Using Access to write customised form letters

[Jay Best]

Hi there

The story is as follows: I write up some pretty detailed reports on people,
and what I am wanting to do is speed up the process as a proportion of the
reports that I am writing are quite repetitive.

What I had though of was a form that you select key settings and based on
that it writes out the letter in an intelligent manner:

For example:
-------------------
FORM INPUT
Name [ ]
Sex [ ] (Eg to make it He or She)
Confidence o1o2o3oN/A
Dressed well? o1o2o3oN/A

FORM OUTPUT:
- And if you say selected 1 for confidence the letter would write:
- And sex as Male, then Sex would be He
- And if you say selected 1 for Dressed well the letter would write:

<name> was a very confident and relaxed person to deal with. <sex> was very
well dressed and presented very professionally.
-------------------

Obviously I am not looking to scrimp on actual content at all, and not
actually automate all of the letters, it is just that I would like to speed
up the process so that I can get the bare bones down very quickly.

It seems with the tools that I have it would be easiest to use Access and
Word to do this, but I am not 100% sure of how to do this.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers Jay

[Larry Linson]

Depending on the formatting you need, you might be able to do what you want
just in Access Reports. Otherwise, you could create a mail merge with Word.

You'll store the data, create a query that uses the selections to pick
appropriate insertions into text and output to a report, in the first case.

In the second, you could mail merge or you could use automation to control
Word (the second would be a bit more complex, so I wouldn't do that unless
there is real need).

Check Help on these subjects and search the Knowledge Base at
http://support.microsoft.com.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
"Jay Best" <ja*****@orcon.net.nzz> wrote in message
news:3f********@news.iconz.co.nz...

Hi there

The story is as follows: I write up some pretty detailed reports on people, and what I am wanting to do is speed up the process as a proportion of the
reports that I am writing are quite repetitive.

What I had though of was a form that you select key settings and based on
that it writes out the letter in an intelligent manner:

For example:
-------------------
FORM INPUT
Name [ ]
Sex [ ] (Eg to make it He or She)
Confidence o1o2o3oN/A
Dressed well? o1o2o3oN/A

FORM OUTPUT:
- And if you say selected 1 for confidence the letter would write:
- And sex as Male, then Sex would be He
- And if you say selected 1 for Dressed well the letter would write:

<name> was a very confident and relaxed person to deal with. <sex> was very well dressed and presented very professionally.
-------------------

Obviously I am not looking to scrimp on actual content at all, and not
actually automate all of the letters, it is just that I would like to speed up the process so that I can get the bare bones down very quickly.

It seems with the tools that I have it would be easiest to use Access and
Word to do this, but I am not 100% sure of how to do this.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers Jay

[Reed Woodard]

"Jay Best" <ja*****@orcon.net.nzz> wrote in message
news:3f********@news.iconz.co.nz...

Hi there

The story is as follows: I write up some pretty detailed reports on people, and what I am wanting to do is speed up the process as a proportion of the
reports that I am writing are quite repetitive.

What I had though of was a form that you select key settings and based on
that it writes out the letter in an intelligent manner:

For example:
-------------------
FORM INPUT
Name [ ]
Sex [ ] (Eg to make it He or She)
Confidence o1o2o3oN/A
Dressed well? o1o2o3oN/A

FORM OUTPUT:
- And if you say selected 1 for confidence the letter would write:
- And sex as Male, then Sex would be He
- And if you say selected 1 for Dressed well the letter would write:

<name> was a very confident and relaxed person to deal with. <sex> was very well dressed and presented very professionally.
-------------------

Obviously I am not looking to scrimp on actual content at all, and not
actually automate all of the letters, it is just that I would like to speed up the process so that I can get the bare bones down very quickly.

It seems with the tools that I have it would be easiest to use Access and
Word to do this, but I am not 100% sure of how to do this.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers Jay

Visit the official MVP site:
http://mvp.org
Reed Woodard (MVP)

[John OBrien]

I do something similar to this using access to create Form letters, If
you have to select the data manually, which it appears that you do,
I'd think a form is your best bet, but in conjunction with a report to
create the printable final product.

You can format the report with your static text and formatting and
then add textboxes to the report which have formulas to access the
values from your forms, or , conditionally, from a database based on
selections you've made on the form.

If you need more help with it email me.

regards,

John O'Brien
Applied Computer Science
"Reed Woodard" <wo*******@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<52******************************@news.terane ws.com>...

"Jay Best" <ja*****@orcon.net.nzz> wrote in message
news:3f********@news.iconz.co.nz...

Hi there

The story is as follows: I write up some pretty detailed reports on

people,

and what I am wanting to do is speed up the process as a proportion of the
reports that I am writing are quite repetitive.

What I had though of was a form that you select key settings and based on
that it writes out the letter in an intelligent manner:

For example:
-------------------
FORM INPUT
Name [ ]
Sex [ ] (Eg to make it He or She)
Confidence o1o2o3oN/A
Dressed well? o1o2o3oN/A

FORM OUTPUT:
- And if you say selected 1 for confidence the letter would write:
- And sex as Male, then Sex would be He
- And if you say selected 1 for Dressed well the letter would write:

<name> was a very confident and relaxed person to deal with. <sex> was

very

well dressed and presented very professionally.
-------------------

Obviously I am not looking to scrimp on actual content at all, and not
actually automate all of the letters, it is just that I would like to

speed

up the process so that I can get the bare bones down very quickly.

It seems with the tools that I have it would be easiest to use Access and
Word to do this, but I am not 100% sure of how to do this.

Thanks in advance!
Cheers Jay

Visit the official MVP site:
http://mvp.org
Reed Woodard (MVP)