Repeating Letter Issues

Anna Zimmerman

Anyone else out there having issues with the repeating letter? I created my own templates and in one instance of a flow with one template, there doesn't seem to be any issues. But with the other 2 templates I have for 2 almost exactly the same flows, I keep getting errors with the repeating word doc near the end of the flow. HALLLLLP.

Glen Hutson

Hi Anna,

Can you post a screenshot of the error you're getting and as well as the error message on the specific action that's throwing the error?

Anna Zimmerman

Power Automate Errors.pdf

See attached! The first slide is the good one; the other 2 are bad.

Glen Hutson

Anna Zimmerman:

Power Automate Errors.pdf

See attached! The first slide is the good one; the other 2 are bad.

Thanks for this, Anna. For the letters that are erroring, did you create those letters from scratch? The issue you're running into is that those letters are not setup as repeating either they were created from scratch or the repeating part of the letter was inadvertently removed. To set those letters up as repeating, you need to:

• Highlight the entire content of the letter
• In the Developer Tab, click the “Repeating Section Content Control” button then save
• Go back to your flow, reselect that letter in the Repeating Letter
• If all you see is the “LetterArray" like in the “good” version, you're good to go.
• If what you see is the Content Control merge fields, then click the “T” to the upper-right and re-insert the LetterArray variable from the Dynamic Content. It should then look like the “good” version.
• You may have to reselect that letter in the Populate a Microsoft Word template - Letter as well.

Matt Thacker

Glen Hutson:

Anna Zimmerman:

Power Automate Errors.pdf

See attached! The first slide is the good one; the other 2 are bad.

Thanks for this, Anna. For the letters that are erroring, did you create those letters from scratch? The issue you're running into is that those letters are not setup as repeating either they were created from scratch or the repeating part of the letter was inadvertently removed. To set those letters up as repeating, you need to:

• Highlight the entire content of the letter
• In the Developer Tab, click the “Repeating Section Content Control” button then save
• Go back to your flow, reselect that letter in the Repeating Letter
• If all you see is the “LetterArray" like in the “good” version, you're good to go.
• If what you see is the Content Control merge fields, then click the “T” to the upper-right and re-insert the LetterArray variable from the Dynamic Content. It should then look like the “good” version.
• You may have to reselect that letter in the Populate a Microsoft Word template - Letter as well.

@Glen Hutson , off the topic but how do you get the images you share to be that high of resolution???

Glen Hutson

@Glen Hutson , off the topic but how do you get the images you share to be that high of resolution???

Greenshot. I had been using native Mac Screen capture but use Greenshot when I want to do quick blurring out.

Theresa Remek

“Developer Tab” is that in sharepoint? If so, how do I add it onto my sharepoint? Thank you, Theresa

Glen Hutson

Theresa Remek:

“Developer Tab” is that in sharepoint? If so, how do I add it onto my sharepoint? Thank you, Theresa

That's in Word. See our tutorial at https://docs.blackbaud.com/microsoft-connectors-docs/microsoft-power-platform/power-automate/acknowledgement-tutorial/build-templates that goes through enabling the Developer Tab in Word and how to add Content Controls to your letters.

Anna Zimmerman

This was the solution! Thank you so much!! That was so frustrating today ?

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

Hi @Glen Hutson,

I have read through all the documents you suggested and none of them are addressing an issue I am having with consolidating all my conditional letters into one word document. My current flow which utilizes Hallie Guiseppe's Acknowledgment flow structure saves the letters in Sharepoint by the constituent name and id rather than one consolidated word document. How do I modify this in the repeat letters? Or is this something in the Power Automate Flow?

Here are the areas I have been looking at to see if they are my troublemakers:

Glen Hutson

Hey @Cheena DeAraujoDesir

It really depends on how you have the letters setup, if they're based on one “template” or separate templates, etc. 3rd party Connectors such as Encodian or Cloudmersive can be used to combine individual Word documents into one. However, though they (at least Encodian) may have a free tier, doing many a month may require a paid subscription. Those that have worked in this scenario more recently may have some insight. This may be something to bring up at the next Power Automate User Group scheduled for July 15th. If you haven't already, details for signing up are at https://community.blackbaud.com/events/category/66 .

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Glen Hutson

I have gone before the PA Group before with this issue and honestly, I have been working on this so long (damn near a year) I am quite honestly embarrassed to do so again. I feel like I never explain the issue right. I have tried the merging word doc in different flow. Nope. Regarding Encodian and Cloudverse, we do so many letters a week (900+) particularly at year end that a subscription sitch would be needed.

This flow pulls through several letter codes. When it settles into a folder on sharepoint, it creates individual documents for each donation. Grrrr!

Glen Hutson

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir

Sorry you're having issues still. I myself haven't touched this process probably in a couple of years, so dusting off some cobwebs. What's your end goal in having them all in one document?

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Glen Hutson
Putting them in one document makes it easier for my staff person to review and print acknowledgements. She does them weekly. During the high season we tend to send this out to a mail house. I am not gonna lie, I did like the idea of the separate documents to be able to upload back to RE but then thinking about those file on our Sharepoint made me cringe internally.

Glen Hutson

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir

I did some digging/reviewing. For background, there are multiple different ways to create a merge process. Some of this may be review from the Power Automate User Group, but just to make sure we're on the same page.

