Mail merge
A mail merge is where two files are combined in such a way that information
from both is used to create a single document. The merge process uses the
task pane to present a series of screens containing options; the choices
made on one screen dictate what options are available on subsequent screens.
Below are walkthroughs for two common examples. The first is sending a
letter to a number of people, and the second is printing address labels to
put on envelopes. Most of the steps of a mail merge are common to these two
examples, and these steps are:
1. Select the type of mail merge.
2. Indicate the starting document - this is where the unchanging information
is put.
3. Identify or create the recipient list - this is where the variable
information is put.
4. Insert links to the recipient list into the starting document - these are
called merge fields.
5. Preview the mail merge.
6. Complete the mail merge.
Both the starting document and the recipient list can be created before the
merge process is run, and because this is simpler than creating them during
the merge, I will run through these two steps first.
1. Creating the recipient list
The recipient list should be created as an Excel spreadsheet. Think of a
list of names and addresses; the total information for each name is called a
record. A record can be broken down into different parts; the name, the
address and so on. Each of these is called a field. You will need to
decide what fields are needed for the merge. For sending a letter to a
group of people, you might want the following fields: title, first name,
last name, address line 1, address line 2, address line 3, city, state and
postcode. Note that because Excel and Word are American applications, use
"city" and "state" where in the UK we would normally put "town" and
"county".
For the purpose of this walkthrough I have created an example recipient list
and called it RecipientList.xls. Have a look at this to familiarise yourself
with it before starting the merge. Note:
* All the information is on sheet 1. The merge process can only deal with
information from one sheet.
* The first row contains the field names, as outlined above.
* Each subsequent row contains information for one person. There are only
two people in this example spreadsheet.
* Not each cell has something in it. For the first person, there is no
address line 2, address line 3 or state.
Save the recipient list file to your PC and remember where you have put it.
2. Creating the starting document
The starting document is a Word document which contains the information you
wish to impart to each person on the recipient list. Again, I have created
an example starting document, called StartingDocument.doc, which you should
look at to see what I have done. Note the blank lines in the document; these
are intentional, and will contain relevant information from the recipient
list at the end of the merge.
Save the starting document to your PC and remember where you have put it.
3. The mail merge task pane
Before starting the mail merge, it is worth knowing a bit about the task
pane, which you may not have come across before.
The task pane appears on screen automatically when certain Word 2003
functions are invoked. It acts like a dialogue box, in that it contains
controls which you can Tab between, but unlike most dialogue boxes it
appears on screen beside the document window and focus can be toggled
between the task pane and the document pane with F6.
The controls within the task pane are presented either as radio buttons or
as links. Selecting a radio button determines which further choices are
available. Selecting a link results in a dialogue box opening, or in changes
to the document pane.
The task pane can also contain text which explains the different options
that are available. This text is not read as you Tab around the task pane.
The only way to read it is to use the JAWS cursor. Here is how:
1. Press F6 to move the focus into the document pane.
2. Press Alt + Control + N to ensure the document is in Normal view.
3. Press Insert + NumPad Minus to route JAWS to the PC cursor.
4. Press DownArrow to read one line at a time until you reach the status
line.
5. Press NumPad Plus to revert to using the PC cursor.
This process works well when the document pane is empty, but as the mail
merge progresses or text appears in the document pane, it becomes more
confusing to work out what is in the task pane. Hopefully the following
descriptions will explain what the task pane options are, and so it will not
be necessary to use the JAWS cursor to explore the explanatory text.
So, having created the recipient list and the starting document, let's merge
them.
4. Mail merge to create a letter to a number of recipients
The first walk through is for creating a copy of the starting document
letter for each of the recipients.
Open the starting document, and put the cursor at the beginning of it.
Open the Tools menu, DownArrow to Letters and Mailings, press RightArrow to
open the submenu and press Enter on Mail Merge.
4.1 Select the type of mail merge
The Mail Merge task pane opens with focus on the first of the types of
available mail merge. Press DownArrow to browse the five radio button
options:
· Letters - send personalised letters to a group of people;
· E-mail messages - send personalised e-mails to a group of people;
· Envelopes - print addressed envelopes for a group mailing;
· Labels - print labels for a group mailing;
· Directory - create a document containing an address list or
catalogue.
The first option is the one needed for this walk through. With it selected,
Tab to the "Next: Starting document" link and press it. The options within
the task pane change for the next step of the merge process.
4.2 Select starting document
Again, use DownArrow to browse the three radio button choices offered on
this screen:
· Use the current document
· Start from a template - this option creates a link that can be used
to open a dialogue showing the available templates.
· Start from an existing document - presents a list of recently used
files and a button that pops up the Open dialogue.
Because the starting document was opened before we started the merge, the
first of these three options is the one needed. With it selected, Tab to see
what else is available. There is a link to the next step and a link to the
previous step in case you need to change it. Use the "Next: Select
recipients" link to move to step 3.
