Word Processing preferences can be set for an individual document. You can choose the ruler units and the document mode. By choosing the document mode, you determine the document appearance, including whether headers and footers are displayed and whether a frame appears around the document's text area on screen.
To set preferences for a document, choose 'Preferences' from the Word Processor's Edit menu. The preferences dialogue box appears.
Units
You can choose the units that will be displayed in the document's ruler. The ruler is used to set the margins, first line indentation, and tabs for the document.
Mode
You can choose between the two modes of viewing a document - the 'Page View' mode and the 'No Page' mode. By default, documents are displayed in the 'No Page' mode. You can switch between the 'Page View' and 'No Page' modes at any time. Illustrations of each mode can be found below.
Header and Footer
You can choose which pages will display or print headers and footers. Headers and footers can be displayed on all pages, all pages except the first page, or only the first page.
Page View and No
Page Modes In the 'Page View' mode, pages in a document appear on screen as separate sheets of paper. Headers and footers can be created to display at the top and bottom of the pages. The headers and footers display on screen and are printed with the document.
The following figure shows a document displayed in the 'Page View' mode.
By default, a frame outlines the text area on the page. If you wish to remove the frame from your own documents, deselect the 'Frame' check box in the Preferences dialogue box.
In the 'No Page' mode, documents appear as only a main body of text, with no visual separations between pages. In this mode, headers and footers cannot be created or modified.
The following figure shows a document displayed in the 'No Page' mode. Notice that the View Selection pop-up menu (next to the page number and line spacing controls), used to create and access the header, footer, and main body in the 'Page View' mode, is disabled.
Since you can switch between the 'Page View' and 'No Page' modes at any time, it is possible to create a header and /or footer in the 'Page View' mode and then switch to the 'No Page' mode. When the document is converted to the 'No Page' mode, the contents of the header and/or footer are automatically stored. Although the header and/or footer will not display in the 'No Page' mode, they will print with your document.
Enterprise and its Word Processor The following section of this chapter examines the various Enterprise functions which use the Word Processing facilities described above. In essence, the Documents menu in the Word Processing menu should be used to construct and modify the documents themselves (and to print individual letters) while the Mailing menu should be used for printing Mailshots. The functions on this latter menu can be seen as mail merge procedures working on different areas of the data file. For example, it is possible simply to mail a selection of Companies, or to mail the Companies attached to a selection of Diary Items or Sales Orders, or to mail debtors with both letters and statements.
The Word Processing and Mailing functions are only available, of course, if the Word Processing module is installed. In addition, the 'Enter Letters' and 'Enter Quotations' functions are only available if the Diary Manager module and Enquirywriter Companion are installed, since they use the Diary functions to schedule their printing.
There are several methods of producing mailshots, according to the modules you have installed. For each, you select the records to be printed, then choose what is to be printed, and confirm each output type as you proceed.
As described above, Enterprise' word processing functions are provided by 4D Write and it is strongly recommended that this be present. If not, however, Enterprise does provide an alternative method of constructing documents, albeit in a more basic fashion. Where appropriate, screens both with and without 4D Write and their operation are described below. If you have 4D Write, it must be installed correctly in the Mac4DX folder or Win4DX directory. In addition, you need to have logged in to Enterprise as a word processing user (for example, at the 'Administrator WP', 'Manager WP' or 'User WP' levels) and you need to have switched on the '4D Write is installed' Preference, which can be found in the General section. If you have not signed on as a WP user, you should quit Enterprise and reload it. It is not sufficient to use the 'Change Access' function on the File menu as this will not cause 4D Write to start up.
Enter Letters (Command-S or Control-S) The 'Enter Letters' option can be used to quickly address and print a standard or unique Letter. Equally, everyone in your office could use it to address and write a whole host of different Letters, some to be printed the same day, some next week, then rely on the 'Mail Diary' function described above to print them all out together. It creates a record in the Diary using the Action Code set up for letters in the Core Functions section of Preferences, and only operates if the Diary Manager module is installed.
An entry screen similar to that for 'Enter to Diary' appears, but with a large proportion of its area dedicated to the word processing area. If 4D Write is present, the screen appears as below.
If 4D Write is not present, the screen appears as below.
Done
This check box is checked if the Letter has been 'Done' - ie printed. If you wish for the document to be printed as part of a batch using the 'Mail Diary' function, do not switch this check box on.
