Creating a form letter using a text object

The following section shows you how to create a form letter.

You are going to use a text object to create a form letter. The form letter you create will be tied to a database table so that each letter will be customized with company information from a different record.

If you have difficulty performing any of the steps, please see Working with text objects.

To create a form letter

The letter will consist of a date, an inside address, a salutation, a one paragraph letter body, and a closing section.

1. Create a blank report. Use the Customer table of Xtreme.mdb.

   The Design tab appears with Database Fields highlighted in the Field Explorer dialog box.

2. Since you do not want field titles to appear above the fields that you insert into the letter, clear the Insert Detail Field Titles check box on the Layout tab of the Options dialog box.
3. Insert a text object into the Details section of the report.

   

4. Click the text object frame to put the object in move/resize mode.
5. Drag the resizing handle on the right side of the object to the right edge of the Design tab. This will make the object about eight inches wide, the approximate width of a page. You may have to stop resizing, scroll the window, and resize some more to accomplish this.

   

6. Double-click inside the text object to place it in edit mode. It is now ready for you to begin your work. The insertion point appears at the extreme left, inside the object.