Microsoft Office 2003

WD 306: Introduction

LECTURE NOTES

· Discuss the power of personalization, and the basic premise of a form letter in terms of its unchanging and its variable content

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Class Discussion: Ask students about their experience receiving form letters (or, perhaps through a job experience, writing or producing form letters). If possible, provide other examples of form letters as companion pieces to the letter in Figure 5-1c.

2. Critical Thinking: Under some circumstances, form letters are not appropriate. What circumstances? Why not?

WD 306: Project — Form Letters, Mailing Labels, and Directories

LECTURE NOTES

· Use Figures 5-1a through 5-1c to illustrate merging, or blending, and the form letters created in this project

· Review the general tasks to be performed in this chapter

· Review the steps to start Word

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-1a, 5-1b, 5-1c

TEACHER TIPS

Explain that Word allows users to utilize just about any type of data source for a mail merge. Some examples are:

1) Microsoft Outlook Contact List

2) Microsoft Office Address List (best for small, simple lists that you do not use frequently)

3) Microsoft Excel worksheet or Microsoft Access database (With Excel, you can select data from any worksheet or named range within a workbook. With Access, you can select data from any table or query defined in the database.)

4) Other (non-Access) database files

5) HTML files

6) Other (non-Outlook) electronic address books

7) Microsoft Word data source or header source

8) Tab- or comma-delimited text file

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Class Discussion: Ask students why personalized letters are more likely to be read than standard “Dear Sir” or “Dear Madam” letters. Have students suggest circumstances in which they might use form letters.

2. Critical Thinking: Bulk business mail is big business, and Americans are responding to these unsolicited offers in record numbers. Part of the success can be attributed to the sellers’ ability to send form letters tailored to an individual's specific interests and buying habits. Marketers easily can obtain information about people from a vast array of sources. Companies research, compile, and rent information about individuals to marketers at the rate of $100 to $300 per 1,000 names. Some companies may use up to 100 lists to fine-tune the names in an attempt to find appropriate mail prospects. Largely as a result of this, an average American receives about 20 pieces of junk mail each week. Targeted mailings are an efficient way for direct marketers to find nearly 100 times as many consumers as they would by running a television ad. Is this bulk business mail a sophisticated business strategy or, particularly with respect to the use of personal information, an unacceptable intrusion into the lives of individuals?

WD 308: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): General Project Guidelines

LECTURE NOTES

· Define data source, main document, merging, and directory

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Group Activity: Noting that you can use mail merge to create any type of document that maps fields to data, not just letters, ask students to brainstorm other uses of this technology. (For example, given a DVD collection catalogued in a spreadsheet, students could create labels for the DVDs.)

2. Quick Quiz:

1) What is the difference between a main document and a data source? (Answer: A main document contains the constant text, punctuation, spaces, and graphics, and a data source contains the variable values for each form letter)

WD 309: Identifying the Main Document for Form Letters

LECTURE NOTES

· Note the five options available when creating main documents

· Use Figures 5-2 through 5-5 to illustrate identifying the main document for the form letter using the task pane

· Use Figure 5-6 to walk students through the elements of the form letter

· Use Figure 5-7 to illustrate changing the margin settings

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-2, 5-3, 5-4, 5-5, 5-6, 5-7

BOXES:

1. BTW: Changing Margins. Discuss the use of the alt key to display the current margin settings.

2. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of identifying the main document.

3. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of changing the margin settings.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Quick Quiz:

1) What is a content control? (Answer: A content control contains instructions for filling in areas of the document.)

WD 309: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Identify the Main Document for the Form Letter

LECTURE NOTES

· Discuss the essential elements of a business letter

WD 314: Working with Shapes and the Drawing Canvas

LECTURE NOTES

· Define drawing object

· Use Figure 5-8 to illustrate how to enter text in a table row

· Discuss the drawing canvas that Word places around drawing objects and use Figures 5-9 and 5-10 to illustrate inserting a drawing canvas

· Use Figures 5-11 through 5-14 to illustrate inserting a shape

· Differentiate between an object’s rotate handle and its adjustment handle

· Use Figure 5-15 to illustrate applying a shape style, and use Figures 5-16 and 5-17 to illustrate adding formatted text to a shape

· Use Figures 5-18 and 5-19 to illustrate resizing a drawing canvas

· Use Figure 5-20 to illustrate creating a folder while saving

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-8, 5-9, 5-10, 5-11, 5-12, 5-13, 5-14, 5-15, 5-16, 5-17, 5-18, 5-19, 5-20

