Salutation problem

Chris Holland · January 2017

I am trying to set up a letter using export with the Salutation line so it can satisfy 3 scenarios. The letter is to be used as a acknowledge and receipt combination. I have tried a number of different ways, including adjusting the format of the fields on the Output tab in export. And have not been able to find a solution. I can get any combination of 2 to work, but not all 3.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

See below for a sample of the 3 scenarios.

- An individual record so the Salutation follows the format.

Dear Mr. Doe

- An organization with a contact / relation so the relation contact name shows as the Salutation.

Dear Mr. Contact / Relation

- An organization without a contact / relation so the organization name shows as the Salutation.

Dear ABC Company

Ryan Hyde · January 2017

Unless someone has a better solution that I'm unaware of, I don't think you can do this in the same column in Export.

To accomplish this same goal in my own setup, I output two Addressee columns, one simply from the Addressee/Salutation which will result in the appropriate individual addressee OR the plane jane organization name, and a second Addresssee column pulled from Relationships>Contacts>Addressee/Salutation, which will get you the appropriate org contact addressee/salutation. Then I clean up the file after the fact, and depending on how I want my mailing to look, I'll either leave it alone (which will result in a mailing that will have the org contact first, then the org name after that, or in case of individuals, just the simple addressee), or I combine the addresee columns to get all human names in the same place.

Jen Claudy · January 2017

I have a system that does essentially what you want, but it is essentially exporting data from RE to Microsoft Access, and then code in Access to select the correct Salutation per parameters set within the code (like if the Address Type is Home then Access chooses the Home Salutation). It requires quite a bit of setup in RE as well, so it's not a quick & easy solution. However, the reason it's an external process for me is that I couldn't figure out how to do that within RE. I don't think RE has gotten any development in recent years to change this need for an external process, so I suspect that you are either going to need to figure out a workaround inside RE or create a process outside of RE.

Gina Gerhard · January 2017

Here's a rather sneaky way I was able to do this:

Essentially, you're going to create an export that runs a condition word merge. The condition will be if a contact (with a salutation) exists on the record;
- If the contact exists, it will print a letter with the contact's salutation
- If the contact does not exist, it will print an addressee/salutation format that will either print the individual's salutation (if it's an individual record) OR it will print the Organization name (if it's an organization record).
- So you can cover your 'three' conditions in this manner

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Create your export

Create a constituent export and choose Blackbaud Condition Word Merge as the format.

2. On General tab

Attach a query that will have a combination of individuals, organizations with and without contacts -- so you can test this.
- I created a query that pulls constituents that begin with the letter 'T' which created a good combination of individuals and orgs with and without contacts.

3. On Output tab

Include these fields: [note the fields below are ONLY covering your Salutation issue - you would be entering other fields in order to produce other parts of your letter]
- Addressee/Salutation
  - Salutation
  - [in format box]: On Individual tab -- choose From Individual and choose Primary Salutation; On Organizations tab, choose Organization name only
- Relationships
  - Contacts [in Criteria, choose to export 1 and select the contact type]
    - Primary Salutation

4. Merge document

Hit the merge document in the upper menu to open your Word Merge wizard
Choose Relationships/Contacts/Primary Salutation as the field on which to base your condition.
Hit Next to get to Step 2.
Create your 1st document.
- Choose 'Use this document when Primary Salutation is 'blank', enter a descripition (required) and hit Edit merge document.
- Enter 'Dear' and then merge the Salutation field (<<CnAdrSal_Salutation>>).
- Since your condition is that there is no org contact, it will show either the individual's salutation (Dear. Mr. Jones) or the organization's name (Dear ABC Organization).
- Hit OK and back in Step 2 create another new document.
Create your 2nd document.
- Choose 'Use this document when Primary Salutation is 'not blank', enter a description and hit Edit merge document.
- Enter 'Dear' and then merge the Contact Salutation field (<<CnRelCt_1_01_Primary_Salutation>>).
- Since your condition is that there is an org contact, it will show the contact's salutation (Dear Mr. Smith - who is the contact at the organization).

5. Hit finish and preview your export

You may not be able to distinguish between what is an individual and what is the organization contact -- so go back to your query and note which are which -- and then make sure your export is showing the right salutations for the right records.

It worked for me!

NOTE:

We have orgs that start as 'The ABC Organization' so the format 'Dear The ABC Organization' looks awful.
- You may want to do a check of your final merged letters to remove 'The' for some of the records.
You must make sure that your contacts are categorized correctly, and that they have the correct salutations entered.
- Since your condition is based on the salutation existing, if it happens to not exist on that contact's record you may miss them.
- So check your data/query carefully to make sure the contact does have a salutation.

Chris Holland · January 2017

Hi Gina, "Super Star"!

Thanks ever so much Gina, this is exactly what I need. I never
even thought about a conditional merge, brilliant solution.

Thanks again,

Chris

Chris Holland

902.229.9415

CSHolland013@gmail.com

Gina Gerhard · January 2017

Chris - Got to keep the cobwebs off the old gears!! Please make sure to test this, and it might depend on how well/clear you have your contact types defined on your records. We are pretty careful about marking a single 'primary' contact on our records so we can pull that contact when needed. If your contact typing isn't real clean not sure what you'll get here ....

Chris Holland · January 2017

Jen Claudy:

I have a system that does essentially what you want, but it is essentially exporting data from RE to Microsoft Access, and then code in Access to select the correct Salutation per parameters set within the code (like if the Address Type is Home then Access chooses the Home Salutation). It requires quite a bit of setup in RE as well, so it's not a quick & easy solution. However, the reason it's an external process for me is that I couldn't figure out how to do that within RE. I don't think RE has gotten any development in recent years to change this need for an external process, so I suspect that you are either going to need to figure out a workaround inside RE or create a process outside of RE.

Thanks Jen.

Chris Holland · January 2017

Ryan Hyde:

Unless someone has a better solution that I'm unaware of, I don't think you can do this in the same column in Export.

To accomplish this same goal in my own setup, I output two Addressee columns, one simply from the Addressee/Salutation which will result in the appropriate individual addressee OR the plane jane organization name, and a second Addresssee column pulled from Relationships>Contacts>Addressee/Salutation, which will get you the appropriate org contact addressee/salutation. Then I clean up the file after the fact, and depending on how I want my mailing to look, I'll either leave it alone (which will result in a mailing that will have the org contact first, then the org name after that, or in case of individuals, just the simple addressee), or I combine the addresee columns to get all human names in the same place.

Thanks Ryan.

Christine Cooke 2 · January 2017

Chris Holland:

I am trying to set up a letter using export with the Salutation line so it can satisfy 3 scenarios. The letter is to be used as a acknowledge and receipt combination. I have tried a number of different ways, including adjusting the format of the fields on the Output tab in export. And have not been able to find a solution. I can get any combination of 2 to work, but not all 3.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

See below for a sample of the 3 scenarios.

- An individual record so the Salutation follows the format.

Dear Mr. Doe

- An organization with a contact / relation so the relation contact name shows as the Salutation.
Dear Mr. Contact / Relation

- An organization without a contact / relation so the organization name shows as the Salutation.
Dear ABC Company

as I glance the responses and see export, export export I just ask myself why, if this is an acknowledgment/receipt, are you not using Mail and laying it a template there? You can choose all of those fields and it will use what is needed accordingly, and if not, then you can set up the If then else...

Faith Murray · January 2017

Gina Gerhard:

Here's a rather sneaky way I was able to do this...

You always have an answer for everything, Gina!

I'm bookmarking this post.

Salutation problem

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