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Merge Fields in Letters

Josh
  • Updated

Letter templates support merge fields from the Contact, School, and System categories to pull dynamic student and school data into generated PDFs.

đź’ˇQuick Answers

  • What merge field categories work in letter templates? Contact, School, and System; the Recipient category does not work in letters since only a single PDF is generated per student.
  • How do I pull a parent's name into a letter? Use {{contact.parent1.name}}; parent2 through parent4 follow the same format, and name subfields (first_name, last_name, etc.) are also available.
  • How do I test that merge fields are working? Save the template, go to a student record, click Communicate > Generate Letters, select the template, and preview or download the PDF to verify.
  • What should I do if a merge field is not populating? Confirm the field name is correct and that the student has a value for that field on their contact record.

Merge fields, also known as tokens, can be used to pull dynamic information from contacts in the Finalsite Enrollment system into your templates. To learn more about the various uses for merge fields, click here.

The following merge field categories can be used in Letter Templates:

  • Contact: Information that’s related to or linked to the assigned contact (student).
  • School: Information related to the school such as school name, school year, website, admissions contact information, etc.
  • System: Information related to current date formats.

Please note: The recipient category does not work in letters because only a single PDF is generated. However, you can still populate a parent's name in a letter template by using a merge field such as {{contact.parent1.name}}.

You can pull any of the name subfields in this way (name_title, first_name, last_name, middle_name, preferred_name, name_suffix). The same format can be followed for parents 2-4.

How-To

Merge fields can be added to a template through the Merge Field Picker or by typing/copying them directly into the body of the template. Learn more in our 'How to Pull in Dynamic Information' section here.

You can test your letter template and make sure your merge fields are populating correctly by saving it, then going to any student and clicking on 'Communicate' - 'Generate Letters'. A preview screen will appear, and you can also choose to generate a PDF of the letter at that time.

If a merge field is not populating data for a student, check that you have the right field name and that the student has a value set for that field on their contact record.

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