How to Use Mail Merge to Send an Email Message to Givers (Outlook Only)

This topic describes how to use the mail merge feature in Microsoft Word 2010 (or later) to create an email message to givers notifying them that their E-Statements are available in My Own Church. You will pull email addresses from an exported .csv file into a Mail Merge document that contains the text of your email and then send that email to givers.  

This procedure works only if Microsoft Outlook is your email program.

  1. Open Outlook.

  2. Start Microsoft Word. Open a new document.

  3. In the menu bar at the top of the window, click Mailings.

  4. On the Mailings tab, click . From the displayed menu, select E-mail Messages.

  5. On the Mailings tab, click . From the displayed menu, select Use Existing List.

The Select Data Source window opens.

  1. Navigate to the location on your computer where you saved the exported .csv file. Select the file, and then click .

The .csv file is now connected to the mail merge document you are creating.

  1. If you need to edit the addresses in the .csv file, do the following:

  1. Click .

The Mail Merge Recipients window  opens to show the list of recipients in the exported .csv file.

  1. Select the checkboxes to add or remove recipients from the file.

  2. If necessary, use the other available options to make changes to the file.

  3. When done, click to close the window.

  1. Create your email message. Complete the following:

  1. Click your mouse cursor at the top of the document window.

  2. On the Mailings tab, click . From the list, select Last_Name.

The merge field <<Last_Name>> appears at the top of the document window. You will use this field to create your greeting.

  1. In the document window, type the word Dear followed by a space in front of <<Last_Name>>. Then, after <<Last_Name>>,  press the space bar and then  type the word family followed by a colon (or a comma).

The greeting  should look like this:

Dear <<Last_Name>> family:

  1. Press Enter. Then, type the text of your email message.

We recommend that you include instructions in the email to tell givers how to located and view a statement. For instructions you can copy, go to How to View Electronic Contribution Statements.

  1. Preview your messages to check for accuracy. You can preview a single message or all of them. Do the following:

  1. On the Mailings tab, click .

The name of the first family in your email address list (the attached .csv file) replaces the <<Last_Name>> merge field. For example:

  1. To cycle through the givers' names, click the arrow buttons to the right of the Preview Results button:

  1. Complete the merge and send the email. To do this:

  1. On the Mailings tab, click . Then, select the Send E-mail Messages option from the list.

The Merge to E-mail window opens.

  1. Select Family_Email from the To: dropdown list.

  2. Type a subject for the email in the Subject line: field.

  3. Leave the Send records option set to All.

  4. Click .

The system sends the emails to the families in your address list.

  1. Close Microsoft Word.

  2. If you want to save the document, click .

 

Related Topics

How to View Electronic Contribution Statements

 

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