Merge Templates for Custom Proposals

Proposals comes installed with a set of sample merge templates for Custom Proposals. Each merge template is a Rich Text File (.rtf) document containing merge codes designed to retrieve data from the Info Centers.

When you configure a Custom Proposal section, you specify the Info Center on which it is based and the merge template to be used in creating that section of the finished proposal.

Merge templates:

• Contain the merge codes that represent the fields whose data you want to include in your proposal.

• Let you specify the appearance of the finished proposal. You can apply formatting such as font type, size, and style to the data displayed in the finished proposal. You can also include graphics, such as your firm's logo.

When you download the Vision Word Macro, a Merge Code Toolbar is added to your Microsoft Word user interface. Use the toolbar to insert merge codes into Custom Proposals.

The toolbar also contains the Graphics-Expand-Macro to expand linked graphics so that they display in finished proposal documents.

You can develop your merge templates either before or after you create the custom proposal in the Custom Proposal application. Because the template must be attached to the proposal section with which it will be merged, you may find it more efficient to create templates before creating custom proposals in Vision.

Available Merge Templates

To view the merge templates available for Custom Proposals, select Configuration > General > Merge Templates from the Vision Navigation menu. Then select an Info Center Area. A list of the merge templates that are available for the Info Center displays in the Merge Templates grid.

The Account and Unit Info Centers are not listed as Info Center Areas. They are part of the Vision Accounting module and are not available in Vision Proposals.

Formatting Options

When you create Custom Proposal merge templates, you specify the merge codes to include. In general, Vision merges data in the format in which the data was entered into the database. The merge code macro toolbar provides additional formatting options for certain types of merge codes.

• Select Separator Format

• Select Date Format

• Select State/Province Format

• Select Number Format

• Select Date Format

• Select Custom Field Format

When you select a merge code of any of these types, the macro toolbar displays a formatting dialog box. You use the fields in the dialog box to specify the format to apply to the merged data in the completed custom proposal.