Company
The Company refers to the Company or address to which the Letter is to be sent. Enter the first four letters of a Company (or surname for private individuals). If there is only one Company in your database starting with the name, the details will be brought up; if there is more than one you will need to choose from a selection; and if there are none you will be prompted to 'Create it'. After creating a company you will return to the same spot in the Diary.
Contact
Either after or before entering the Company, you can specify the Contact name for the Letter. If you have put in the Company and enter an @ sign and there is only one Contact at that Company, his/her full name will be confirmed immediately. If more than one exists, you can select from a list that appears, or 'Add' it. You may also enter a Surname or Forename into the box and the system will search by these.
If no Company Code has been entered, you can enter a Contact Code or part of their first or surname.
Selecting a Contact from the resulting list will cause the appropriate Company Code to be brought in as well.
Date To Do
The Date To Do is the date the Letter is to be sent. Usually you can leave it set to today's date, but you may prefer to schedule a Letter to be sent a few days in advance.
Note that at the top of the screen the date you type in will be reflected in a useful reminder of the day of the week, from eg Last Wednesday through to Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, This Thursday and even to Next Friday and Saturday Week (2 weeks away this Saturday). In fact, rather than typing in the date and having the system show you the day, you can equally do the operation in reverse - highlight the text describing the day and change it.
From The system will assume that you want the Letter to be sent as from yourself, so puts in your Initials based on your choice of name on starting the database. You can equally, though, get someone else to send the Letter - use the @ sign to see a list of the people available.
Document
When you first go to 'Enter Letters', a blank letter format is opened using the file stored on disk as 'Letter Template' (Macintosh) or 'LetTem.4WR' (Windows), and the Letter Code is filled in with a sequential number (prefixed by L for Letter). If you simply need to write a new letter (ie if you wish to create an ad hoc letter simply for this occasion), you need not touch this Code. If you wish to follow this option, you will need to ensure that you can edit the Text. There is a function on the Functions menu controlling whether the Letter Text is Read Only or Editable. If you enter some text and it disappears, you have mistakenly attempted to add text in Read Only mode.
†However, if you want to base the Letter to be sent not on the blank template document, but on a previously written Letter, you may enter its Letter Code, using the @ sign if required. Assuming you correctly select a previous Letter, Enterprise will ask if you want to create a duplicate copy or view the original. Click the appropriate button and the full text will be displayed in the word processing area below. If you are creating a duplicate, you will be asked for a new Document Code, with a default offered consisting of the old Code with a suffix.
If you merely want to print the previous Letter unmodified to the new Company, go straight to the Print function - see below. The system can then avoid storing a new version of this letter on disk, saving space.
However, if you want to edit the letter before sending it, you must use the Read Only/Edit function - see below.
Files…/Fields…
These pop-up menus (present only if 4D Write is absent) can be used to insert information into the text of the letter. First select a file (for example, Companies or Products) by holding the mouse button down on the Files… pop-up menu, then a field (for example Company Name or Product Name). The information selected must be relevant to the letter, for example selecting a field in the Companies file will bring in information related to the Company to which you are addressing the letter. Selecting, for example, some General Ledger information may not have the expected results as there is no way of relating it to the letter.
4D Write users can use the 'Insert Field…' function on Word Processor's Database menu if they need the facilities offered by these pop-up menus.
Whether or not you have 4D Write, you can also insert Enterprise variables into your letter text. If you would like to insert Enterprise variables in the text and you have 4D Write, use the 'Insert 4D Expression…' item on the Database menu. You would normally use variables such as «vDetails» (which contains the address) and «vFrom» (which contains the name of the signatory) but you could also use «vDue», for example, to insert amounts owing in a debt chasing letter. Lists of these variables are included in the descriptions of the various 'Mail…' functions (their use varies according to which 'Mail…' function is being used). Both fields and Enterprise variables will appear in code format: use 'Show references' on the Database menu to view what fields and Enterprise variables you have used. To ensure that financial references such as "«vDue»" (which refers to the total owed to you) appear in the correct format (with a £ and two decimal places), select the expression and use the 'Format…' function on the Word Processor's Database menu to produce the expression "«vDue;|Accounts»". If you do not have 4D Write, simply type the required variable into your letter enclosed by angled brackets (for example, "