Create a membership card format

You must have Microsoft Word installed to create your own membership card templates. This procedure guides you through the steps required to create a contact document using Word 2007.

  1. From Word, create a new blank document and write the body of the membership card format. The body of the letter should provide context for the data fields you will add to the letter during this process. For examples of how to format the letter, you can review the preconfigured templates included in the system. For more information, see Membership Card Formats.

  2. On the ribbon, select the Mailings tab.

  3. In the Start Mail Merge group, select Select Recipients, Use Existing List. The Select Data Source screen appears.

  4. Browse to membership card format header file (*.csv) you previously created, select it and select Open. The Header Record Delimiters screen appears.

  5. Leave the default settings as they appear on the Header Record Delimiters screen and select OK. You return to the Word document.

  6. In the Write & Insert Fields group, select Insert Merge Field. A list of the membership card data fields you can add to the membership card format appears.

    Note: Prior to inserting a field, you can place your cursor in the document in the location where the field should go within the body of the membership card format letter. You can also move the fields around as needed within the document after they are inserted.

  7. Select the appropriate data field to add and select Insert. The field is added to the Word document. Repeat this step for each field you want to include in the membership card format.

    Note: The data fields you place in the membership card format will be used to pull specific data from your database when a membership card is created for a constituent. For a list of the fields you can insert and their definitions, see Membership Card Format Data Fields.

  8. To return to the document, select Close. When you are done inserting data fields and writing the body of the membership card format, save and close the document. Now that you have a created the membership card format, you are ready to add it to the Letter Template Library.

    Note: Make sure you save the document in a format that is compatible with the version of Word installed on each workstation. For maximum compatibility, we recommend you save each template as a “Word 97-2003 Document (*.doc)” file. Also make sure you save the file in an accessible location.