Creating Mail Merges. Instruction Guide. For Use with Microsoft Word 2002/2003 (XP)

Creating Mail Merges Instruction Guide For Use with Microsoft Word 2002/2003 (XP) Copyright 2005

Table of Contents Introduction...2 Export File...2 Creating a Membership Export File...3 MemberAssist 1.50...3 Creating an Export Layout in MemberAssist 1.50...4 Using Wildcat 6.3...5 Creating a Form Letter...9 Microsoft Word 2002...9 Microsoft Word 2003 (XP)... 12 Mail Merge Toolbar... 13 List of Icons in Mail Merge Toolbar... 14 Creating Mail Merge Labels... 15 Microsoft Word 2002... 15 Microsoft Word 2003 (XP)... 19 1

Introduction This instruction guide has been created to assist users when producing Mail Merge Templates using Microsoft Word 2002 and Microsoft Word 2003. To check the version of word operating on your pc, open Word and click HELP and ABOUT. For more information or to create a mail merge at your own pace, use Microsoft Word HELP in Microsoft Word (press F1) and follow the instructions. Export File This booklet also gives instructions on how to create the export file to be used in the Mail Merge. The instructions are for use with the two maxgaming membership programs only MemberAssist and Wildcat Card Services. For details on other programs please contact the software supplier. 2

Creating a Membership Export File MemberAssist 1.50 Open the MemberAssist membership program. Under the Members rung, click once on EXPORT DATA. In the left of the screen will be a selection of export layouts previously created (if none, see section on CREATING EXPORT LAYOUTS). Click on the layout you wish to use. At the right of the screen type in the path and filename or click the open icon (yellow folder), browse to where the file will be saved and call it MAILMERGE.CSV Click SAVE DATA to save the path. Leave the Delimiter as,(comma). Under SELECT RECORD, select the membership records you wish to merge. If you don t want to use the Current Export Selection, click on the binoculars to display the search form and choose the selection required. If you already have a saved filter selection, choose USE SAVED FILTER and select the filter from the drop-down box. In EXPORT FORMAT, choose MAIL MERGE. In EXPORT FIELD NAMES, choose YES. In SORT BY, choose how you would like the export to sort the information Once all selections have been made click on the green arrow (as shown at right) to process the export. If the export is successful the prompt screens (as shown at right) will display and the file will be saved at the specified path. 3

Creating an Export Layout in MemberAssist 1.50 Under the SETUP rung, select CREATE EXPORT LAYOUTS In the top left corner of the screen, choose ADD NEW RECORD. Complete the Layout Name and Description as shown at right. Under the LAYOUT FIELDS section, place a tick in the USE box (click in the box) to select the fields for the export). Recommended fields to use: 1. Title 2. Surname 3. Preferred_Name 4. Mail_Address_1 5. Mail_Address_2 6. Mail_Address_3 7. Mail_State 8. Mail_Post_code In the ORDER column number the fields as per the recommended fields above. Click SAVE DATA (floppy disk icon in top left of screen. The export layout is now saved. To use the layout you have created see the section on Creating a Membership Export File. 4

Using Wildcat 5.3 All reports available in Wildcat can be exported whether for player loyalty, membership or poker machine related. Open Wildcat Click Promotions Click Manager Utilities Click Reports In the Reports folders, choose the report to export (depending on the information you wish to see in the export). The table below gives an example of reports that could be used for the export file. Birthday Mailout What do I want to do? Full Membership Mailout or by - particular member type - rating grade - gender - age group Unfinancial Members Members who aren t using the card in the poker machines Simple Mail Merge (Name/Address etc) Which Report would I use? Members Birthday Membership Grouping Detail Membership Renewal (using expiry date) Inactive Members Patron Export Report Double click on the report you wish to use (the following example is using the Membership Grouping Detail different reports will have different wizards). In the first wizard, choose the Grouping Criteria for the report. Once a group has been selected the options will appear in the white box below the grouping criteria. 5

Click NEXT to move to the next wizard. In this wizard you can split the gender of the members between mail and female otherwise select ALL PATRONS. Click NEXT to move to the next wizard. Define the age group to export or place a tick in the ALL box for all age groups. Click NEXT to move to the next wizard. This wizard will default to include only people who are happy to receive communication from the site. Remove the tick (click in the white box) if you want all members to appear in the export file (regardless of whether or not they have the box ticked). 6

