Writing

Find a document

Every document is linked to a client (or your own organization), and to a grant or a foundation when it's for one. In Writing, the library on the left starts at All documents, with your clients and foundations underneath:

• Choose a client to see its documents and its grants; choose a grant to see that grant's documents.
• Choose a foundation to see every document for it, from any client.
• The line at the top shows where you are; choose All documents or a client's name to go back up.

Foundation, grant and client pages each have a Writing card listing their documents. Choose one to open it here, or Write a document to start one for that record.

Start a document

1. Go to the client, grant or foundation in the library (or use Write a document on its page).
2. Choose New document, then Blank document or a template: a full proposal, a letter of inquiry, a cover letter, a thank-you letter, a budget narrative, or one of your own. For a foundation, also choose which client it's for.
3. Give it a name at the top, and write.

Start from your own file: drop a Word (.docx), text (.txt) or rich text (.rtf) file anywhere on the Writing page, or choose Open a file in New document. It becomes a new document, keeping its headings, bold, italics, lists and tables (pictures are left out), and its header and footer. If the file's header holds a letterhead (a logo or artwork), Writing offers to save it as your letterhead. To reuse it, choose More, then Save as template.

Start proposal on a grant's page opens this with the proposal template first. Text in square brackets, like [program name], is for you to replace.

Write and save

The document is a page, as it will print: letter size, or your letterhead's own page and margins. Use the zoom box at the top left of the toolbar, or Fit to fit the page to the window. Hold Ctrl (on a Mac, Cmd) and turn the mouse wheel over the page to zoom the page alone; the wheel by itself scrolls.

Click the top or bottom edge of the page to type a header or footer for this document, such as a title or "Page 1". In the header or footer the toolbar has Insert page number. They go under the letterhead's own, on every page of the Word file.

The toolbar has paragraph styles (title, headings), fonts and sizes, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, text color, highlight, links, alignment, line spacing, lists, indents and tables. The usual keys work too: Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, Ctrl+U and Ctrl+Z. Tab puts a tab at the cursor, as in Word (in a list it moves the item in a level); Shift+Tab takes it back. The indent buttons move the whole paragraph.

Need more room? Choose « to hide the library and » to hide the panel on the right; the strip left behind brings each back.

Your work saves a moment after you stop typing, and Save saves it right away. The top of the document says Saved when it's done. If someone else on your team saved the same document while you were writing, you choose Keep mine or Use theirs; nothing is overwritten without asking.

Client review, AI use and section limits

• Send to client for review appears under a document that's for a client. Everyone at the client you've given access gets an email and reads it, with your data filled in, on their own page. They choose Approve or Ask for changes; their answer and note show on the document, and you get an email. Take back hides it again.
• More, then AI use, records whether AI helped draft the document, the tool, and who checked it, and writes a disclosure statement. See Using AI tools responsibly.
• Sections, in the panel on the right, lists each heading with its length. Choose Set limit to enter the funder's word or character limit; the count turns red when a section goes over. Characters are counted the way most funder portals count them, spaces included. Copy copies a section's text to paste into a funder portal's box.
• Score, in the same panel, shows tips for the section the cursor is in, found from the heading above it (Statement of need, Budget, Evaluation and so on): what this funder's guidelines, its listing or its 990-PF say about that part, then what funders usually look for. Tips are advice to read; nothing is added to the document. Below the tips is the grant's Application score, which also counts any section over its limit. The Score view shows for documents started from a grant.

Letterhead

Set up a letterhead once and every document shows it, in the editor, in Word files and in PDFs.

1. Open a document. Over the page, choose Letterhead, then Set up a letterhead.
2. Pick whose it is: your company, or one of your clients.
3. Choose the letterhead's Word file (.docx or a .dotx template), the way most organizations keep it. Its header and footer are kept just as they are, in color, with the file's own margins, so your text stays clear of the logo and address. A different first page is kept too. Artwork that runs behind the text is shown a little lighter so the text stays easy to read.
4. No Word file? A PDF of the blank letterhead works, or a PNG or JPG picture of its top (then pick where it goes and add a footer line).
5. Check it and choose Finished.

In a PDF you print or save, page numbers in a footer are left out; the Word file has them.

A document for a client uses the client's letterhead if it has one, and yours if not. Change it for one document with the Letterhead box over the page: the client's, yours, or None.

Your data, filled in

The panel on the right, under Your data, lists facts from the client's profile and the grant: name, EIN, annual budget, the funder's name, the amount, the deadline, today's date and more.

• Choose one to add it where your cursor is, or drag it into the text. While you drag, a small label follows the pointer and a blue line shows where it will go.
• Or type / in the text, then a few letters (like /ein): pick from the list with the arrow keys and Enter.
• Or just write. When the words you type lead into something you've saved, like "our EIN is", "we operate in the state of", "our website is" or "our mission is", a small suggestion shows under them with the value. Press Tab (or Enter) to add it, Esc to skip it, or keep typing. Only your own saved data is suggested. When the fact isn't filled in yet, the suggestion says Not filled in yet: Tab adds it and asks for it right there. The light bulb in the toolbar turns suggestions off and on.
• The search box at the top of the panel finds a fact or a Text library item by name or value.
• It shows as a blue tag with the current value. When the client's EIN or budget changes, every document shows the new one.
• A gold tag in brackets, like [UEI], isn't filled in yet. Choose Fill in under it in the panel: the same question as the Eligibility profile's Update opens, already filled in when your documents or Form 990 say it. It's saved on the client's page (or the grant's) and shows in every document.

Under Text library are the mission statements, bios and statistics saved on the client's page. Choose Insert or drag one into the text.

Save as Word or PDF

Choose Export, then:

• Word to save a .docx file you can edit or attach;
• PDF to open the print window, where you can print or choose Save as PDF.

Tags are written as their values. If any aren't filled in yet, you're told which ones first.

Templates

To reuse a document, open it, choose More, then Save as template. Your templates are listed under Templates at the top of the list, where you can change or delete them, and in New document. Tags in a template fill in for whichever client and grant you start the document for.

Delete a document

Choose More, then Delete. Choose Undo right away to bring it back. Deleting a grant or a client also deletes its documents.