These templates are formed by typing merge codes in the WordPerfect document. You can type anywhere on these forms. The form itself is an image behind the text, so you can not edit that.

If you want to edit or delete text: highlight the text and edit as you would in any regular document.

The codes in these templates are written and formatted in the hopes that they will properly merge the client's information into the document. However, sometimes the form has difficult with spacing for information fields (such as boxes for individual letters), and therefore the merged data does not always fit correctly. It just depends on the length of the words or the particular letters in the merged item. If something does merge incorrectly for you, there are ways to fix this problem. If it is something you only need to fix once, we suggest doing it in the merged file (instructions below). However, if it has to do with your firm name and you will use it often in the future, we suggest changing the spacing in the template itself (instructions below). You can either change only the spacing for the merge, or you can erase the merge code and type in your firm data if you would prefer that the template always has that information and you do not want to merge it into the document every time
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Edit the spacing between letters: highlight the text, then go to "Format" (Up near "File" and "Edit") and go to "Typesetting", then choose "Word/Letter Spacing". On the right side of the window, there's a line called "Percent of Optimal". Use the arrows or type a percent to change the spacing between letters. A higher percent will put more space between them and a smaller percent will decrease it. Sometimes certain combinations of letters in the merged data will make it impossible to fit the form's spacing using this method. In that case, change the spacing back to "normal", and edit the text by manually inserting spaces between individual characters.

Changing information in the permanent template: follow the same instructions as above on editing text and spacing, but instead of doing it in the merged document, open the template itself from the TemplatesSSA-WP folder. Once you edit it here and save it, those changes will be permanent in the document for every time you use the template in the future. If you do not want the changes saved, edit the text in the document you have merged data into only. Be cautious when you do edit the permanent template, because spacing of the merge codes may appear incorrectly-placed in the template since spacing changes during the merge. You can always merge something with that document to test where the data will appear.

If merge codes are not workable and you would rather manually type the data: follow the instructions from above about how to edit text and enter the information yourself.

Trouble Shooting

If the merge codes appear in the document you merged: the merge codes may appear if you have not selected sub-tables of client information. Merge codes will have "<< >>" around code. This is simple to fix. Back in the case management software, open the Document Merge window again. Highlight the form you want to merge. Near the top of this window, look for the dropdown menu under "Select Document Category". Choose the appropriate category, and then choose one of the options that appears in the window below this. If you are unsure of which document category you need, look at the exposed code to see what it is asking for.

SSA-HA-539 Former Client: This form follows this pattern. You must choose the Contacts document category, and then choose a particular contact whose information you want included in the form.

Unmerged text appears in the template: There are several forms that were impossible to accurately space the data for the majority of cases (especially when there was an individual box for each letter), and others where the data is not saved in our program (such as the representative's social security number). These items can be manually typed into the form by simply replacing the dummy text in the merged document. In most cases, the text will be properly spaced for this already. However, if it does not match up correctly, change the font spacing as instructed above.

SSA-1699: This form follows this pattern. The representative's name must be typed in because
the name is saved as one item in the program, rather than three individual names. Also, the social
security number of the representative must be typed, because that information is not kept in the program.

SSA-1695: Here the representative's social security number must also be typed manually.

The merged data is too long to fit in the form properly: This would rarely happen, because we have tried to take that into account. But in the event of uncommonly long addresses, try changing the font size. To do this, click on the text box once to highlight it, and go to "Font" to change the font size as you would with anything else in WordPerfect.

© 2006 Crocodile Consulting, Inc.