You work for three bosses

You want to make sure that, when you run a letter template, that the correct boss’s contact details appear on the letterhead.

Suppose your letterhead template has data elements «DirectorName» «DirectorPhone» and «DirectorEmail» placed in the relevant locations on the letterhead.

The problem of getting the correct “Director…” information into these data elements has a number of solutions, but a simple one would be:

1. Create a text file formatted like this:
   

   DirectorName,DirectorPhone,DirectorEmail
   Frederick Basset,999-888,fbasset@company.com
   Charles Brown,888-777,brownc@company.co.za
   Michael Rowboat,555-444,mrowboat@company.com

   Obviously with your own data in it – one line for each boss; but note that the names in the first line must be the same as the names of the data elements in the letterhead.

2. Save the file, either in the same folder from which your templates are run, or in a helper folder, and call it something like BossData.txt. (N.B. if you create the file in Word, then it must be saved using “Save As …” and choose the “Plain Text” option).
3. In any template which refers to the letterhead via a «BaseTemplate()» command, include a command:
   «ChooseFromFile(BossData.txt)»

Now, whenever you run a template, you will be presented with a drop-down listing Frederick Basset, Charles Brown and Michael Rowboat. Choosing one of them will cause the associated data elements to be included in the data set for the template, and the correct values will be filled in to the relevant fillpoints.

Another way of addressing this issue, this time for a large firm where nearly everyone “works for 3 bosses” is found in the recipe Managing contact details on letters.