Insert Menu

The Insert menu is used for inserting special objects into the letter. An example of these objects would be hyperlinks or tables.

Page Break		Inserts a page break into the letter. A page break will force any text following the page break to start on a new page.
Hyperlink		Inserts a hyperlink into the letter. A hyperlink is typically used to create a clickable link to a web URL.
Create Custom Field		Inserts a custom field into the letter. These are specialty fields that are not found within the standard Theatre Manager merge fields. For more information on inserting custom fields click here.
Text Box		Inserts a Text Box into the letter. The text box is typically used to create a section of text that is movable in the letter.
Table		Opens the Insert Table window. Tables are used to format text into rows and columns. For more information on inserting tables click here.
Row Field		Opens the Insert Row Fields window. Row Fields are used to insert data in table format into the letter. This would typically be used to display a list of tickets or donations. For more information on inserting row fields click here.

Insert Custom Field Window

The Create Custom Field Menu is a sublevel of the Insert Menu under Form Letters. The Create Custom Field Menu allows for the creation of custom fields to be added to a letter using selected text.

Custom fields are different than calculated fields in a document. A custom field is used for conditional documents and paragraphs. In some cases, they can be built from any text, fields or calculated fields.

Parts of the Insert Custom Field

Display Options
Name	Enter a name for the custom field.
Description	Enter a description of what the custom field does.
Evaluation Options
Strip empty lines from result	When checked, Theatre Manger will remove any empty lines from the data returned.
Multi row field, evaluate for each record	When checked, Theatre Manager will remove any empty lines from the data returned, and check on a line by line basis.
Insert Options
Make available to other users	Makes the custom field available to other users.
Insert as text box	Inserts the custom field as a text box.
	Cancels the current operation. Closes the window and performs no action.
	Performs the current operation. This will add or alter the custom field that has been created.

Insert Table Window

The Table menu is used for inserting a table into the letter. Tables allow text to be formatted into rows and columns in order to create a better presentation.

Parts of the Insert Table Window

Number of Rows	The number of rows to create the table with.
Number of Columns	The number of columns to create the table with.
Fit Across Page	When checked, Theatre Manager automatically determines the column width in order to fit the table to the full width of the letter.
Column Width	The width of the columns to be set when the table is created.
	Cancels the current operation. Closes the window and performs no action.
	Performs the current operation. This will add the table to the letter.

Table Borders and Shading

Formatting table Borders and Shading options are accessible after a table or row field table is inserted into a Form Letter. Borders and Shading is part of the table properties.

Accessing Borders and Shading options right-click anywhere on the inserted table, select Table, Borders and Shading.
Set Borders and Shading attributes there are 5 attribute options for Borders and Shading:
- Border Style
- Frame Options
- Line Style, Colors
- Line Size

To complete the update and apply changes to Table. Closing the Borders and Shading window will set the Applied Changes. From the Table Property Window, click Apply button from the Table Property window.

Insert Row Field Window

The Row Field menu item is used for inserting a table with data fields into the letter. This table consists of columns of data fields to present a list of information. This is typically used in form letters to list things like the examples below:

tickets that have been purchased for an order, subscription or what have you.
donations that have been made for a year, a specific campaign, or part of an ongoing-never ending donation
volunteer of staff activity assignments for an upcoming period of time
a notice of gift certificates that are still active, available and assigned to a patron so that they can redeem them
or anything else where you want a list of some data on the form letter.

Row fields can have:

Multiple columns of data from related records in the database
Column headers
Detail rows containing the data for each column
Subtotals, averages, max and minimum on rows that are numeric
Separate subtotals, averages, etc outside the row field

Sample of Row Field In a Form Letter

Sample of empty Row Field

Parts of the Insert Row Field Window

Headers & Footers
Create a header row	Creates a header row for the table listing the fields that are used.
Bold	Sets the header row in bold typeface.
Fill Color	Allows changing the color of the header row background.
Create a footer row	Creates a footer row for the table. The footer row typically contains sub-totals of the information in the table.
Bold	Sets the footer row in a bold typeface.
Fill Color	Allows changing the color of the footer row background.
Columns
	Adds another row field to the table.
	Deletes the row field from the table.
	Moves the placement of the row field up. This will place the column farther left in the table.
	Moves the placement of the row field down. This will place the column farther right in the table.
Database Field	The database field to be used as a column header.
	Displays a drop-down menu to allow the lookup of database fields.
Column Header	Allows a description to be entered as the column header rather than using the database field.
Total	When checked, the total will be displayed for this field instead.
	Cancels the current operation. Closes the window and performs no action.
	Performs the current operation. This will add the table to the letter.