TEACHER TIPS

Explain that the typical drawing object in Word is a bitmap picture (also called paint-type or raster images), which are made from a series of small dots, much like a piece of graph paper with specific squares filled in to form an image. Bitmaps are created with and edited in paint programs (e.g., Microsoft Paint). All scanned graphics and photographs are bitmaps; when resized, they lose definition, and the individual dots that make up the picture become visible. You can change the way colors look in a bitmap picture by adjusting the brightness and contrast, converting color to black and white or grayscale, or creating transparent areas. To change specific colors in a bitmap, you need to use a photo-editing program (e.g., Adobe PhotoShop). Bitmap pictures often are saved with a .bmp, .png, .jpg, or .gif extension.

Emphasize that the drawing canvas in Figure 5-10 does not print — it only is used to resize or move the drawing canvas and its contents. When you insert a drawing object in Word, a drawing canvas is placed around it. The drawing canvas helps you arrange a drawing in your document. When you insert a picture, the drawing canvas is not automatically placed around it; however, you can add a picture to a drawing canvas. The drawing canvas helps you keep parts of your drawing together, which is especially helpful if your drawing consists of several shapes. The drawing canvas also provides a frame-like boundary between your drawing and the rest of your document. By default, the drawing canvas has no border or background, but you can apply formatting to the drawing canvas as you would any drawing object. By default, Word places a drawing canvas in your document when you insert a drawing object. The canvas is positioned automatically to be inline (i.e., directly in the document at the insertion point) with the text of your document.

Drawn pictures (also called vector drawings) are created from lines, curves, rectangles, and other objects. The individual lines can be edited, moved, and rearranged. When a drawn picture is resized, the computer redraws the lines and shapes so that they retain their original definition and perspective. AutoShapes are drawn pictures. Because a drawn picture is made of lines and shapes, you can group and ungroup, reorder, and change the color of one or all parts of the picture. Drawn pictures are saved in the format of the application that created them. Metafiles are represented as collections of lines rather than pixels, so you can manipulate them without the distortions common to bitmap (raster) graphics.

BOXES:

1. BTW: Drawing Canvas. Discuss the option of making the drawing canvas display automatically when you insert a shape.

2. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of inserting a shape.

3. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of applying a shape style.

4. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of adding formatted text to a shape.

5. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of resizing a drawing canvas.

6. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of creating a folder.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Quick Quiz:

1) What is the purpose of the adjustment handle? (Answer: To change an object’s shape)

2) What is the purpose of the rotate handle? (Answer: To rotate an object in the direction you drag the mouse)

LAB ACTIVITIES

1. Have students experiment with inserting a drawing canvas, inserting a shape (or multiple shapes), and resizing a drawing canvas in the lab.

WD 322: Creating a Data Source

LECTURE NOTES

· Use Figure 5-21 to define each of the following terms: record, header record, data record, data field, and field name

· Point out the 13 commonly used field names provided by Word

· Use Figures 5-22 through 5-31 to illustrate creating a new data source

· Use Figures 5-32 and 5-33 to illustrate saving the data source when prompted by Word

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-21, 5-22, 5-23, 5-24, 5-25, 5-26, 5-27, 5-28, 5-29, 5-30, 5-31, 5-32, 5-33

BOXES:

1. BTW: Fields and Records. Differentiate between fields and records, and link the terms field, variable, and attribute.

2. BTW: Certification. For more information on the MCAS program see Appendix G or visit the Word 2007 Certification Web page.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Quick Quiz:

1) What is a data field? (Answer: Each column in a data source)

2) What is a record? (Answer: Each row in a data source)

3) What is a field name? (Answer: A unique identifier for a data field)

LAB ACTIVITIES

1. Have students create a new data source with their own records, and then edit the records.

WD 322: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Create the Data Source

LECTURE NOTES

· Review the key things to remember about adding fields to a data source

· Emphasize that data fields must be uniquely named, and that the order of fields in the data source has no effect on their order in the main document

WD 329: Composing the Main Document for the Form Letters

LECTURE NOTES

· Using Figure 5-1a, review the text, graphics, fields, and formatting contained in the main document of the form letter

· Use Figure 5-34 to illustrate entering the date

· Define merge fields and merge field characters using Figure 5-35

· Differentiate between the AddressBlock merge field and the GreetingLine merge field

