Letter Designer

Tool Search: Letter Designer

The Letter Designer allows districts to create custom letters using a WYSIWYG editor. Letter formats created within the Letter Designer can be used by many users and generated as often as needed.

Screenshot of the Letter Designer editor.Letter Designer Tool

Read - View the Letter Designer tool. Write - View and modify existing letters. Add - View, modify, and create new letters. Delete - Delete existing letters.

See the Tool Rights article for more information about Tool Rights and how they function.

Letter Designer Editor Field Description

Field Description
Saved Letter Formats Formats previously created and saved that are available for use in the Letter Builder tool.
Create a New Letter Format
  • Blank Form Letter: Generate the letter exactly as it was created within the Letter Designer.
  • Addressed Form Letter: Generate the same information as the Blank Form format, but include the student's address information at the top. This format is useful for letters printed and mailed to parents/guardians.
Edit Opens the WYSIWYG editor when a previously saved format is selected.
Delete Option to delete the selected saved format.
Copy Option to copy the selected saved format.
New Format Opens the WYSIWYG editor to compose a new format.


Create a New Letter Format 

Screenshot of the letter designer editor.Ad Hoc Letter Designer

Steps to Create a New Format

1Enter a Name.
  • This is used to identify the letter within the Letter Designer and Letter Builder tools.
2Enter a Short and/or Long Description about the letter.
  • Information written within these fields will display for users when modifying or editing the report. Text entered in the Long Description field will display on the screen when the filter is selected within the Letter Builder and Letter Designer tools.
3Select the Preferred Language for the letter format.
  • Letters can be created in several languages, but they must first be entered into the selected default value. See the Preferred Language Letter Setup section below for more information.
3Select the Font, Size, Font Color, and any other formatting options within the WYSIWYG toolbar to compose the letter within the text field
4Use the two buttons on the far-right side of the WYSIWYG bar to include dynamic Campus Field options and sub-reports. See the Campus Field and Sub-Report Options section below for more information.
5 Expand the Organized To dropdown field to select a user group.
  • This field allows users to designate which user group has the right to view and generate this letter format.
6Select the Save Format button. The report format is now saved and available in the Letter Builder tool.


Preferred Language Setup

Infinite Campus does not provide translation services.

Districts must use their own resources when communicating in another language with parents/guardians, students, staff, etc.

Letters must exist in the assigned default language. Text can be entered for additional languages for the district's population. Two things must be done:

Existing language codes should not be modified. Access to letters is lost until the original code is recreated. If that language code is assigned to any person, that assignment is also lost.

Steps to Set Up Preferred Language

Click here to expand...

Step 1. Enter the Preferred Language Default Value

Tool Search: Attribute/Dictionary

Enter the desired Default Value for the Preferred Language. This value shows the Default Language Preview when creating letters in other languages. If no Preferred Language has been assigned to an individual (Step 3), letters are generated in this default language.

  1. Expand the Contact object.
  2. Click on the Preferred Language element. A Campus Attribute Detail editor displays.
  3. Enter the appropriate Default Value. This could be en_US, es_MX, or another abbreviation that matches the Code assigned to the Languages entered in the Dictionary list. The entered value must match the Dictionary Code for that language.
screenshot of the default value field highlighted within an attributePreferred Language Default Value

2. Add Language To Attribute/Dictionary

Tool Search: Attribute/Dictionary

Languages available here are used in the Preferred Language Selector to control the list of languages.

  1. Expand the Preferred Language attribute and select Dictionary. A Preferred Language Dictionary Detail editor displays.
  2. Click the Add Row button in the far right corner of the Detail editor.
  3. Enter a Code, Name, and Sequence for the language.
  4. Mark the language as Active.
  5. To add more languages, click the Add Row in the right-hand corner, and repeat steps 3 and 4. 
  6. Click the Save icon when finished.

The Language Code can be up to 15 characters in length.


screenshot of preferred language within the attribute dictionaryPreferred Language Dictionary Values


All languages except en_US and those identified in the Default Value field can be added or removed. As the default preferred language, it is assumed when an individual does not have a Preferred Language assigned. Letters do not generate at all if this language is removed. The Code entered in the Dictionary must match the Default Value.

screenshot the default value matching the dictionaryDefault Value Matches Dictionary Code


Because of a configuration with Email Messenger settings, en_US should never be removed from the Preferred Language Dictionary.

Step 3. Assign Preferred Language to Parent/Guardian

Tool Search: Demographics

Assign the Preferred Language to the parent/guardian who receives an attendance letter. This field can be assigned to all persons in Campus, as well. It is used to send other sorts of messages to parents/guardians, staff, and students.

Parents/guardians can also select the Preferred Contact Language on the Contact Preferences editor in the Campus Portal.

