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Form Letters

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Form letter reports create custom letters that merge information from the PowerSchool database into a letter. They are similar to report card reports in that you can use HTML tags and PowerSchool data codes. The difference is that a form letter report cannot include schedule listings. When creating a form letter, there is no need to open a preview page. You can easily create the report and preview it in the same Web browser window.

Add a Custom Form Letter

  1. On the start page, choose System Reports under Reports in the main menu. The Reports page appears.
  2. Click the Setup tab. The Report Setup page appears.
  3. Click Form Letters. The Form Letters page appears.
  4. Click New. The New Form Letter page appears.
  5. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Title of this form letter

    Enter a name for this form letter.

    Table

    Choose the table used for the form letter data from the pop-up menu.

    Default font

    Choose the form letter font from the pop-up menu.

    Default font size

    Choose the font size from the pop-up menu.

    Default text line height

    Enter the height for the space between lines on the mailing label in points.

    Note: One point is 1/72 of an inch.

    Page Size

    Choose from the pop-up menu the size of the paper on which you want to print this report. To enter a custom size, enter the horizontal and vertical page measurements in the Custom Size fields.

    Margins

    Enter the size of the page margins in inches.

    Orientation

    Choose the page orientation from the pop-up menu. The orientation is the page layout. Portrait is a vertical page; Landscape is a horizontal page.

    Scale

    Enter the percentage to scale the form letter. The lower the percentage, the smaller the form letter scales relative to the size of the page.

    This report available to

    Select who can use this report:

    • users at all schools [on this PowerSchool system]
    • only users at [this school]

    Teachers can print?

    If you want teachers to be able to print this report in PowerSchool Teacher, select the checkbox. Otherwise, deselect the checkbox.

  6. Click Submit. The form letter is set up, and the Form Letters page appears.
  7. Click the form letter you just created. The Edit Form Letter page appears.
  8. Click Report Body. The Edit Body page appears.
  9. Enter the content of the letter. In addition to standard text, you can include HTML tags, PowerSchool fields and PowerSchool data codes.
  10. To insert a PowerSchool field into this field:
    1. Click Fields to view a list of PowerSchool fields. The Fields pop-up appears.
    2. To narrow the list of fields, enter one of more search terms in the Filter field. Otherwise, leave blank.
    3. Click the field you want to add. The Fields pop-up closes and the selected field appears.
  11. Click Submit. The Form Letters page appears.
  12. Click Print. The Print Reports page appears.

  13. Use the following table to enter information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Which report would you like to print?

    Choose the form letter from the pop-up menu.

    For which students?

    Select an option to indicate the students for whom the report will be run, if necessary.

    In what order?

    Select the sort order.

    If printing student schedules, use...

    Select an option to indicate enrollment specifications. If you select the enrollment as of option, enter the enrollment date in the field.

    If printing fee list, only include transactions conducted during...
    (may be overridden in report setup)

    If you selected an Object Report in the Which report to print field and that Object Report includes a fee list object, choose the date range from the pop-up menu. If you select the Date Range, enter the beginning and ending dates in the fields using the format mm/dd/yyyy or mm-dd-yyyy. If you do not use this format, an alert appears. If you submit the date with an incorrect format, the date field is submitted as a blank entry.

    Watermark Text

    To print text as a watermark on each page of the report, use the pop-up menu to either choose one of the standard phrases or choose Custom and enter the text you want to print as a watermark in the field.

    Watermark Mode

    Use the pop-up menu to determine how you want the text to print. Watermark prints the text behind objects on the report, while Overlay prints the text over objects on the report.

    When to print

    Select a time to run the report:

    • ASAP: Execute immediately.
    • At Night: Execute during the next evening.
    • On Weekend: Execute during the next weekend.
    • On Specific Date/Time: Execute on the date and time specified in the following fields.
  14. Click Submit. The report queue appears.
  15. Click View once the report is completed.
    Note: Click Refresh to update the status of the report.
    The page displays a PDF file of the report. Thoroughly review it to verify that the formatting and content are correct. If the report provides the data you need and is formatted properly, print it from this page or save it to another application.

Edit a Custom Form Letter

  1. On the start page, choose System Reports under Reports in the main menu. The Reports page appears.
  2. Click the Setup tab. The Report Setup page appears.
  3. Click Form Letters. The Form Letters page appears.
  4. Click the form letter you want to edit. The Edit Form Letter page appears.
  5. Use the following table to edit information in the fields:

    Field

    Description

    Title of this form letter

    Edit this form letter's name.

    Table

    The table used for the form letter data appears.

    Default font

    Choose the form letter font from the pop-up menu.

    Default font size

    Choose the font size from the pop-up menu.

    Default text line height

    Edit the height for the space between lines on the mailing label in points.

    Note: One point is 1/72 of an inch.

    Page Size

    Choose from the pop-up menu the size of the paper on which you want to print this report. To enter a custom size, enter the horizontal and vertical page measurements in the Custom Size fields.

    Margins

    Edit the size of the page margins in inches.

    Orientation

    Choose the page orientation from the pop-up menu. The orientation is the page layout. Portrait is a vertical page; Landscape is a horizontal page.

    Scale

    Edit the percentage to scale the form letter. The lower the percentage, the smaller the form letter scales relative to the size of the page.

    This report available to

    Select who can use this report:

    • users at all schools [on this PowerSchool system]
    • Only users at [this school]

    Teachers can print?

    If you want teachers to be able to print this report in PowerSchool Teacher, select the checkbox. Otherwise, deselect the checkbox.

  6. Click Report Body. The Edit Body page appears.
  7. Enter the content of the letter. In addition to standard text, you can include HTML tags, PowerSchool fields and PowerSchool data codes.
  8. To insert a PowerSchool field into this field:
    1. Click Fields to view a list of PowerSchool fields. The Fields pop-up appears.
    2. To narrow the list of fields, enter one of more search terms in the Filter field. Otherwise, leave blank.
    3. Click the field you want to add. The Fields pop-up closes and the selected field appears.
  9. Click Submit. The Form Letters page appears. If you are ready to print the letter, see Run, Print, and Save Reports.

Delete a Custom Form Letter

  1. On the start page, choose System Reports under Reports in the main menu. The Reports page appears.
  2. Click the Setup tab. The Report Setup page appears.
  3. Click Form Letters. The Form Letters page appears.
  4. Click the name of the form letter you want to delete. The Edit Form Letter page appears.
  5. Click Delete.
  6. Click Confirm Delete. The Selection Deleted page appears.
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