You can create letters individually or to an entire group, depending on your permissions. If you can't send communications, check your access following these instructions.
Creating the letter
To create a new letter, go to School > Communications > Letters > New mail merge letter, or to view saved drafts go to Letters > Letter Drafts. You can see more information about using drafts here.
Templates
From this page, you will be able to compose a letter. You can also use a letter template by clicking the Load letter template button. You can see more information about templates here: Using Email/SMS/Letter communication templates
If you don't see this button, follow the tips in this article: Why can I not see the Load Template button for email/SMS/letters?
Choose recipients
Choose the recipients by selecting them from the drop-down list in the To column. You can choose to send the letter to an individual, selected by scrolling through the list or typing the name and selecting the appropriate individual. You can also send to different groups. You can also send to different groups or all enrolled students or their guardians.
In the Combine letters? section, you can choose whether you want to combine emails to one per household or one per recipient and if you want to send an individual email for each student or one regarding all students. Take a look at this article for full details.
To select a preset layout click the arrow next to Document layout.
Writing the letter
The Merge Fields selection box may be used to customise each letter to the appropriate individual.
Don't see the fields you want? Follow these instructions: Creating a Mail Merge using data from a Custom Report Writer report
Printing or saving the letters
When you have completed the setup, click the green Proceed button.
From the next screen, you will have the ability to review your letter. At the bottom of the screen, you can see which users have an address associated with them.
- Those that do will have a green tick next to them.
- The users that don’t will have a red cross next to them.
Please note that the list here is in random order.
You can preview what each letter will look like for the individual recipient by clicking the preview icon.
Address displaying twice? You'll need to remove the extra addressee merge field added to your letter template, as these are automatically included in letter headers by default.
At the bottom of the page before sending you’ll see the total number of letters you’re about to send.
If you are happy with your letter, scroll to the bottom of the page and press the green Generate button. This will then generate the letter in Arbor and will automatically create a PDF download.
The letters can then be printed, placed into envelopes if needed, then sent or given out by your team. Please note they will download all together, not as separate files.
What's next?
You can see how to view the letters you've personally generated here: Seeing the Communications I've sent
You can also view a log of all communications sent, or download the communication log.
Comments
Hi
Do all letters have to be a PDF document or can you change it to a Word Document, only I cannot make amendments to a PDF
Thanks
Hi
Do all letters have to be a PDF document or can you change it to a Word Document?
Thanks
Hi Angela and Sally, you can only download from Arbor as a PDF. If you need to make changes, you should make the changes to the message in Arbor first.
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