· Use Figures 5-36 and 5-37 to illustrate editing the GreetingLine merge field

· Use Figure 5-38 to show how to begin typing the body of the form letter

· Use Figures 5-39 and 5-40 to illustrate inserting a merge field in the main document

· Discuss how to enter more text using Figure 5-41

· Define multilevel list and use Figures 5-42 through 5-45 to illustrate creating a multilevel list

· Define IF field, and differentiate between the If…Then type of IF field and the If…Then…Else type of IF field

· Define condition, and describe an expression

· Differentiate between true and false text

· Use Figures 5-46 through 5-49 to illustrate inserting an IF field in the main document

· Define field results

· Use Figure 5-50 to illustrate how to enter more text in content controls

· Review the step to save a document

· Explain what field codes are and use Figures 5-51 and 5-52 to illustrate displaying a field code

· Use Figures 5-53 and 5-54 to illustrate printing field codes in the main document

· Use Figures 5-55 and 5-56 to illustrate merging form letters to the printer

· Use Figures 5-57 through 5-59 to illustrate selecting records to merge

· Use Figure 5-60 to illustrate how to merge the form letters to the printer

· Use Figures 5-61 and 5-62 to illustrate sorting the data records in a data source, and use Figure 5-63 to illustrate viewing merged data in the main document

· Review the steps to close a document

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-34, 5-35, 5-36, 5-37, 5-38, 5-39, 5-40, 5-41, 5-42, 5-43, 5-44, 5-45, 5-46, 5-47, 5-48, 5-49, 5-50, 5-51, 5-52, 5-53, 5-54, 5-55, 5-56, 5-57, 5-58, 5-59, 5-60, 5-61, 5-62, 5-63

BOXES:

1. BTW: Saving Data Sources. Discuss the default location and file type for data sources.

2. BTW: Fields. Discuss the impact of field codes, what they look like, and how to turn them off. If possible, show them to students so they know what to look for.

3. BTW: Insert Merge Field Button. Review the function of the Insert Merge Field dialog box.

4. BTW: IF Fields. Encourage students not to be intimidated by the IF function; explain what a nested IF statement is.

5. BTW: Word Fields. Introduce other fields, in addition to the IF field, that Word provides for use in form letters.

6. BTW: Opening Main Document Files. Discuss the circumstances in which the Open Data Source dialog box is used.

7. BTW: Locking Fields. Introduce the keyboard shortcuts for locking a field so that its results cannot be changed.

8. BTW: Conserving Ink and Toner. Discuss the use of draft quality for conserving ink and toner.

9. BTW: Validating Addresses. Introduce the Validate addresses link in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box for validating recipients’ addresses.

10. BTW: Closing Main Document Files. Emphasize the utility of clicking the Yes button when prompted to do so as you close the main document file.

11. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of entering the date.

12. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of inserting a merge field in the main document.

13. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of displaying a field code.

14. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways to select records to merge.

TEACHER TIPS

If students experience difficulty with field codes that appear instead of the resulting information, the problem might be that the field characters (chevrons) were typed on the keyboard instead of being inserted through the use of the ctrl+f9 keys. To insert a field correctly, first press alt+f9 to display field codes. Then press ctrl+f9 to insert empty field characters, and type the instructions. They can also insert a field by clicking Field on the Insert menu.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

1. Class Discussion: Ask students to brainstorm types of content for which a multilevel list is a good match.

2. Class Discussion: Survey students about their experiences creating conditions using expressions in other contexts (e.g., computer programming, Excel formulas).

3. Class Discussion: Encourage students to think of conditional situations, such as If my final exam score is 65 or better, then I pass the course, otherwise I fail. Then, challenge the rest of the class to write an appropriate IF field (If Final Exam Score >= 65 “Pass” “Fail”).

4. Class Discussion: Ask students why might it sometimes be desirable to print the field codes version of a form letter.

5. Group Activity: Have students give examples of each type of IF field, such as If I do well in this course, then I will make the Dean’s list or If I complete this project, then I will be able to use form letters; else I will have to create each letter individually.

6. Group Activity: Give students some expressions and ask them to evaluate them in teams.

7. Critical Thinking: Today, businesses and other organizations capitalize on personal information available for use in form letters in order to customize the letters in a particularly compelling way. For example, a college admissions office might use the geographical data in the addresses of prospective students to insert information selectively into the letter about regional open houses or other opportunities available to students in particular cities or states. What are some other examples of this? Is personalizing form letters in this way deceptive, making it appear that the letter writer has a greater interest in the letter recipient than he or she actually has? Why or why not?

