You can apply the switches available in Microsoft Word to the merge fields in your Letter System templates. These switches let you modify the format of the data that results from the merge fields you add to your letter. Refer to Microsoft Word documentation for more on using switches to change the format of merged data.
Note: The switch must be placed after the “MERGEFIELD” but before the curly bracket }. For example { MERGEFIELD Name \* Caps }.
The numeric picture (\#) and format (\*) switches are the two most common types of switches used in merging letters. The following are options available when using these two switches to modify your merge data:
\# - Numeric Picture
Use this switch to specify the display of a numeric result, including the number of decimal places and the use of currency symbols.
0 - (zero) Indicates the number of decimal places to display
# - Indicates the number of spaces to display
$ - Indicates to include the specified character in the result
. - (decimal point) Indicates the decimal point position
, - (comma, digit grouping symbol) Indicates where to separates a series of three digits
For
example, if the Annual Review merge field has a value of 100,
changing the field to
{MERGEFIELD
"Name_DemoANNUAL_REVIEW \#$#,0.00}
displays $100.00 for the
result.
\* - Formats
Use this switch to specify number formats, capitalization, and character formatting; prevents changes to the format of the field results when a field is updated.
\* Charformat - Apply the formatting of the first letter of the field type to the entire result
\* Caps - Indicates the first letter of each word should display as a capital letter
\* FirstCap - Indicates the first letter of only the first word should display as a capital letter
\* Upper - Indicates all the letters should be capitalized
\* Lower - Indicates all the letters should be lowercase
For example, if the {NameFULL_NAME} merge field results in a value of Ms. Jean D. Smythe, changing the field to {NameFULL_NAME \* Upper} results in a value of MS. JEAN D. SMYTHE.
Converting checkbox values to text
When you add a checkbox field to a letter template, iMIS inserts the database value of the field, which is either 0, for no (not selected), or -1, for yes (selected). To substitute text for the database values, use an If-Then-Else field in MS Word. For example, { IF {MERGEFIELD Checkbox } = "0" "No" "Yes" }.