Click FINISH and the report will generate on the screen. In the Reports icons, select the EXPORT option. The Export Report screen will display with the Export File Type (defaulting to Excel Spreadsheet). Using the drop-down box select TEXT-COMMA SEPARATED VALUES. This enables the file to be opened by wordpad as well as excel. Click BROWSE and identify where you would like to save the file. The file can be saved to an existing folder, you can create a new folder or you can drop it on a floppy disk or any other portable storage device. Call the file MAILMERGE.CSV and click SAVE. This will take you back to the export data screen. 7

Click OK and Wildcat will export the file. If successful a prompt box will appear. The membership export file has now been created and the Mail Merge can be started. Please Note: Because the program that operates Wildcat uses important site data, all exports will contact information like site ID s, CSS IDs, Membership codes, status etc. Most of these fields are unneccessary for a mail merge and can be ignored when completing the merge. 8

Creating a Form Letter Microsoft Word 2002 To create the form letter, open Microsoft Word 2002. On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Helper will appear. Under MAIN DOCUMENT, click CREATE, and then click FORM LETTERS. The following dialogue box will appear: Click ACTIVE WINDOW. This choice means the document already open becomes the main document. In Step 2 of the Mail Merge Helper dialogue box, under DATA SOURCE, select OPEN DATA SOURCE from the GET DATA list. 9

The following screen will appear: Find the file exported from the Membership program and click OPEN. (If you can't find it, make sure that you select 'All Files in Files of type list at the base of the screen.) The following screen will appear: Select EDIT MAIN DOCUMENT. In the main document, type the letter using the layout that you want to appear in every form letter. Where you want particular names and addresses etc to be, the MERGE FIELDS need to be insterted. Click in the main document where you want the merge field to appear. The cursor should be flashing to indicate it s location. At the top of the computer screen will be an INSERT MERGE FIELD option. Click and the field names from the export file should appear. Click the field name you want to appear in the document. Ensure you make provision for spaces between words. 10

If you plan on using this merge document again, cnce you have inserted the merge fields, save the document (i.e mergelettertemplate.doc). You are now ready to merge the export file and the Form letter. Select the MERGE option from the tool bar. After you complete the main document and insert all of the merge fields, click SAVE AS on the FILE menu. Name the document, and then click SAVE. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Word help documentation. The text will appear on the merged fields in the way that the text appears in your database. For example, if all of the members' names are in upper case, they will appear in uppercase in the form letter. If you have not filled in any fields in the database, they may appear blank in the form letter. Reusing an Existing Template. If you wish create another letter merge using different data: 1. Create the new export file using normal export procedures. Ensure the new export file has identical row headings and the same filename as previously used. 2. Open the Merge Template file 3. Click MERGE 4. At the Merge Window, under Data Source you should see the path of the export file i.e. (C:\Memshipfile.csv). 5. Click Merge and the new data will merge into another document which can be printed. Please Note: When closing the Merge Template, don t save any changes and the template can be used again. 11

Microsoft Word 2003 (XP) There are 6 steps involved in creating and merging a letter in Word 2003. On the Tools menu, point to Letters and Mailings, and then click MAIL MERGE WIZARD. The wizard will appear in a bar on the far right-hand corner of the screen. Under Select document type, click LETTERS. The document you currently have open will become the document in which the form letter will be created. Click Next:Starting document at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Select USE THE CURRENT DOCUMENT. Select Next: Select Recipients at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Select USE AN EXISTING LIST. In the section below this option, click on BROWSE. In the prompt screen that appears, locate the export file that you created from the membership program. Double click on the file or click once and select OPEN. The Mail Merge Receipients screen will appear. Select OK. Click Next:Write your letter to move to the next screen. 12

In this screen, write your form letter. This is the layout that will appear in every form letter. Where you want particular names and addresses etc to be insterted, insert merge fields by using the options shown at right. To show the Merge Fields from your export file, click MORE ITEMS. The Insert Merge Field screen will appear (as shown bottom right). Select a field in the list and use the INSERT button to put the field in the form letter. Ensure you make provisions in the letter for spaces between words. When you have finished designing the form letter, select Next: Preview your letter at the Mail Merge wizard. When you are satisfied with your letter, select Next: Complete the merge. At the Complete the merge screen, select EDIT INDIVIDUAL LETTERS. Ensure that ALL is selected and click OK. Your letters will appear in a new document. Select PRINT and the letterw will print. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Word help documentation. The text will appear on the merged fields in the way that the text appears in your database. For example, if all of the members' names are in upper case, they will appear in uppercase in the labels. If you have not filled in any fields in the database, they may appear blank in the labels. Mail Merge Toolbar The mail merge procedure can be completed more efficiently using the Mail Merge Toolbar. Click TOOLS/CUSTOMISE and select the Toolbar TAB. Ensure Mail Merge is ticked and click CLOSE. Moving from left to right, the procedure can be completed using the same procedures as previously listed. 13

