Mail Merge

Mail Merge

Mail Merge will allow you to insert information attached to a profile field into various places in the system. You can mail merge in the top page text area of forms, email templates, completion pages, confirmation emails and ticket templates. In all these locations you will see the mail merge in the menu of the WYSIWYG editor. 

You will notice that the menu here is the same as the dropdown in the popup panel and that of the profile fields menu in your configuration login.  Every profile field that exists in the platform can be selected, any custom fields that you may have made will also appear in their relevant locations in the file tree. 

An example of a mail merge might be an email template which reads, "We have pleasure in offering <?COMPANY NAME?> <?GENERAL ACCREDITATION?> guest tickets."  When sent to a system contact with values assigned to general accreditation their email would read, "We have pleasure in offering 201 DANCE COMPANY Artist Guest (3), AAA (1),
Artist (4) guest tickets"  - Allowing one email template to create bespoke emails sent in bulk, or to display individualised information on forms and other pages. 

If you are wishing to mail merge a form field into a confirmation email or completion page you can use the menu option 'Form Fields' to pull in these.

When linking to other forms you can go to the FORMS menu option and you will be presented with a list of forms and a note to if that form is public or autologin.

Advanced Mail Merge

There are a few advanced mail merge techniques that are not to be found in the menu.

 <?FUNCTION SCHEDULE ARGS=SIMPLE?> Shows only themselves in the show/shift, doesn't show any other artists/volunteers in the same show. 
<?FUNCTION SCHEDULE ARGS=BASIC?>- Shows all artists but only other data grouped with the show for the artist themselves
<?FUNCTION SCHEDULE ARGS=RESTRICTED?> Shows all artists and all grouped data for all artists, however for other artists it restricts the field permissions for non users and uses Artist for their own data. These formats are also usable for volunteers.

IF/BLANK statements:

<?BLANK?> / <?NOTBLANK?> - How to hide text on condition of a system field being blank, or being not blank.

You can strip sections of emails and text out depending on where a field has data in there.

An example of the IF BLANK clauses on the artist advance: if artist has accommodation data then show accommodation mail merge data.

Use the <?BLANK FIELD NAME?>and <?NOTBLANK FIELD NAME?> mail merge like the example below, and include the <?FINISH?> at the end.

EXAMPLE:

<?BLANK ACCOMMODATION?>No accommodation<?FINISH?>
 <?NOTBLANK ACCOMMODATION?>Your accommodation is <?ACCOMMODATION?><?FINISH?>

Show or Hide Data and Information

It's possible to show or hide data according to the information stored in the company or contact fields.

For example:

A company's pitch fee is set to 200:

Pitch Fee: <?PITCH FEE?>  - This displays their pitch fee

 <?PITCHFEE SET="200"?>This is seen<?FINISH?>
 <?PITCHFEE SET=200?>This is also seen<<?FINISH?>
 <?PITCHFEE NOTSET=200?>You won't see me!<?FINISH?>
 <?PITCHFEE SET=20?>Well, we definitely won't see this one<?FINISH?>
 <?PITCHFEE SET="20"?>Or this<?FINISH?>
 <?PITCHFEE NOTSET=20?>But we will see this as pitch fee is set to <?PITCHFEE?> <?FINISH?>

You can use this format <?FIELD NAME SET%Setting?> Your Text Here <?FINISH?> To show certain text only if a profile field has certain data set. For example if you wanted to have main stage people see a bit of text you could use the following:

<?STAGE SET%Main?> You are on the main stage, confetti cannons, pyro and co2! <?FINISH?> 

 True or False Statements

Example:

A company has accommodation booked:

 <?ACCOMMODATION BOOKED SET="Yes"?>We're getting a hotel!<?FINISH?>
 <?ACCOMMODATION BOOKED NOTSET="Yes"?>No hotel for us!<?FINISH?> 

Please note, what is in the SET="..." is case-sensitive and has to match the field options to work.

Linked Companies and Contacts

There are custom company field types called 'Company' and 'Contact'.

Here, you can link a company in the system with another company or contact in the system.

The mail merge will gather that data and include it in the email or form.

Example:

A 'Company' field called 'Linked Venue' you would use:

Linked Company Name: <?LINKED VENUE COMPANY NAME?>