2011 Procedure 32 E-Mail Mail Merge with Excel Data Source

Once you have utilized the spreadsheet queries to extract data from your database, you may find it necessary to use this data in correspondence with certain customers, i.e. the awards spreadsheet. At the end of the year, you may want to send an e-mail to all customers with an awards balance. To do so, execute a spreadsheet and then use it as the data source to perform the mail merge.

1) Execute the spreadsheet query of your choice as described in Description of Available Spreadsheets on page 237. Save the spreadsheet as another document by going to File | Save As and saving it as a different file name.

2) Close Microsoft Excel with File | Exit.

3) Open Microsoft Word.

4) Tools | Mail Merge.

5) Create | Form Letters and select Active Window at the prompt.

6) Get Data button and select Open Data Source, which opens the Open Data Source window.

7) Click on the pull-down menu next to the Look in field.

8) Double-click on the My Documents folder.

9) Double-click on the Fore! Reservations folder.

10) Click on the pull-down menu next to the Files of type: field at the bottom of the screen.

11) Select MS Excel Worksheets (*.xls) or Excel Files (*.xls).

12) Double-click on the file that you saved in the beginning of this procedure.

13) Click MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls) from the list in the Confirm Data Source window.

14) Click OK.

15) Select to use the name or cell range specific to this Fore! Reservations, such as Sheet1$Query_from_Fore_Reservations.

16) A prompt appears suggesting that you have no merge fields in your main document. Click the Edit Main Document button.

17) Type in the letter you would like to appear. Remember that you must use at least one mail merge field for the merge to be successful. Use the Insert Merge Field button to insert fields that customize the letter to the actual customer. Using the mail merge fields changes a general salutation like Dear
Customer to a personalized salutation like Dear John Smith,

18) Once the letter is complete, click on Tools | Mail Merge.

19) Click on the Merge button. If the Merge button is dimmed, a mail merge field was not used back in step 17).

20) Click on the pull-down menu next to the Merge to field and select Electronic mail.

21) Click the Setup button.

22) Click the pull-down menu next to the Data field with Mail/Fax address field.

23) Select the data field from your spreadsheet that contains the e-mail addresses of your customers.

24) Type in the wording that you want to appear as the subject of your e-mail in the Mail message subject line field.

25) Click the OK button.

26) Click the Merge button.

27) Word performs the merge and creates the personalized e-mail for each customer. If Outlook Express/Outlook is configured to send immediately, then the messages are sent immediately. Otherwise, click the Send/Receive button to send the messages.

28) All the other messages appear in your e-mail software or if you have the Send Immediately option checked and you are connected to the Internet, the e-mail is immediately sent.

29) Close Microsoft Word and save the document to use in the future for another mail merge.