Screenshot of the preferred language field highlighted in the demographics toolPreferred Language Assignment

Step 4. Create the Letter in the Default Language

Tool Search: Letter Format

Screenshot of selecting the preferred language within the letter designerPreferred Language Display

Default Language: English

In the following example, en_US: US English is the Default Language. The Attribute/Dictionary has been entered as follows:

  • Preferred Language Default Value: en_US
  • Preferred Language Dictionary Value Code: en_US

The English version displays as the Preview when the same letter is created in another language.

screenshot of writing a letter in spanish and it appearing in englishLetter Format with Default Language as English

Default Language: es_MX

In the following example, es_MX: Spanish (Mexico) is the Default Language. The Attribute/Dictionary has been entered as follows:

  • Preferred Language Default Value: es_MX
  • Preferred Language Dictionary Value Code: es:_MX

When the same letter is created in another language, the Spanish version displays as the Preview.

screenshot of entering english and having it translate to spanishLetter Format with Default Language as Spanish

When finished, choose the applicable Organized To: option and click the Save Format button. Follow your district's standard procedure to print and generate attendance letters. Letters in English and letters in non-English generate in the same collection of letters. When a parent/guardian is assigned a Preferred Contact Language that is not English, the letter prints in that language.

Step 5. Create the Letter in Additional Languages

After creating the letter in the Default Language, enter text for this same letter in a different language by selecting the language in the Preferred Language list and typing/pasting the translated text into the WYSIWYG editor. That language becomes bold, and an Active checkbox becomes available. A language version of the letter is only a draft until the Active checkbox is marked.

When it is determined that the draft letter can be sent, mark the Active checkbox, indicating the letter is now ready to print for those individuals assigned that Preferred Language.

screenshot of a letter written entirely in spanishLetter in Spanish

Repeat these steps for the other languages where letters must be available.

Please adhere to any district policy that may exist for what needs to be included in the letters.

Step 6. Send the Letters

A letter is sent for each distinct Preferred Language associated with the parents/guardians in the household marked to receive mailings. In the example below, one of the student's guardians receives a letter in Spanish because that is the Preferred Contact Language for that guardian, and another of the student's guardians at a different mailing address receives the same letter in English. If there are two parents/guardians in the household assigned the same Preferred Language, one letter is generated for the household.

screenshot of the same letter generated in different languagesLetters in Multiple Languages


Certain foreign language characters may not line up properly with other text when using the Campus Fields or when fonts are mixed (e.g., phone numbers alongside non-English characters). Try adding additional returns between lines. 

The information in the letter sub-reports uses data stored in the AttendanceDayAggregation table. This means that attendance data for the current date is accurate as of the previous night's attendance calculation or the last time the Attendance Aggregation Refresh was run. If needed, the Attendance Aggregation Refresh tool can be run to force an attendance recalculation to pull in the current day's data.

WYSIWYG Editor Field Definitions

Formatting

This option appears as the paragraph symbol in the editor and allows different sizes to be set, as desired. Available options include:

  • Normal text - non-serif font, most often Arial, size 10
  • Quote - indents and italicizes the text
  • Code - displays the text in a box and changes the font to a Courier style font
  • Headers 1 through 5 - displays the text in varying sizes

Text can either be selected, and then a formatting option can be chosen, or the formatting option can be set first.

(B)old

Highlighting the text and selecting B displays the text in bold.

(I)talic

Highlighting the text and selecting I displays the text in italics.

(U)nderline

Highlighting the text and selecting U adds an underline.


Selecting this option adds a bulleted list to the text. Bullets will continue to be added until removed.

  • First bullet
  • Second bullet
  • And so on...

Numbers

Selecting this option adds a numbered list to the text. Numbers will continue to be added in numeric order until removed. 

  1. Enter the first step.
  2. Enter the second step.
  3. Etc.

<Outdent

Selecting this option removes the indent and moves text to the left. 

>Indent

Selecting this option adds an indent and moves the text to the right.

Insert Image

Adds an image to the message, letter, etc.


Enter the URL (file location) of the image, select the desired size, and enter any other required text. Then, enter the desired width and height of the image in pixels. When finished, click the Insert button.


The URL must be a public literal URL

The following types of images can be inserted. Image file extensions are listed; extensions in bold are the most common type.


Approved Image Types for UI Display

.jpg or .JPEG

.psd

.svg

.png.psp.3dm
.bmp.tif or .tiff.3ds
.dds.ai.max

.dng

.eps.obj

.gif

.ps.xcf


Inserting Images in Letters

Images in any of the approved formats can be added to letters. If you have trouble with a JPEG image in FOP, try opening it with an image processing program (such as Photoshop or Gimp) and then save it. Specifying 24-bit color output may also help.


For the PDF and PostScript renderers, most JPEG images can be passed through without decompression. Grayscale, RGB, and CMYK color spaces render properly; however, for other output formats, the JPEG images have to be decompressed.

