Answers.Body: <p>If you are on a screen that offers 'tokens' in top right, eg on 'send email' or 'new mailing' etc then you can just type in 'nick' and it will offer you the relevant token(s) and then you will get the spelling correct automatically.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-03T20:23:14.987Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-03-03T20:23:14.987Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: petednz - fuzion
Answers.Body: <p>I used a custom token (based on Coleman's blog post) to look and see if there is a nickname. If not it will default to first name. </p>
  
  <p><a href="https://civicrm.org/blog/colemanw/create-your-own-tokens-for-fun-and-profit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://civicrm.org/blog/colemanw/create-your-own-tokens-for-fun-and-profit</a></p>
  
  <p>So I can use the nick_name token without worry it would be a blank field.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-08T04:18:09.143Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-03-08T04:18:09.143Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: RayWright
Answers.Body: <p>Yes you need brackets: the curly { } kind</p>
  
  <p>When composing a mail mesage - hit the Insert token button on the right - select the one you want - and it will insert it in the text (where your cursor was located) - including the { }</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-03T15:57:43.280Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-03-03T15:57:43.280Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: KarinG - Semper IT
Answers.Body: <p>Note that nickname is an optional field for each contact.</p>
  
  <p>If you use "Dear {contact.nick_name}," then contacts who do not have a nickname defined will end up with "Dear ,".</p>
  
  <p>I suggest using {contact.first_name} instead.</p>
  
  <p>If you really want to use nicknames, you could create hooks to define a new token, e.g. contact.nick_or_first_name, and populate it with nickname if it is not null, or else first name.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-06T12:06:12.920Z
Answers.Text: Thank you very much. The problem was the absence of the underscore between nick and name. I had been mislead by the inconsistent display names. What I have been doing is using the token 'email greeting' This enables me to use a nick name when the prefered salutation is not first name. I encountered the syntax problem when customising the email greeting.
Answers.UserDisplayName: SPM
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2017-03-03T16:23:22.770Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2017-03-03T16:23:22.770Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: BobS
Body: <p>Please could someone tell me what is wrong with the following 
  Dear contact.nickname Thank you.
  I know that brackets need to be used.</p>
  
Tags: <mailing>
Title: Mailmerge token syntax
ThreadText: # Mailmerge token syntax
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2017-03-03)
  
  Please could someone tell me what is wrong with the following
  Dear contact.nickname Thank you.
  I know that brackets need to be used.
  
  **Tags:** mailing
  
  
  ---
  
  ## 4 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_1 on 2017-03-03. Score: 1
  
  If you are on a screen that offers 'tokens' in top right, eg on 'send email' or 'new mailing' etc then you can just type in 'nick' and it will offer you the relevant token(s) and then you will get the spelling correct automatically.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2017-03-08. Score: 1
  
  I used a custom token (based on Coleman's blog post) to look and see if there is a nickname. If not it will default to first name.
  
  <https://civicrm.org/blog/colemanw/create-your-own-tokens-for-fun-and-profit>
  
  So I can use the nick\_name token without worry it would be a blank field.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2017-03-03. Score: 1
  
  Yes you need brackets: the curly { } kind
  
  When composing a mail mesage - hit the Insert token button on the right - select the one you want - and it will insert it in the text (where your cursor was located) - including the { }
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2017-03-03. Score: 1
  
  Note that nickname is an optional field for each contact.
  
  If you use "Dear {contact.nick\_name}," then contacts who do not have a nickname defined will end up with "Dear ,".
  
  I suggest using {contact.first\_name} instead.
  
  If you really want to use nicknames, you could create hooks to define a new token, e.g. contact.nick\_or\_first\_name, and populate it with nickname if it is not null, or else first name.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_0**: Thank you very much. The problem was the absence of the underscore between nick and name. I had been mislead by the inconsistent display names. What I have been doing is using the token 'email greeting' This enables me to use a nick name when the prefered salutation is not first name. I encountered the syntax problem when customising the email greeting.  
  
  ---
  
  