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Suzy Hooper
Suzy Hooper ✭
Ninth Anniversary First Reply
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussion
I am having some issues with mail merge for letters. When I update or change a letter, it looks fine but when I run the letters, it loses spacing, etc. Is this because the hosted Boston hub uses Word 2007 and I am cutting and pasting from Word 2013? Is there a plan to bring Boston into this decade?


Thanks!
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  • David Springer
    David Springer Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Suzy Hooper:

    I am having some issues with mail merge for letters. When I update or change a letter, it looks fine but when I run the letters, it loses spacing, etc. Is this because the hosted Boston hub uses Word 2007 and I am cutting and pasting from Word 2013? Is there a plan to bring Boston into this decade?


    Thanks!

    Hi Suzy! 


    There are a few ways to make sure your formatting shows up correctly in a mail merge. One good step to make sure changes save properly is to always save the merge template using Add-ins > Save and return to RE7, rather than just saving and closing the merge document. 
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    Also, are you using a conditional merge? With a conditional merge, the formatting from the first merge document is used for all following letters. So when you're looking at the list of letters in the conditional mailing, Word will only use the spacing, font, margins, etc. from the letter at the top of the list (outlined in red below):
    5299bb6a46e0dd8f0989573a65c36b7a-huge-me


    In this example, the letters for Indiana and Minnesota residents will use the formatting from the Alabama Residents document. This is because, although RE has the ability to create  different merge conditions and formats, Word requires that a merge document use all the same formatting, 


    Regarding your last question... we are currently testing later versions of Microsoft Office to deploy in the hosting environment, but don’t currently have a timeline for release.


    I hope this helps! If neither of these are the issue you're running into, it may help to chat with our support team, and we'd be happy to help get to the bottom of it. smiley

  • Carley Haynes
    Carley Haynes ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Suzy Hooper:

    I am having some issues with mail merge for letters. When I update or change a letter, it looks fine but when I run the letters, it loses spacing, etc. Is this because the hosted Boston hub uses Word 2007 and I am cutting and pasting from Word 2013? Is there a plan to bring Boston into this decade?


    Thanks!

    HI Suzy,


    I was having the same issues as well and I couldn't work out the issue. Somewhere in my template there was enough of a difference for it to completely move all of my text boxes and pictures around etc! I've ended up going to simple word merges and so far it's working well. If you are looking at e-receipts I do warn you though that I then had the same issue with our letters being too complicated to convert to PDF and had to find a way to simplify them without losing the look and feel! I got rid of most of the text boxes and used tables to create the outline around certain area's (Tables convert to PDF much better than text boxes!) Sorry.. slightly off topic there but I wish I had known this information before invetsting 6 days into the letters!!! 


    Carley.

  • Cindy Avery
    Cindy Avery ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 1 Photogenic
    I have the same issues, and have had them for 2+ years. I have done all the things suggested by David Springer and have even gone so far as to completely re-write and re-format my letters - to no avail. It is totally frustrating and time-consuming but something I have just learned to deal with until Raiser's Edge/Blackbaud comes up with a solution. Looking forward to hearing from others regarding this issue - especially if you have found a solution!
  • Suzy Hooper
    Suzy Hooper ✭
    Ninth Anniversary First Reply
    Hi, David. Thanks for your reply, but as Carley and Cindy have replied, I too have done all of the things you suggest and my letter still loses all of the paragraph spacing after the merge is complete. This all happened after I changed some copy in a text box on the side.


    Any other ideas?


    Thanks,

    Suzy
  • David Springer
    David Springer Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Suzy Hooper:

    Hi, David. Thanks for your reply, but as Carley and Cindy have replied, I too have done all of the things you suggest and my letter still loses all of the paragraph spacing after the merge is complete. This all happened after I changed some copy in a text box on the side.


    Any other ideas?


    Thanks,

    Suzy

     

    Hi Suzy! 


    Sometimes we'll also see mail merge formatting issues tied to the Citrix Web Client, and can be corrected by uninstalling and reinstalling it (Knowledgebase 44344). Since you're seeing it with a single mailing, it may not be the issue in this case, but is worth checking. 


    Text boxes can complicate the formatting in a merge, so sometimes it can also help to clear the formatting as mentioned in KB 42286. This essentially prevents the formatting in the merge template from competing with the formatting that Word is applying during the merge. 


    Another option (albeit not ideal, depending on your template) would be to try formatting the same letter without a text box. This would confirm whether the text box was the cause of the problem in this case. 

  • Suzy Hooper
    Suzy Hooper ✭
    Ninth Anniversary First Reply
    Hi...this is a conditional merge, with quite a few letters. There is only one that is not coming out correctly.

    I'll try uninstalling and reintsalling Citrix. 


    Not sure why it would be the text box, since I have had it all along. Only changed the text inside of it.
  • Carley Haynes
    Carley Haynes ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Suzy Hooper:

    Hi...this is a conditional merge, with quite a few letters. There is only one that is not coming out correctly.

    I'll try uninstalling and reintsalling Citrix. 


    Not sure why it would be the text box, since I have had it all along. Only changed the text inside of it.

    Suzy,


    My conditional mail merge in donor acknowledgement letters works perfectly. The exact same letters , run as conditional mail merge in receipts... do not work! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So frustrating!!!!! 

  • Susan Chomsky
    Susan Chomsky ✭
    Tenth Anniversary Facilitator 2 Name Dropper Photogenic

    Suzy Hooper:

    I am having some issues with mail merge for letters. When I update or change a letter, it looks fine but when I run the letters, it loses spacing, etc. Is this because the hosted Boston hub uses Word 2007 and I am cutting and pasting from Word 2013? Is there a plan to bring Boston into this decade?


    Thanks!

    One additional 'trick' is to move the documents used most often to the top of the list. They seem to retain the formatting better. Generally, it is the paragraph spacing and the font size that give me problems. Once the letters are merged I select all and reformat the entire document. Added steps, yes, but better than letter by letter.  

  • Suzy Hooper
    Suzy Hooper ✭
    Ninth Anniversary First Reply
    Okay, will try that. Thanks! Still have not gotten around to re0installing Citrix receiver. I am always afraid that I will screw something up!
  • Nicola Rendell
    Nicola Rendell ✭
    Ninth Anniversary Photogenic First Reply


    Suzy Hooper:

    Okay, will try that. Thanks! Still have not gotten around to re0installing Citrix receiver. I am always afraid that I will screw something up!

    Hi Suzy

    I too have had problems with this for some time! I have found that if I highlight the whole document and change the 'style' to Word 2007, the majority of the time the formatting comes out correct. However, there are occasions where this doesn't work, but have yet to work out why!?


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  • Suzy Hooper
    Suzy Hooper ✭
    Ninth Anniversary First Reply
    I uninstalled and re-installed Citrix receiver and that seems so far to have worked.

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