SoftMaker.com

Hi, I have looked through the help (English) and the printed manual (German) and also searched on the site here (English), and am still struggling with templates.
(Maybe Template is the "wrong" word?)

My queries are:

Template creation
I want to create a new template - well actually a variation on one of the current templates. Whenever I open a template the date gets automatically filled in - how do I create a template that will fill in the date automatically?

Personal or Business details
I want to be able to choose between my business details or my private details being filled in in the newly-opened template file - is this possible?
In English, there are no business letter templates - in German there are only very short ones so I use a "private" letter but my personal details get filled in - I would like the choice - or else the ability to create a template for each.


I'm sure I'll have more queries (I havent even gotten as far as the database because of these queries).
Many thanks in advance for any help!
Tom

When you have a date field in a document or template, it shows the date, but it is still a field which updates automatically. Click on the green "f" inside pointed brackets in your toolbar or type Alt+F9, and the field name will be displayed instead of the date. So everything is o.k. with your template, you have nothing to do to keep the date field.

The best way is to create a new template with your business details. It doesn't matter if the original template is opened as a template (*.tmv) or as a document (*.tmd). Just change anything you want, then click "Save as..." and select "Template (*.tmv)" as file type. Then TextMaker saves it as a template into your template directory. Next time you choose "File > New..." it will be there.

Thanks Jossi :-)

I can only test that out later or tomorrow - willl let you know how I get on

all the best, Tom

getting there, thanks again

EDIT/ I want to add a shortcut to the button with the green arrow (pointing down) inside curly brackets (tooltip: "insert date, database fields")
(I know how to edit shortcuts but I'm not sure what it's called - it may be there, possibly under menu>tools ?)

In Tools > Customise > Keyboard Mappings..., choose Edit... and then Insert/Fields.
If you want to toggle between field value and field name, it's View/Field names.

thanks again Jossi - that makes it a lot easier to make a bunch of templates!

I now see that I didnt search for Template in the help file - I just used the index, which only shows one related entry (Template folder). I just found the other entries via search. I reckon it would be very helpful to have a higher-level entry in the help file so it's easier to find (in case any help-file-writers are reading :) )

Query:
[1a] I have three addresses that I need to use for letters - as far as i can see, I think I can only add two sets of user contact details (Home & Business) - is that correct?
[1b] Alternatively, could I use the database for my third address? That would mean using the database for two sets of details which would both be manually chosen - is that possible?

[2] I open a template. If I use "View Field Names" to see the template fields, then add a name from DB, I am unable to add username afterwards (no big deal - just noting it. Means I have to reopen template to add user details).

As only one database at a time can be connected to a document, it won't work to use it for two simultaneous selections which are independent from each other.
Of course you could simply create three templates, each one containing one of your addresses as fixed text, and choose one of them when you start writing a letter.
If you want to do it with one template, you could use calculations with if-conditions. Just have a look at the attached sample file. If you insert a "2" or "3" into the yellow field, the dates change accordingly. The yellow text field is only visible on screen and will not be printed. (Instead of a text field, one could also use a dropdown list, but I understood you prefer keyboard to mouse.)

Regards
Jossi

now that was far too obvious for me to think of... lol


Your template is very interesting, but I'll probably go for above solution - I've already made templates for the two user settings, so will just have to make one new set with a fixed user address


Vielen Dank Jossi, I think I'm functional at this stage :-) :thumbsup: