Using Mail Merge

For more information, see these KB articles:

The powerful mail merge component enables you to use data stored in your database to create letters to send or email to clients, produce mailing labels, create marketing letters for the practice and generate regular newsletters to clients. Using Microsoft Word templates, you can generate multiple copies of the same letter and personally address the letter to each recipient. Using email templates you can effectively bulk email clients correspondences, such as christmas cards or reminders to pay invoices. You can send bulk emails with or without attachments to clients.

Variables (for example, client names and addresses) are used to provide the personalised information for these letters. Within the Mail Merge wizard, you can also add mail merge fields for the company details into the Word templates and email templates.

The mail merge feature uses a wizard which leads you through the process. The Mail Merge Wizard enables you to send a single document to multiple clients, entering client data into the document automatically, when using Intranet Standard, which contains Standard merge fields.

When emailing, it's important to make sure you have valid and current email addresses for your clients, company, and employees.

When you create your first mail merge for emails, you will need to create a new email template. More email templates can be created using the mail merge wizard as required.

The documents generated by this process are profiled into Document Manager and saved with each client’s files. The documents can be viewed from all Document Manager list screens and from the Client page > Documents tab.

There are six steps in the mail merge wizard. You must complete the mandatory fields within each step before proceeding to the next step.

Open the Mail Merge wizard

To open the Mail Merge wizard

Click the Contacts button on the toolbar
or
Select Contacts > Open > Clients on the toolbar. The Find Clients page opens.
or
Select Contacts > Open > Contacts on the toolbar. The Find Contacts page opens.
Find and select the clients or contacts using the Search. To select a contact or client click the checkbox adjacent to the entry on the left-hand side. Only selected records are included.
Select Mail Merge wizard on the Tasks bar. The Mail Merge Wizard opens on the Select the mail merge method window by default.
Proceed to Step 1 – Select the mail merge method.

Step 1 – Select the mail merge method

To select the mail merge method for Word documents

Select the Word document option.
Click Next. The Contact Details tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 2 – Contact details.

To select the mail merge method for emails

Select the Email option. Once you have selected the Email option, the Email Details section is enabled.
Select the appropriate Email template from the drop-down list.
or
Click the ellipsis at the end of the Email template field to open the Email Templates window to add, edit and delete email templates.

To add a new email template:
a. Click Add. The Maintain Email Templates window opens. See Creating a new email template for more information.
b. Proceed to Step 4.

To edit an existing email template

a. Click Edit on the Email Templates window. The Maintain Email Templates window opens.
b. See Editing and deleting email templates for more information.

To delete an existing email template:
a. Select the email template displayed in the list on the Email Templates window that is to be deleted.
b. Click Delete. A confirmation message is displayed.
c. Click Yes to delete. The selected email template is deleted and no longer displays in the list. You are returned to the Email Templates window.
d. Click Close. You are returned to the Mail Merge Wizard – Select the mail merge method window.
Select the appropriate Send emails from option:
- Company email address of each client
  If you select this option, the email will be sent from the company email address of each client.
  Ensure that the company email address is valid. This is done in Maintenance > Maintenance Map (AO) > Internal > Companies > Edit company details
  or
- My email address
  If you select this option, your email address will be displayed in the text field. The email address is taken from the current logged in employee.
  The employee email address is entered from the Employee page > Personal tab.
The selected email address is validated against your email profile. For example, if you have selected to send bills from the Company email address, but your email profile has not been given access to that email address, then you will not be able to email bills using that email address.
Click Next. The email addresses of the selected clients and contacts will be verified.
If there are any clients or contacts that do not have an email address or the email address is not valid, then an error window is displayed. The error window will list the clients that do not have a valid email address. An email cannot be created for these clients.

You can either:
- Click Continue to continue to the next stage. The listed clients or contacts will not be sent an email.
- Click Cancel to exit the Mail Merge Wizard so that you can correct or enter a valid email address, before restarting the mail merge procedure again.
TheMail Merge Wizard window opens on the Contact Details tab ready for you to select the email template and enter document details.
Proceed to Step 2 – Contact details.

Step 2 – Contact details

The Contact Details tab is used to enter information for either a Word document or email depending on which option was selected in Step 1 – Select the mail merge method.

To enter the contact details for a Word document

Ensure that you have selected the Word document option in Step 1 – Select the mail merge method.
Click the Contact Details tab.
Select the appropriate Intranet Details.
1. Select the Intranet Standard with the Mail Merge fields to be used. Use the Standard drop-down to select the Intranet standard.
  If the required standard is not listed in the drop-down menu, click the ellipse button to open the Select Standard Item window. Then find and select the required Intranet standard.
  Click OK. You are returned to the Mail Merge Wizard.
  This is a mandatory field and a Standard must be selected.
2. Select the Stationery, if required.
  Use the Stationery drop-down to select the required stationery.
  If the required stationery is not listed in the drop-down menu, click the ellipse button to open the Select Stationery Item window. Then find and select the required stationery.
  Click OK. You are returned to the Mail Merge Wizard.
Complete the Document Details:
1. Enter a descriptive Title for the document.
  This is a mandatory field. You must enter a document Title.
2. Enter the Author of the document.
  This is a mandatory field. You must enter an Author for the document.
  Alternatively, you can find and select the author using the ellipse button to open the Find Employee window.
  Click OK. You are returned to the Mail Merge Wizard.
3. Select the appropriate document Status from the drop-down.
  Two options are available: Complete and In Progress.
4. (AE) Select the Approval Required checkbox, if required.
5. Select the Send via Post checkbox, if required.
Click Next.
The Profiling tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 3 – Profiling.