4.3 Select or create recipient list
DownArrow through the radio button choices, which are:
· Use an existing list
· Select from Outlook contacts
· Type a new list
As the recipient list has already been created, choose the "Use an existing
list" option. Tab to a "Browse" link and press Enter to open a dialogue
which is very similar to Word's Open dialogue, except that it defaults to a
folder called My Data Sources, and it shows all documents which could
contain a recipient list, i.e. both Word and Excel documents. Navigate to
the location of the recipient list and select it from the list view. Then
press Enter.
Because the recipient list is an Excel spreadsheet, a dialogue will pop up
asking which sheet of the workbook the list appears on. It defaults to the
first sheet, which is correct; press Enter to accept this.
A second dialogue appears in which each of the recipients is listed, and
next to each one is a checkbox. It is possible to review the recipients by
arrowing up and down the recipient list. By default the checkbox for each
recipient will be checked, which means they will all be included in the
merge. Tab to the OK button and press it, ignoring the other buttons on the
dialogue.
Focus returns to the task pane, and is still on the Browse button.
Tab to the "Next: Write your letter" link and press Enter to move to the
next screen.
4.4 Write the starting document and insert links to the recipient list
The starting document has already been written, but there are no links
between it and the recipient list. Use Tab to browse the options on the page
and you will find they consist of four links:
· Address block
· Greetings line
· Electronic postage
· More items
There are also the usual two links to go on to the next step or return to
the previous one. Ignore these for the moment.
If you recall, the cursor was left at the top of the starting document
before the merge process was started. This is where the address will go.
Press Enter on the "Address block" link. A dialogue opens in which various
options relating to the address are available; the defaults will work so
press Enter on the dialogue to close it accepting these defaults. The
Address Block field will be inserted at the current position in the
document, and focus will remain in the task pane.
Press F6 to move to the document pane. The cursor is at the end of the first
linke, which now contains "left double angled bracket AddressBlock right
double angled bracket". The brackets mean this is a field, and Address Block
is the name of the field.
Press DownArrow and you will find the next line is blank. Press DownArrow
again and the next line will contain the date. There are then three blank
lines before the text of the letter starts. Put focus on the second of these
blank lines and press F6 to return to the task pane. Focus is still on the
Address Block link.
Tab once to "Greeting line" link and press Enter. Again a dialogue will
open; ignore the options and press Enter to accept the default settings.
Focus is still in the task pane; press F6 to move to the document pane and
you will find another field has been inserted at the cursor position.
Press Control + Home to review the starting document, and note the two
fields which now appear within it. Neither of them appear to be the same as
those which appear in the recipient list, but that is because each of them
is going to use multiple fields when the merge is completed.
One keystroke which I didn't mention during the training session is Alt +
Shift + F. This opens a dialogue from which a particular field can be
entered at the current cursor location. In this way it is possible to tailor
a letter to make it quite individual. For instance, taking our starting
document as an example, if different people had different subscription
amounts, another field could have been put in the recipient list and the
required field could be entered where I have put "£12".
Once the starting document has been linked to the recipient list by using
one or more fields, we are ready to complete the merge. Press F6 to move
back to the task pane and Tab to the "Next: preview your letters" link and
press Enter to move to the next stage of the merge.
4.5 Preview the mail merge
The document pane now shows a preview of the merge. The idea is you can
check the document pane, which now contains the starting document with the
first recipients details entered. Press F6 to move to the document pane,
Control + Home to move to the start of the document, and DownArrow through
it. Although there are still fields there, they now contain information from
the first record in the recipient inserted.
Press F6 to move back to the task pane. The controls on this page allow you
to preview any of the records in the recipient list, or to make last minute
changes to the recipient list. Tab past these to the "Next: Complete the
merge" link and press Enter.
4.6 Complete the mail merge
There are two ways in which the merge can be completed.
· Print - outputs directly to the printer. Take care with this
choice!
· Edit individual letters - view the resulting output before deciding
what to do with it.
Tab to the " Edit individual letters" link. Before pressing it, press Insert
+ T to read the title bar and note that it is still Starting Document.doc.
In other words, the document we opened at the beginning of this process is
still the current document. Now press the link and a final dialogue appears;
press Enter to accept the default.
Press Insert + T again and you will notice a new document has been created,
called Letters1. The merged information is put into a new document so that
it is separate from the starting document. Review this new document and you
will find it consists of two pages. Each page contains a copy of the
starting document, but where the Address Block and Greeting Line fields
were, now information from the recipient list has been used.
This document can be saved or printed independently of the starting
document. The starting document contains the links to the recipient list as
fields; the final output document contains the results of the merge as text.
5. Mail merge to create a page of labels
The next walk through is for creating labels to put on envelopes for each
recipient of the letter created above. Because much of the information on
the task pane screens is the same as for the previous walk through, it will
not be given in detail.
For this purpose, the same recipient list will be used. There is no starting
document as such, so simply open a new blank document in Word and leave the
cursor at the beginning.
Open the Tools menu, DownArrow to Letters and Mailings, press RightArrow to
open the submenu and press Enter on Mail Merge.
5.1 Select the type of mail merge
DownArrow to the Labels option and then Tab to the "Next: Starting document"
link and press it.