• Simple Single Letter - same letter to everyone.
  • This is the “Repeating Letter” method.
  • With this, one can only use a single template.
  • It's because using a single temple, you can have it on “repeat”, merging all acknowledgments in at the same time. The result is a single document.
• Conditional Merge with Different Template Documents
  • This is the method that Hallie used in her flow.
  • Since you're using different templates and not a single template, then you're going to have multiple files.

When using the second method, there is currently no way to combine those in a single Document via native Power Automate Functionality (I did an Internet Search again to make sure there wasn't any recent changes). There are 3rd party connectors/services that do this, but not native. There doesn't appear to be a method of taking the second approach but using the benefits of the first.

In my Internet Searches, I have seen some people alluding to a method to get contents of one file and add it to another file, but I haven't vetted those to see how they would work in this scenario and/or it can be Power Automate. They all refer to merging text, so if you include image files such as a signature, then that may cause an issue as well.

You're not doing anything “wrong” in your setup, it just that it appears that you can't take that setup and have a single file on the other side, at least native to Power Automate.

As mentioned, I haven't touched these Merge Letter scenarios in a number of years (Probably February 2022 when this thread was opened), and there's a lot of brain power out there, so if others are reading and have developed another method, please share.

Alex Wong

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir
Depending on how "different' each template is, you CAN have one template that has conditional merge in it that differential itself in power automate flow for what you want to achieve to work.

with the one template, that uses “repeat control”, you can acheive the merge to produce ONE document file, instead of multiple document files. You can also create BOTH, meaning you can create ONE document file that has all the letters that is ready to send to mailhouse AND individual document (probably best to convert to pdf first) and attach it onto the gift record. There is no need to limit yourselves to what can be done here.

The ONLY problem is you cannot have image control inside repeat control, meaning can't have different signature image on different letter/pages.

If you are finding yourselves having spent too much time on this and isn't progressing, I currently do offer consulting service to help you create it or hand-hold 1-on-1 training to teach you the way. If you are interested, reach out to me at ffxkenshin@gmail.com

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Glen Hutson

Rats! That is exactly what I found. Everything referred to a Plumsail or Encodian or AI Builder which require extra cost. It may be going back to the drawing board and assessing our situation with letter codes.

I really appreciate the confirmation. I kinda felt like I was spinning my wheels in the mud and maybe not fully comprehending the flow structures or missing pieces in the process. There have been many redos and fresh starts?.

Thanks,

Cheena

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Alex Wong
Thanks for the offer.

Candy Reichert

@Alex Wong
I have image control for a couple signatures using the If…then…else statement in Word Merge.
Are you saying this is not possible when processing letters via the single letter Power Automate flow?

Alex Wong

@Candy Reichert
word merge via mail merge tab is not the same as word template via developer tab in word

you can do if then else condition to determine which image to insert into the template, but you cannot use repeat control for image content control. Meaning, you cannot create ONE template where the signature image used will depend on the donor's fundraiser for multiple letter in ONE document. (ONE file word document where you have 100 letters to 100 donors and having different signature image on each.

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Alex Wong
Reading back through this — do you mean I could build variable with the specific language to use per “letter code” and insert that language?

Alex Wong

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir
Yes

Candy Reichert

@Alex Wong Thank you for this response. I currently use if--then--else statements to add a signature based on Letter code. So I'm hoping I can get this to work with our current process.

I have not confirmed if it was included, either way It would be helpful to have a Results paragraph in the description of new flows so we know if it will do what we are hoping it will do. It can be frustrating to work on a flow and get it working to find out it really doesn't do what you thought it would do.

Alex Wong

@Candy Reichert
if your plan is to do 1 pdf/word doc per gift, power automate will work

if your plan is to do 1 pdf/word doc for a list of gifts where each gift may use a different signature image, then you cannot do with power automate as of today's support from repeat control in MS words.

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Alex Wong

Would I build these as variables? Or within a data source like excel?

Alex Wong

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir
You can use variable, and/or just use PowerAutomate expression. Variable will be easier to understand if you are not familiar with expression yet.

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Glen Hutson @Alex Wong
I am happy to say I have rebuilt the acknowledgment flow, but one thing is nagging me. The conditional merge still pull letter by individual. How do I pull simply by letter group (i.e., Stocks with Stocks, Events with Events)? What is the component I am missing?

Alex Wong

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir
I do not understand your question, please clarify

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

Hi @Alex Wong – Hopefully I can. It was a rough day yesterday with the automation. So, I am still trying to get the hang of things like grouping. I can't seem to group the letters together (i.e., gifts with Stock letter codes). It errors out with “document could not save as document present”. If this is supposed to be a mail merge, would it not mail merge like standard word?

And as a side question, are the two letter types (Simple and Conditional) supposed to achieve different results (i.e., Simple pulls in like a regular mail merge with all letters grouped in one doc)?

Alex Wong

@Cheena DeAraujoDesir
Power Automate populating word document template works completely different from standard MS Word Mail Merge. For one, Mail Merge use the “Mailings" tab, where Power Automate populate word document template require setup in th Developer tab. So if you think you setup the word doc template correctly, then move on (otherwise, you may want to search youtube on how to do this).

if you got the word template setup properly, then it's about each gift populating the word template with information.

If you are not sure, attach the word doc and i can look and see if you setup properly.

Cheena DeAraujoDesir

@Alex Wong

Like most BBPA users, I hijacked my template from the gallery then modified it. This was based on the Conditional merge. I did use the Developer to insert our specific fields. Here is the Renewal letter which is our general thank you. Renewal.docx