To enter the contact details for emails

Ensure that you have selected the Email option in Step 1 – Select the mail merge method.
Click the Contact Details tab. The Email subject field defaults to the subject specified in the email template selected in Step 1 – Select the mail merge method.
The Author field defaults to the current logged in employee.
or
You can edit the Email subject and select a different author for the email, by clicking the ellipsis button at the end of the Author field. The Find Employees window opens. Find and select the appropriate employee.
Click OK.
Attachment options:
1. Select the Attach a file to the email option, if you want to attach an existing file. That is, the same file will be attached to the email for all selected clients.
  Click the ellipsis to find and select a file using the Open window. Click Open.
2. Select the Create a mail merge Word document and attach to this email option if you want to attach a tailored file (i.e., a document with merged fields) for each selected client.
3. Select the Standard from the drop-down list.
  or
  Click the ellipsis button to open the Select Standard Item window from where you can select the standard. Click OK.
4. Select the Stationery from the drop-down list.
  or
  Click the ellipsis button to open the Select Stationery Item window from where you can select the stationery. Click OK.
Click Next. The Profiling tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 3 – Profiling.

Step 3 – Profiling

This is where you select which Filing Cabinet the documents or emails will be saved in.

To select the filing cabinet

Click the Profiling tab.
Select the appropriate Filing Cabinet from the drop-down list. The extra fields for the selected Filing Cabinet are displayed in the table.
Additional extra fields can be included for the selected Filing Cabinet.
1. Click
  to add extra fields for this document.
  The Select extra fields window opens.
  or
  Click the very first checkbox in the heading row to select all of the available extra fields.
2. Select the checkboxes against each of the required extra fields.
3. Click OK.
Click
to remove any extra fields that are not required.

You can't remove any default extra fields for the selected Filing Cabinet. Only additional extra fields that have been added at this stage can be deleted.
1. Select the additional extra field from the table that was added by you but that you would like to delete.
2. Click
  .
If extra fields were added, enter the appropriate Value for each and edit the values of the existing categories, as required.
Click Next. The Address Precedence tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 4 – Address precedence.

Step 4 – Address precedence

In this stage of creating a mail merge, you select the address types to be used and their order of use.

The system defaults to your primary address type which is usually Postal. This can be changed, if required, by selecting another available address which will become the first address in the list. This means that the system will use this address first. If this address does not exist for the client, then the system default address will be used, for example, Postal.

You can add several address types to the Address list and the first address found for each client will be used.

You cannot remove the system default address.

To select the address types

Click the Address Precedence tab.
Select the address types. Use the arrows to select which address is to be used for the document.

Some functions allow you to select several options for a field and to choose their precedence. The field will default to the first preference if details are available. If there are no details available, the second preference will be used. If none are available for that preference, the third will be used, and so on.
Click Next. The Contact Precedence tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 5 – Contact precedence.

Step 5 – Contact precedence

In this stage of creating a mail merge, you select the associated contact type to be used and the sequence.

The system defaults to using the Main contact, who is the client selected from the Find Clients list. You can select to send the Word document or email to a person at the company by using the contact precedence. For example, to send a letter or email to a person at the company that has an association type of ‘has Mailing Contact’ or ‘has Director’, the system will address the letter or email to each contact that has this role (i.e., multiple letters or emails will be sent).

You can add several association types to the Contact list and the first association type found for each client will be used.

If no contacts are found with any of the selected association types, then the letter or email will be sent to the Main contact.

If you have selected an association at this Contact precedence stage, then the following merge fields are to be taken from the associated contact and not the main selected client:

<<AddresseeLine1>>
<<Salutation>>
<<AddresseeMailingName>>
<<AssociatedAddress>>

To select the contacts for the documents

Click the Contact Precedence tab.
Select the contacts for the documents.

Some functions allow you to select several options for a field and to choose their precedence. The field will default to the first preference if details are available. If there are no details available, the second preference will be used. If none are available for that preference, the third will be used, and so on.
Click Next.
The Options tab is displayed.
Proceed to Step 6 – Document options.

Step 6 – Document options

To select the document options for Word documents

Click the Options tab.
Select whether you want to produce a single file for all client documents or multiple documents, for example, one document for each selected client.
The Single Document, Separate Pages option creates only one Microsoft Word document with each client or contact letter starting on a new page. You must select a contact whose details will be recorded for this document. All documents will be filed against this Main selected contact.
The Multiple Documents option creates multiple Microsoft Word documents, one for each selected client or contact in the Find Clients list. Each document will be filed against that particular client or contact.
Click Finish.
Microsoft Word will create the documents with the Mail Merge data completed and formatted. These documents can be in viewed Document Manager.

To select the document options for emails

Click the Options tab. The only option available if you are creating a mail merge email is Multiple Documents which is selected by default. An email is created and filed against each selected client.
Click Finish.