List of Icons in Mail Merge Toolbar To identify the use of each icon, rest the mouse pointer on the icon to show the command line. Reading from Left to right the icons are as follows: Main Document Setup Open Data Source Mail Merge Recipients Insert Address Block Insert Greeting Line Insert Merge Fields Insert Word Field View Merged Data Highlight Merge Field Match Fields Propogate Labels First Record Previous Record Go To Record (Current Record) Next Record Last Record Find Entry Check for Errors Merge To New Document Merge to Printer Merge to Email Merge To Fax 14

Creating Mail Merge Labels Microsoft Word 2002 If you are not using window envelopes, you may wish to create mailing labels to go on the front of the envelopes for your mail out. Custom mailing labelcan use the same export file from the membership program that you used for the form letter. To create custom mailing labels in Microsoft Word 2002 On the Tools menu, click Mail Merge. Under Main document, click CREATE, and then click MAILING LABELS. The following dialogue box will appear: Click ACTIVE WINDOW. The active document becomes the main document. In step 2 of the Mail Merge Helper dialogue box, uncer DATA SOURCE, click GET DATA, then OPEN DATA SOURCE. 15

The following screen will appear: Find the file exported from the Membership program and click OPEN. (If you can't find it, make sure that you select 'All Files in the Files of Type list at the base of the screen.) The following screen will appear: Select SET UP MAIN DOCUMENT and the Label Options screen will appear. Select the labels that you intend to print on in the Label product and Product number lists and click OK. 16

The CREATE LABELS screen will appear: Using the INSERT MERGE FIELD button, insert all of the fields that you want to appear on the custom mailing label. When you have arranged them appropriately, select OK. If you plan on re-using this layout, save the file now (i.e.labelsmergetemplate.doc). Next, at step 3 of the Mail Merge Helper dialogue box, select MERGE. 17

The Merge box will appear: Click the MERGE button. The mailing labels will be generated onto a new document where you can print them out. For more information, refer to the Microsoft Word help documentation. The text will appear on the merged fields in the way that the text appears in your database. For example, if all of the members' names are in upper case, they will appear in uppercase in the labels. If you have not filled in any fields in the database, they may appear blank in the labels. 18

Microsoft Word 2003 (XP) On the Tools menu, point to Letters and Mailings, Click MAIL MERGE WIZARD. The wizard will appear in a bar on the far righthand corner of the screen. Under SELECT DOCUMENT TYPE, click LABEL. Click Next: Starting document at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. At the next stage of the Mail Merge helper, ensure USE THE CURRENT DOCUMENT is selected. The document you currently have open will become the document that the custom mailing labels based off. In the Change document layout section at the bottom of the Mail Merge Help, click LABEL OPTIONS. The Label Options screen will appear. Using the options shown, select the labels you intend to print on and then click OK (most labels will have a specific code choosing this code will automatically create a template matching the label code). Once the label type has been specified, click OK. Click NEXT to move to the next section of the Mail Merge helper. 19

Next, select USE AN EXISTING LIST from the SELECT RECIPIENTS section on the Mail Merge Wizard. Click SELECT RECIPIENT LIST and select the file you exported from the membership program. Click OK. The Mail Merge Recipients screen will appear. Select OK. Select Next: Arrange your labels to move on to the next stage. Next, add the merge fields to your document. Click into the first empty label box in the document. Select MORE ITEMS from the Mail Merge Wizard. The Insert Merge Field box will appear: Select the fields (taken from the document you exported from Membership) and add them to the Word document by selecting the field in the list and clicking INSERT. When you have added all the fields, click in the Word document arrange the fields how you want them to appear. For example put First Names and Surname on the same line, separated by a space. press return on the keyboard after each Mail_Address field. put Mail_State and Mail_Post_Code on the same line, separated by a space. When you are finished, the fields on the labels should look similar to the picture at right: Click on UPDATE ALL LABELS in the REPLICATE LABELS section. This will copy the fields you inserted to all the labels in the document. Select Next: Preview your labels to move to the next screen. At this stage, preview your labels. Any errors in the data will have come from the file exported from your membership system. If there are blank fields in the export data there will be blank fields in the mailing labels. If all of your data is in capitals, then the mailing labels will also be capitals. 20

Select Next: Complete the merge to move to the next screen. At the last screen of the Mail Merge Wizard, select either: PRINT to send the labels to the printer; or EDIT INDIVIDUAL LABELS to merge them to a final document. The Merge to New Document screen will Select ALL and then click OK. You can then print the labels normally from this final document or save it for future use. 21