WD 350: Addressing and Printing Mailing Labels and Envelopes

LECTURE NOTES

· Use Figures 5-64 through 5-74 to illustrate addressing and printing mailing labels using an existing data source

· Review the steps to save the mailing labels

· Use Figure 5-75 to illustrate how to address and print envelopes using an existing data source

· Review the steps to save the envelopes

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures — 5-64, 5-65, 5-66, 5-67, 5-68, 5-69, 5-70, 5-71, 5-72, 5-73, 5-74, 5-75

BOXES:

1. BTW: AddressBlock Merge Field. Discuss this alternative way of inserting the AddressBlock merge field into a document.

LAB ACTIVITIES

1. Ask students to read about including a POSTNET bar code on mailing labels in Microsoft Word Help. Then have them use a lab computer to research the use of bar codes on the Web to learn more about the reasons for using bar codes in mailings.

WD 350: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Generate Mailing Labels and Envelopes

LECTURE NOTES

· Emphasize what an envelope should contain, and how it should be formatted

WD 358: Merging All Data Records to a Directory

LECTURE NOTES

· Define directory, and use Figures 5-76 through 5-81 to illustrate merging to a directory

· Use Figures 5-82 through 5-84 to illustrate converting text to a table

· Differentiate between portrait and landscape orientation and use Figures 5-85 and 5-86 to illustrate changing page orientation

· Use Figures 5-87 and 5-88 to illustrate merging to a new document window

· Review the steps to modify and format a table

· Use Figures 5-89 and 5-90 to illustrate modifying table properties

· Use Figures 5-91 and 5-92 to illustrate sorting a table

· Use Figures 5-93 and 5-94 to illustrate formatting text as hidden, and use Figure 5-95 to illustrate hiding hidden text

· Use Figure 5-96 to illustrate printing a document

· Review the steps to save the directory

· Review the steps to quit Word

· Use Figures 5-97 and 5-98 to illustrate opening a main document and the associated data source file

FIGURES and TABLES: Figures: 5-76, 5-77, 5-78, 5-79, 5-80, 5-81, 5-82, 5-83, 5-84, 5-85, 5-86, 5-87, 5-88, 5-89, 5-90, 5-91, 5-92, 5-93, 5-94, 5-95, 5-96, 5-97, 5-98

BOXES:

1. BTW: Converting Main Document Files. Discuss the use of the Start Mail Merge button on the Mailings tab to convert a mail merge main document to a regular Word document.

2. BTW: Quick Reference. Point out the location for the Quick Reference Summary and the Word 2007 Quick Reference Web page.

3. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of modifying table properties.

4. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of formatting text as hidden.

5. Other Ways: Encourage your students to explore other ways of hiding hidden text.

End of Chapter Material

§ Learn It Online is a series of online student exercises that test your knowledge of chapter content and key terms.

§ Apply Your Knowledge is a student assignment that helps you to reinforce the skills and apply the contents you learned in this chapter.

§ Extend Your Knowledge is a student assignment that challenges you to extend the skills you learned in this chapter and to experiment with new skills. You may need to use Help to complete the assignment.

§ Make It Right is a student assignment that requires you to analyze a presentation and correct all errors and/or improve the design.

§ In the Lab (Lab) is a series of student assignments that ask you to design and/or create a presentation using the guidelines, concepts, and skills presented in this chapter. The assignments are listed in order of increasing difficulty.

§ Cases and Places is a series of student assignments where you apply your creative thinking and problem solving skills to design and implement a solution.

Chapter Objectives	2
WD 306: Introduction	2
WD 306: Project — Form Letters, Mailing Labels, and Directories	2
WD 309: Identifying the Main Document for Form Letters	3
WD 308: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Identify the Main Document for the Form Letter	4
WD 314: Working with Shapes and the Drawing Canvas	4
WD 322: Creating a Data Source	5
WD 322: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Create the Data Source	6
WD 329: Composing the Main Document for the Form Letters	6
WD 350: Addressing and Printing Mailing Labels and Envelopes	8
WD 350: Plan Ahead Box (Critical Thinking): Generate Mailing Labels and Envelopes	8
WD 358: Merging All Data Records to a Directory	8
End of Chapter Material	9
Glossary of Key Terms	10

Microsoft Office Word 2007

Chapter Five: Generating Form Letters, Mailing Labels, and Directories

A Guide to this Instructor’s Manual:

Chapter Objectives

Glossary of Key Terms