Does anyone know if letter codes will still exist after Feb 28?

Megan Thurman
Megan Thurman
Third Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1
in Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT®: General Discussions

Setting up my Master Conditional Merge document and based on this really helpful video I'm basing it off of letter codes…but it got me wondering: does anyone know if letter codes become extinct once the Microsoft integration changes take place on March 1? Don't want to create another defunct solution.

Comments

  • Jenny Thompson
    Jenny Thompson
    Fourth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    I watched the youtube video. However, I am unable to duplicate what he is doing. I export the list of constituents from database that need letters, I add them into word as an existing list. In the list, the first constituent has Letter A and the second constituent has Letter B. If I follow the steps in the video for say only 1 letter type, say Letter B, it will pull Letter A instead and fill the mergefields with the first constituent's information. I have Word 2016.

  • Jacyn Stewart
    Jacyn Stewart
    Sixth Anniversary Kudos 2 Name Dropper Participant

    Jenny Thompson:
    If I follow the steps in the video for say only 1 letter type, say Letter B, it will pull Letter A instead and fill the mergefields with the first constituent's information. I have Word 2016.

    Hi Jenny, you are maybe missing step? We had a little trouble with this when my team was testing it. You have add the recipient list. Then the master conditional doc will only show one letter, but if you go to Mailings > Finish & Merge > Edit individual Documents… then it will create a new file that has all the letters in it. With the conditional merge document you can't really preview all the letters like you can in a standard merge. You have to click through and create the new document.

  • Jenny Thompson
    Jenny Thompson
    Fourth Anniversary Facilitator 1

    Jacyn Stewart:
    We are trying to set up the master if/then/else document. I realized what it was doing and made it look like it wasn't working. But you are right, when I did edit individual documents, it does work, just the way it auto pulls the the first “test” makes it looks like it is not going to work.

    Jenny Thompson:
    If I follow the steps in the video for say only 1 letter type, say Letter B, it will pull Letter A instead and fill the mergefields with the first constituent's information. I have Word 2016.

    Hi Jenny, you are maybe missing step? We had a little trouble with this when my team was testing it. You have add the recipient list. Then the master conditional doc will only show one letter, but if you go to Mailings > Finish & Merge > Edit individual Documents… then it will create a new file that has all the letters in it. With the conditional merge document you can't really preview all the letters like you can in a standard merge. You have to click through and create the new document.

  • Cassidy Bari
    Cassidy Bari
    Third Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    I sure hope so… I'm building the conditional Word merge rules off of “If letter code is ABC, then…”

  • Gail Beverly
    Gail Beverly
    Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Participant Facilitator 1

    I followed the youtube video (hard to hear) and Bill Connors suggestions to create a mail merge master shell document using letter codes as conditional to insert only the body text changes in the IF THEN ELSE statements. I used export from Mail for my data and saved all my new templates for the letters in a folder on my OneDrive and also on my C; Drive (in case of any issues with paths or speed to complete merge). I took out all spacing in names of files and folders as well. The merge however is pulling the letters (with pictures and formatting) from the RE wizard instead - even though the path in my merge rules is the new one outside RE! Does anyone have an idea Why? or any thoughts on fixing this problem? My IT staff person thinks the letter code has hidden programming to tie the code to the wizard. The letter codes may be working to go to the correct letter source now for others, but may stop functioning for those who followed the youtube & Bill C setup after Feb 28. Thoughts?

  • Austen Brown
    Austen Brown Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 PowerUp Challenge: Product Update Briefing Feedback Task 3 bbcon 2025 Attendee Badge

    Hi Gail - I have run into the exact same problem you have described, while using the shell document model for a multi-conditional merge. I have found that you need create an entirely new Word document with none of the previous formatting attached to the downloaded file from RE. Make sure with bringing the content into the new document no previous formatting is kept - if you happen to keep formatting, the entire letter will come through during the merge; my theory is there are what appears to be hidden feature/content within to the parameter files downloaded directly from RE.

    Here are the steps I went through for each of the letters that needed to be linked into the Shell Master Merge document:

    • Open the downloaded parameter file template letter.
    • Open a new Word document
    • Type out the first ~5 words of what you want to copy into the new document.
    • Select and Copy the remainder of the copy from the original file.
    • Paste into the area immediately following the typed out words. Make sure you are right-clicking the Paste the copy, and are choosing the option to “Use Destination Theme”.
    • Save the new document and link it into your Master Merge Document through an If/Then/Else statement with file path.
  • Faith Murray
    Faith Murray Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 First Reply Name Dropper

    So strange - I have not had this problem. We downloaded the letters straight out of RE, kept the original formatting, but then I removed the header and footer from the documents that will be merging into the Master doc. Only the Master doc has header/footer. None of the removed content re-appears as it would if it were somehow pulling the original out of RE. Also, my coworkers who do not have RE open can still merge them just fine on our shared network folder. Wonder why the difference in output?

  • Austen Brown
    Austen Brown Community All-Star
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 PowerUp Challenge: Product Update Briefing Feedback Task 3 bbcon 2025 Attendee Badge

    @Faith Murray - No idea! It's all very weird… what works for some, doesn't work for others, and what some are experiencing, others are not.

  • Lisa Medeiros
    Lisa Medeiros
    Fourth Anniversary Participant Facilitator 1

    I'm pretty sure I asked the same question and the response was letter codes will still be available.

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