Creating a Letter

To create a letter:

1.   Click Letters & Labels in the top navigation bar.

The Your Letters & Labels screen appears, showing three tabs: a Select Letter Template tab that lists saved letter templates, a Create New Letter tab that lets you create letters and letter templates, and a Create Labels tab that lets you create labels.

2.   If you want to use an existing letter template, click the template name link. Templates are divided into predefined categories:  Marketing, Listing, Closing, Activity Plans and Other. You can search your templates by selecting the category from the list at the top of the page, and/or by entering a keyword and clicking Search. To create a new letter, simply click Create New Letter.

3.   Select the margin set that best fits your letterhead.

Note: To set your default letter margins to apply to all letters, see Changing Your User Profile Settings. If none of the margin choices fit your letterhead, please contact us and we will try to accommodate your requirements.

4.   Click Select Contacts to choose who you want to receive the letter (see Selecting Contacts or List View).

Note: If you only want to include contacts whose preferred method of correspondence is Letters, click the check box at the top of the search screen.

5.   Define the header settings (date, address, and salutation):

§       Choose whether to Include or Exclude the date in the letter header.

§       Choose whether to Include or Exclude the address and email/letter salutations defined in each contact's profile.

§       Choose the font type and size of the letter header, which includes the date and contact addresses and salutations. This can be different from the font and size used for the body of the letter.

6.   Enter the body of the letter using the formatting tools to change the way the content looks. The wysiwyg ("what you see is what you get") content editor provided for formatting the content has many of the same features as word processor software like Microsoft Word, including a spell checker. If you're not sure what a tool does, hover over the buttons with your mouse and the name of the function will appear. Experiment to get the look you want.

7.   Choose whether to Include or Exclude your signature at the bottom of the letter. (For instructions on how to set up your signature, see Creating a Signature for Your Emails and Letters.)

Use the From drop-down list to select which team member’s signature you want to use for the letter.

8.   By default, an entry will be added to the Contact History tab of each contact that you send this letter to. A description of the letter is required below in order to record these entries. If you do not want to do this, select "No" next to Record in Contact History log for each selected contact.

9.   If you want to create labels or envelopes for each contact, select the Print labels or envelopes check box and select the appropriate label or envelope type from the list. If you are using a partially used label sheet, you can select the row and column to start printing at, so that you do not waste labels.

Note: The envelope choices are optimized for number 10 envelopes and should work with most modern printers, whether left, right or center justified.

10.  Click Preview Letter to see how the letter will look before printing it.

11.  Make any changes necessary (and preview again if you want to). When you are satisfied with your letter:

§       If you want to save this letter to use again in the future, click Save Letter as Template. Everything is saved except the selected contacts. For more information, see Using Letter Templates.

The signature From team member selection is not saved with letter templates.

§       When you are ready to send the letter to the selected contacts, make sure you have sufficient letterhead in your printer and click Print Mail Merged PDF Letter. If Print labels or envelopes is selected, a new screen will open with buttons for printing the letters and labels/envelopes.