Adding Fields and Text
Description
When you create a new Label or Letter layout, the editor automatically inserts a Rich Text object. To use this Rich Text Object, you add the fields and text you want to appear when the Labels are printed. Rich Text Objects make it easy to seamlessly mix text and fields; they let you suppress blank spaces, and they make it easy to change the fonts, point size, color, alignment, and other text attributes. If you unsure whether you have a rich text object, hold the cursor above the object until Alpha Anywhere displays its name.
To enter fields or text into a Rich Text Object, you first need to activate the Rich Text Editor. This is done by double-clicking on the Rich Text Object. When the editor is activated, controls appear on the Text Toolbar that let you change the size, font, and other text attributes. Text can be inserted by simply typing. To insert a field, click and drag the appropriate field from the Drag and Drop List and drop it on the Rich Text Object.
Suppressing Blank Lines
When you place fields on different lines, it is often helpful to move to the next line by pressing SHIFT ENTER to insert a soft return, rather than ENTER which inserts a hard return. A soft return, which appears as a return mark (), only creates a line if the line contains data; if the line is blank, it is suppressed. For example, you are designing mail Labels to print names and addresses from your Customer table. The Customer table contains two address lines, Address1 and Address2. In some cases, Address2 is blank, since the address fits on a single line. To prevent a blank line from appearing on the Label, you can place a soft return at the end of the line.