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The Libraries Directory 50th Edition Libraries Directory Home • Online Guide • A to Z |
Creating • Editing • Adding Fields • Previewing • Printing
When you select the "Mail Merge (Printed)" output option in the Create/Open Mailing List dialog and then click on the Output button, the application opens the Mail Merge window. This is where you can create, preview and print mail merges from your mailing list.
For a detailed list of the tools and features available, see The Mail Merge Window.
Creating a Mail Merge Template
The Mail Merge window opens in Compose and Edit mode, which consists of a basic word-processing package for composing mail merge documents. You can use this to create a template for your mail merge from scratch, or you can edit an existing document.
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When the Mail Merge window is opened, a new, blank template document is created automatically. To create a new document on any subsequent occasion, click on New in the File menu or click on the New button in the tool bar at the top of the window. If there are any unsaved changes in your current document, the application will prompt you to save it before creating or opening the new one. |
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To open an existing document, click on Open in the File menu, or click on the Open button in the tool bar. This can be a template document that you created and saved using the Libraries Directory application, or it can be a letter created and saved using another program. The application currently only supports Text (*.txt) or Rich Text (*.rtf) formats. However, the Rich Text format is supported by nearly all word-processing programs, and so you can easily create a letter in another program, save it as Rich Text and import it. You will then be able to add mail merge fields and run the mail merge. |
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To save your template document, click on Save in the File menu, or click on the Save button in the tool bar. The application saves mail merge templates as Rich Text in order to preserve mail merge fields and other formatting. |
The mail merge template document can be edited just as in any other word-processing package. A variety of editing tools are provided:
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Use the tool bar at the top of the screen to set the font, font size, bold, italics and underlining for the currently selected text, and to set the alignment for the currently selected paragraph. Use the Insert Field button for inserting and deleting mail merge fields. |
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Use the Edit menu for standard edit functions: Undo (last action only), Cut, Copy, Paste, Clear and Select All. The Edit menu is also available as a pop-up menu when you click the right-hand mouse button within the document. |
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| 3. | Use the Format menu to access the Fonts dialog for a wider range of font and text formatting than is available in the tool bar; the Paragraph Format dialog for setting the line-spacing, indentation and alignment of the selected paragraphs; and the Page Layout dialog for setting the paper size (A4 or letter) and the page margins. |
Non-printing control characters (spaces, tabs and carriage returns) are displayed by default. To hide these characters, uncheck the Show Control Characters item in the View menu.
If you wish to create a document with more varied formatting than the features of the application allow, then you may prefer to create your document in a more powerful word-processor, save it as a Rich Text file, and then import it to add the mail merge fields.
To print a copy of the mail merge template for your records or for proofreading, click on Print Letter in the File menu, or click the Print Page button at the bottom of the window.
N.B. The mail merge facility does not currently support the use of graphics in mail merge documents. For this reason, if you wish to include a company logo or letterhead in your mail merge, then you should print the mail merge onto paper with a pre-printed header, and set the top margin for your document to include enough space for the letterhead.
To turn your text into a mail merge template, you will need to add one or more mail merge fields. These act as placeholders for the details of the addresses in your mailing list. The fields available are:
Full Address - the complete address, including recipient and institution.
To insert a field into your document, place the cursor where you wish the field to go, and then select one of the above items from the Insert Field menu. The menu can also be opened as a drop-down list by clicking on the Insert Field button on the tool bar. The field is then inserted into the document.
Mail merge fields appear grey when you select them. It is not possible to edit them. To delete a field, click on it to select it, and then choose Delete Current Field from the Insert Field menu.
The "Full Address" and "Postal Address" fields automatically exclude blank address values, so you do not have to worry about blank lines in the finished mail merge.
Please note that before you can preview your mail merge document, you must insert at least one mail merge field other than the "Date" field.
When you have finished creating or editing the text of your document, and you have added the mail merge fields that you require, either select Preview and Print from the View menu, or click on the Preview button at the bottom of the window. This will switch the window to Preview and Print mode.
In Preview and Print mode, your document is displayed as it will be printed, and the mail merge fields now contain the address details from your mailing list. Initially, the first address in your mailing list is the one displayed. To preview the other addresses, use the navigation buttons at the bottom of the window to move from record to record, or use the options available in the Move menu. The position of the current record out of the total number of records in the mailing list is displayed alongside the navigation buttons.
To find a particular address or addresses, select Find Record from the Move menu or click on the Find button at the bottom of the window. This will open the Find Address dialog.Non-printing control characters (spaces, tabs and carriage returns) are automatically hidden in Preview and Print mode. To turn them back on again, use the Show Control Characters item in the View menu.
To return to Compose and Edit mode, either select Compose and Edit from the View menu, or click on the Compose button at the bottom of the window. Please note that you cannot edit the document in Preview and Print mode.
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To print the current letter in your mail merge, click on Print Current Letter in the File menu, or click on the Print Page button at the bottom of the window. This opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer and the number of copies to be printed. |
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To print the complete mail merge, click on Print Mail Merge in the File menu, or click on the Print All button at the bottom of the window. This opens the Print dialog, where you can select the printer, the number of copies and the range of pages to be printed. |
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| 3. | In Compose and Edit mode, you can also print out a copy of your template document by clicking on Print Letter in the File menu, or clicking the Print Page button at the bottom of the window. |
If you have the Adobe Acrobat Distiller printer driver installed on your computer, then you can save the mail merge as a PDF file, by selecting "Acrobat Distiller" as your printer.
See Also
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