Inserting Images in Emails

The image types accepted depend on your email client. It is recommended to use common file types such as PNG and GIF in emails. 

Table

Adds a table. First, select the Insert Table option from the dropdown. The default size of the table is 2 rows by 3 columns. Use the other options in the Table dropdown to increase this size.


Available options are:

  • Insert Table
  • Add Row Above
  • Add Row Below
  • Add Column Left
  • Add Column Right
  • Add Head (adds a bold line below the top row)
  • Delete Head (removes the bold line)
  • Delete Column
  • Delete Row
  • Delete Table

Links

Adds a URL link to an external site (outside of the district) or an internal site (within the district).


Links could include websites, district-approved videos, etc.

Videos are embedded and use the <embed> tag


All links open in a new window.

Alignment

Determines placement of text. Options include:


  • Align text to the left: Lines all selected text up to the left of the margin/editor.
  • Center text: Centers all selected text to the middle of the editor.
  • Align text to the right: Lines all selected text up to the right of the margin/editor.
  • Justify text: Aligns all selected text along the left margin, and letter- and word-spacing is adjusted so that the text falls flush with both margins

Insert Horizontal Rule

Adds a line that displays across the text box, separating a section of the content from another section of the content.

Font ColorChanges the text color from black to a chosen color.

Campus FieldCampus Fields and Sub-Reports allow the letters to dynamically pull and display specific student data for each student within the generated letter. See below for more information.
Sub Report


Campus Field and Sub-Report Options

Using Campus Fields and Campus Sub-Reports in letters allows the reports to dynamically pull and display specific student data for each student within the generated letter.

Any fields displaying in red text have been deactivated. Use the Element Replacement tool to replace them with updated fields.

Campus Field Options

To include Campus fields within a letter, select the small icon on the right-hand side of the text format bar.

Once the Campus field options icon is selected, users are presented with the Campus Field Properties editor. Much like other Ad hoc field editors, users can select Campus fields related to student data.

screenshot showing the button users select to insert campus fieldsInsert Campus Fields


Custom Attributes cannot contain special characters when added to letters.

Select the field from the Campus Field Properties editor to insert Campus fields within the letter. The selected field will appear within a dotted blue-lined box in the text field.

screenshot highlighting campus fields added to a letterCampus Fields Display

The example above pulls a student's first and last names into the report. Every time this report is generated, each student being reported will pull their unique data for these fields into the letter.

Campus Sub-Report Options

Select the small icon on the right-hand side of the text format bar to include Campus sub-reports within a letter.

screenshot of the button users select to pick a sub reportCampus Sub-report Selection


Once the Campus sub-report options icon is selected, users are presented with the Campus Sub-Report Properties editor.

Select the sub-report from the Campus Sub-Report Properties editor to insert a sub-report within the letter format. The sub-report will appear within a dotted red-lined box in the text field.

screenshot of sub reports added to a letterCampus Sub-report Display

Sub-Report Options

The following table lists the sub-report options for each area.

AreaSub-Reports
Learner

Student Schedule

Active and Dropped Student Sch

Learner Planning

Course Requests

Course Plan

Attendance

Period Mark Summary

Course Mark Summary

Whole/Half Day Summary

Exact Day Summary

Single Day Count Summary

Grading

Grade Detail

Term GPA Summary

Behavior

Discipline Summary

Behavior Summary

Student PortfolioCumulative GPA and Class Rank
Health

Immunization

Health Screening Concussion

Health Screening Dental

Health Screening Hearing

Health Screening Scoliosis

Health Screening Vision

Point of SalePOS Account Balance

When using sub-reports in letters, please note the following:

  • All behavior data is included when adding either of the sub-reports.
  • A field only displays if there is data for that field. If a field is chosen from the sub-report but there is no saved data for that student, information for that field is not displayed.
  • A sub-report option only displays if the district/school records that data.

Letter Formats

Users can generate letters in Blank Form or Addressed Form Letter format. The Blank Form Letter format will generate the letter exactly as it was created within the Letter Designer.

screenshot of the blank form letter formatBlank Form Letter Format









The Address Form Letter format generates the same information as the Blank Form format, but also includes the student's address information at the top. This format is useful for letters printed and mailed to parents/guardians.


screenshot of the address form letter formatAddress Form Letter Format















For students who do not have a mailing address, a letter is still generated for them. Like in the Preview of the attendance letters, the student's name is listed on the summary of who receives a letter, but instead of an address, the words NO MAILING ADDRESS display where the address would otherwise display. Letters are printed for the student with the same NO MAILING ADDRESS indication.


screenshot of the no mailing address displayed formatNo Mailing Address Display on Letter Print


No Mailing Address is determined by the Mailing checkbox marked on the Household associated with the Address.


screenshot highlighting the mailing checkbox in the household addresses toolAddress Location Detail - M