Alternate Names and Salutations

When you add a person or couple to a household or organization, you select a preferred display name and a preferred salutation to use. The display name is used in most reports and can also be used in letters, envelopes and labels. The salutation is used in letters and emails.

There may be times when you wish to use a different display name or salutation in a mailing. For example, you may wish to address a couple as "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith" in some letters, but other times you may wish to use "John and Mary Smith."  A donor may also ask to be recognized in a special way on a donor wall or newsletter list, for example as the "John and Mary Smith Family." Alternate names and salutations are provided for this purpose.

You can add alternate names and salutations on the Names tab of the advanced version of the Add Household or Add Organization screen, after you have added and saved a new household or organization. You can also add them later, when you edit a household or organization.

When you add an alternate name or salutation, you attach one or more Mailing tags to indicate what mailings this alternate should be used for. On Step 2 of the New Mailing tab, you can select a Mailing tag for the alternate name and a Mailing tag for the alternate salutation for the particular mailing you are sending. Each mailing recipient name is checked to see if they have an alternate name or salutation with the same Mailing tag. If they do, the alternate name and/or alternate salutation is substituted for the preferred display name and/or salutation.

If a name does not have an alternate name and/or salutation with a matching mailing tag, or if you do not select an alternate name or alternate salutation mailing tag for a particular mailing, the preferred display name and/or preferred salutation are used for that mailing.

To add or change an alternate name or salutation, do the following:

1. Search for the name you wish to work on and open the Bio tab for that household or organization.
2. From the Profile tab, click on Edit.
3. Click on the Names tab.
4. Select a name from the list.
5. Click on the Mailing Preferences button at the top of the list of names.
   1. This opens a new screen with four tabs: Alternate Name, Salutation, Address, Email.
6. To add an alternate name or salutation, enter the name as you wish it to appear and click on Add. The name appears in the list of alternate names.
7. Select the name from the list and select the mailing tags associated with this name.
8. Click on Save.
9. Repeat steps 6 - 8 for each alternate name.
10. To add an alternate salutation, open the Salutation tab and repeat steps 6-8 for each salutation.