To create a new template, click on the Add New Template button.
Template Settings
Select the applicable template content and properties.
- Include Selected Letterhead – If the template will be printed or sent as a pdf, you can include a letterhead graphic. Select from the dropdown list. Contact PeopleWerksHR Support for help in setting up your organization’s letterhead options.
- Include Selected Signature – If the template will be printed or sent as a pdf, you can include a signature block graphic if applicable. Select from the dropdown list. Contact PeopleWerksHR Support for help in setting up your organization’s signature block options.
- Include Organization Logo – If the template will be printed or sent as a pdf, you can include your organization’s logo at the top of the letter by clicking on the checkbox. Contact PeopleWerksHR Support for help in setting up your organization’s logo.
- Template Style – Select the template style from the dropdown list for 1 or 2 column portrait; 1 or 2 column landscape; email; 1 column portrait advanced which provides a place for text after the signature block; and a special style for Electronic Signature templates if your system has been configured for this feature. It is important to notice the difference between an email style template and the others. For an email style, the template only contains a subject line and a body. The other template styles provide a place for a head and footer such as in Microsoft Word. Also, you cannot include graphic images like the logo, letterhead and/or signature blocks in an email formatted template due to the way your email servers process emails with embedded images.
- Dynamic Salary Calculations – Certain templates can be designed to include merge fields related to salary data for the current year or next year. Instead of having duplicate templates based on current year or next year merge fields, there are special merge fields that can be used such that you can select Current or Future in this Dynamic Salary Calculation section and the system will know which data to include in the template.
Template Content
Once you have selected the template properties, you can begin building your template content. If you have the content already in another document, you can copy and paste the text into the header, body, or footer of the template. Some of the formatting characters may be removed but the text will copy. If you do not have the content available elsewhere, then you can simply type it into the template manually.
To use formatting features for font type and size, centering, etc., click on the Formatting Bar option found in the View menu option at the top of the screen above the PeopleWerksHR menu bar. You can also right click with your mouse to bring up similar formatting option. Select your text first before applying the formatting. Margins are fixed at 7.5″ wide.
To use tabs, click on the Text Ruler button at the bottom of the page. The ruler will appear at the top. With your cursor over the ruler, right click on the mouse to convert between points and inches if necessary. First, select the text that you want to be formatted with tabs. With your cursor over the ruler where you want the tab settings, left click on the mouse to set the tabs. Within the document, you must use the <ctrl> <tab> button combination to insert the tab.
To insert merge fields, place your cursor where you want the field and click on the Merge Fields button. Since there are over 600 fields to choose from, use the Field Type dropdown list at the top of the field list to narrow the search. Just click on the field you want and move to the next place in your template to insert the next merge field.
To spell check your document, select the section of text first and then click on the Spell Check button at the bottom of the page.
To review the final template, click on the Preview Content button at the bottom of the page. Where there are merge fields, they will be replaced with the data from your own record so that you can easily confirm how the resulting document will look and also if you have the correct merge fields selected.
Save the template while you are working on it so you do not lose your work. The first time you click on the Save Template button, the system will have you enter a title, a description and other information about the template. It is here where you can also share the template with others.
Attachments
You can include attachments for emailing along with the template. Simply place your cursor in one of the three boxes at the bottom of the screen and right click on the mouse to insert a file.