Nametag file, then selected individuals in the same primary family are combined into ONE Nametag not exactly desired results for Nametags. You can avoid this by: Always use a Public List/My List to pull your desired names for nametags. Then, always select your WordMerge document from the Available Merge documents located at the TOP of the results list instead of the quick click icons at the bottom, BECAUSE from here (the top) you can deselect the checkbox Combine Family Members. 19

20 10. You can choose to Preview Results to make sure that you are happy with the appearance. Once satisfied, click File, Save As, and name as desired. This file name determines how the option appears in the Word Merge document list so name it clearly. NOTE: Save the file in the older format (Word ). o Choose a location and save your file and name it - for example, Logo Nametag.doc. Step 3: Upload the finished Word Merge template to your Arena site. 20

21 1. Navigate to Administration > File Browser. Click to highlight the Word Merge folder (where you want your newly created templates to be located). Then click on the Upload button on the toolbar. 2. In the Upload dialog box, click the Select button to navigate to the saved Logo Nametag.doc template and click to Open it. The file name is inserted. Then click the Upload button on the bottom. NOTE: For Locally installed customers - File Browser looks like the screenshot below. You could also simply copy the file into the correct folder on your web server see page 4 of this handout. 3. Click on Administration > Refresh Cache. 21

22 4. Go to Membership > Public List and test the new document with a List Result. o Click on any List to run it. o Once results are showing, click the Word icon in the bottom right corner or click on the Available Merge documents drop-down. You should now see the new Logo Nametag file in the list of documents. o Click the name of the WordMerge template to select it and download or open your merged nametag results. Once opened, you can then load your labels in the printer and print your nametags! 22

23 BONUS: With a directory merge, there is an additional step that you must take to make it work in Arena. The regular merge building process produces results in the Word program itself but presents only one entry per page when run in Arena. Build your directory entry as desired (see below). THEN you need to insert the <<NextRecord>> command before the first field on the second and subsequent entries. Build one full page of entries before saving your directory merge template. 23

24 APPENDIX: Different areas of Arena = Different Fields in Excel Download Tag/Group Excel Download Search results Excel Download Public List Excel Download activity_date_value Address address activity_note address_id address_id Address address_latitude address_line_2 address_id address_longitude age area_name address_proximity area_id background_check AddressBlock birth_date birth_date area_id birth_day business_phone area_name city cell_phone background_check city birth_date family_id class_level blic_serving family_role country business_phone first_name date_active campus_id gender date_created campus_name home_phone date_dormant cell_phone last_name date_modified city merged_titles Distance class_level middle_name due_days country nick_name family_id Distance person_id first_name person_suffix food_handler_card envelope_number person_title gender family_id postal_code home_phone family_role state last_name list_business_phone family_role_luid first_name list_cell_phone gender NOTE: Any additional fields selected list_home_phone home_phone in the List Wizard process are also included in the export marital_status include_on_envelope member_status last_name nametag_issued list_business_phone nick_name list_cell_phone organization_id list_home_phone pbx_system_id marital_status person_age marital_status_name person_blob_id member_status person_ name person_guid nametag_issued person_id nick_name person_name organization_id photo_guid pbx_system_id 24

25 Tag/Group Exported Fields (cont.) Search Exported Fields (cont.) Public List Exported Fields (cont.) postal_code person_guid prereqs_met person_id profile_id person_name profile_name photo_guid record_status postal_code restricted print_statement small_group record_status state restricted status small_group status_group spouse_name status_id state volunteer_application status volunteer_application 25

26 Q&A Class Discussion 26

27 Staci Sampson Shelby Consultant Staci began working with Shelby Arena software as a Project Manager at Faith Assembly of God in Peru, Illinois. From there she became an Independent Arena Trainer for the Illinois District Council of the Assemblies of God. Along with working for the IDCAG, she is now a Shelby Contract Trainer for Arena and ShelbyNext. Staci enjoys supporting churches and the growth of their ministries through training and education of the software.