5.2 Select starting document
There are different options on this page, because you have to tell Word the
size and shape of the labels you want to use. Focus is on a Label options
link. Press Enter to open a dialogue box. The labels you use are called
"L7173 - shipping". Focus is in a list of product numbers; if this is on the
correct one, press Enter.
If it isn't, press Shift + Tab to a Label products combo box and UpArrow or
DownArrow to Avery A4 and A5 sizes. Tab back to the list of product numbers
and press L7 to move to the first one beginning with that sequence, then use
PageDown to get close to the one you want, and DownArrow and UpArrow to
focus directly on it.
When you have focus on L7173 - Shipping, press Enter to accept this. The
dialogue closes and focus is again on the Label options link. Tab to the
"Next: Select recipients" link and press Enter to move to the next step.
5.3 Select or create recipient list
As the recipient list has already been created, choose the "Use an existing
list" option. Tab to a "Browse" link and press Enter to open a dialogue
which is very similar to Word's Open dialogue. Navigate to the location of
the recipient list and select it from the list view. Then press Enter.
A dialogue pops up. Press Enter to accept the defaults and close the
dialogue. Another dialogue appears. Tab to the OK button and press it to
again accept the defaults and close the dialogue.
Focus returns to the task pane, and is still on the Browse button.
Tab to the "Next: Arrange your labels" link and press Enter to move to the
next screen. Note the name for this link is different to the previous merge,
because there is no need to write a starting document.
5.4 Arrange your labels
The starting document is empty, and now contains a table in which the
columns and rows are set up to match the labels you have indicated. There
are no links between the starting document and the recipient list.
Focus is on the Address Block link. Press Enter to open a dialogue, and
press Enter again to accept the defaults. This puts the address block field
in the first cell of the table.
Tab to an "Update all labels" button and press it to change all the cells of
the table to include the Address Block field. Note that JAWS gives you no
feedback to tell you this has happened. If you want to check, press F6 to
move to the document pane. Use Tab and Shift + Tab to move forwards and
backwards through the table. There are three columns in the table; the first
and third correspond to the labels on the sheet, and the second is empty and
appears because on the sheet of labels, there is a thin strip of paper
between the two labels in each row. The first cell on the table will contain
the Address Block field. All the other cells in column 1 and 3 of the table
will contain two fields, Next Record and Address Block. Make sure you don't
tab past the last cell in the table, or another row will be created and the
starting document will no longer match the label sheet indicated.
Press F6 to move back to the task pane and Tab to the "Next: preview your
labels" link and press Enter to move to the next stage of the merge.
5.5 Preview the mail merge
For this type of mail merge, having a preview of the merge is not much help.
Tab to the "Next: Complete the merge" link and press Enter.
5.6 Complete the mail merge
Tab to the " Edit individual letters" link and press Enter. A final dialogue
appears; press Enter to accept the default.
A new document is created, containing a table which can be printed onto one
or more sheets of L7173 size labels. Remember to put the labels in the
printer before starting the print!
6. Further merges
One of the benefits of conducting a mail merge is that multiple documents
can be created with the smallest amount of effort - once the techniques
outlined above have been mastered!
A second benefit is that if the starting document is saved at the end of the
merge process, and the recipient list is not moved or deleted, the next time
the starting document is opened Word will remember that it is linked to the
recipient list.
When a starting document that is linked to a recipient list is opened, a
dialogue will open that JAWS may not read fully; if not, press Insert + B to
hear it. The dialogue will contain a long message starting with "opening
this document will run the following SQL command". The default button on the
dialogue is "no"; choose this to break the link between the starting
document and the recipient list. Tab to "yes" and choose it to retain the
link between this document and the recipient list. Although there appears to
be no difference between the two options initially, if the Mail merge
process is started for each of them, for the first option it will start at
step 1, where the type of merge and then the recipient list have to be
indicated. For the second option the merge will start at step 3 - the type
of merge and the recipient list will be assumed to be the same as
previously.
Between merges, the recipient list can be updated with new members, or
altered contact details, and a new mail merge will take account of this.
Note that field names should not be altered between merges, as if these have
been indicated in the starting document as fields, a new merge will produce
errors.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:03 PM
Subject: Re: [JAWS-Users] mail merge
What it is David it I have over 500 names and address in an excel spread
sheet 2003, and I want to make them into the labels.
I could us all the help I can get.
Patti
If somebody else doesn't answer your question over the next few days I'll
ask my Patty if she could write something up for you. I personally only
use
word at a bare minimum,.
David Ferrin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I believe that tomorrow is another day, and I'll probably screw that one
up
too.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patti" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Jaws" <[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 4:10 PM
Subject: [JAWS-Users] mail merge
Hey Gang,
Could some one give me help in mail merge? I don't know how to do it,
and
I
would like to learn?
I'm using jaws 8, and word 2003. I have a lot of address labels I would
like
to make.
I went into mail merge, but I couldn't figure it out.
Thanks for all the help.
Patti
Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right, and the
other is a husband.
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