Form Letter Question

[dtjbocala]

I have a database with many customers. Occassionally I need to send a letter
and have to choose from 50 different things I may need to put in this letter.
How do I "fix" it so that I can select which sentences I want in the letter
( I may need 4 things one letter, 2 things the next letter, etc.)? I started
by putting the phrases in a separate table. Help! and as always, thank you.

 

[Allen Browne]

You will need tables like this:

1. Paragraph table (one record for each boilerplate paragraph), with fields:
ParagraphID AutoNumber primary key
ParagraphText Memo text of this paragraph.

2. Letter table (one record for each letter you write), fields:
LetterID AutoNumber primary key
ClientID Number who this is written to
LetterDate Date/Time
HeadPara memo text to appear above special paragraphs
FootPara memo text to appear below special paragraphs
Signatory text name to appear at end

3. LetterParagraph table (special paragraphs to merge with letter), fields:
LetterParaID autonumber primary key
ParagraphID number relates to Paragraph.ParagraphID
SortOrder number lower numbers sort first

Ultimately you put this together in a report based on a query that uses both
tables, as well as your Client table so you can get name and address
details. In the Sorting And Grouping box, you create a group header and
group footer on the LetterID. The LetterID Group Header starts on a new
page.

The letter goes together like this:
- LetterDate, address panel, and HeadPara go in the LetterID group header.

- ParagraphText goes in the Detail section. (2nd row of Sorting'n'Grouping
dialog sorts these on SortOrder field.)

- FootPara and Signatory go in the LetterID group footer section.