The most common use of the mail merge feature is to send an e-mail message to current owners of horses in your care. To access the Mail Merge feature click Reporting at the lower left of the main screen, then select the Mail Merge function to open the Mail Merge window.
You will note that at the top left of the Mail Merge screen there is a Template Selection button. For an e-Mail merge you may select a MS Word, HTML or Plain Text template, however HTML templates produce the best and most consistent results, and also process much faster. You may use any HTML editor to create a template for your mail merge, here we will look at creating a HTML template using MS Word and Outlook since almost every PC has these applications installed.
Open a new eMail message in Microsoft Outlook and create an e-mail which is exactly the same as the one you want your owners to receive. Insert graphics and modify formatting until everything is just as you want it to be.
Put your curser anywhere in the message body and press Control-A (Ctrl and A) to Select All text and images in the message. Now press Control-C to copy the message contents.
Open a new MS Word Document and choose Edit > Paste or Control-V to paste the e-mail message contents to the blank document.
Without making any changes to the word document choose Save As from the file menu and save the document in Web Page - Filtered format to your desktop.
You will now have a document in HTML Format that looks just like your original e-mail message. This HTML document can be used as your mail merge template.
Close the MS Word application then open the mail merge function in Ardex.
In the mail merge screen first choose HTML Merge as the e-mail merge type, then click the Template Selection button at the top left and select the file you just created from your desktop.
In the file selection window that opens choose Desktop on the left (or the relevant save location) then select the file and click Open. You will note that the file selection window will default to finding only HTML Files because the HTML merge option was selected in Ardex.
Enter in the Caption for emails box exactly what you want to appear as the e-mail subject. This will display in the mail browser of the person receiving the e-mail, before they open it. We recommend that you enter your own e-mail address in the BCC field so you receive a copy of all e-mails sent, for your own records.
Now click the Select Criteria button on the left to choose who to send the mailout to.
In the mail merge Select Criteria window select Roles then tick Owner and click Generate List then click Close at the bottom left.
Clicking Close brings the chosen contacts into the mail merge window.
The lower part of the Mail Merge window will now list e-mail addresses for relevant owners.
You may double click any owner name to see a preview of the e-mail message that will be sent to that owner:
We recommend that you now send test messages to more than one e-mail address to ensure the e-mail displays well across mail browsers. For example, you could send the message to a recipient using Microsoft Outlook, a recipient using Gmail, and a recipient who accesses e-mail through a mobile phone or tablet.
To send these test messages put a tick next to the word Skip on the right side in the recipients list to skip all, then untick the first few recipients and replace their e-mail addresses with your test e-mail addresses. Click Send at the bottom left to send your test messages, then open them and check that they display well across mail browser formats.
If you are happy with the way the e-mail displays and you have checked everything that needs checking, the e-mail message may now be sent to all owners. Remember, once an e-mail is sent it can’t be unsent hence the importance of checking the message carefully.
Click Select Criteria, click Roles then tick Owners, click Close to generate a recipients list, then click Send. Your e-mail message will now be sent to all owners listed, with the subject line as typed into the “Caption for Emails” box.
If you entered your own address in the BCC address box then you will have a copy of each e-mail sent in your own mail box. Create an appropriately named mail folder and move these e-mail copies into it. This will serve as a permanent record of the mail merge results.
The mail merge process relies on correct details being entered to the Email Setup section of the User Info screen. Go to Settings at the lower left of the main screen, then select Options and then User Info.
In this example e-mails sent through mail merge will have the sender set to “Grosvenor Stud” and if someone replies to a message received the reply will got to info@grosvenor.com.au. The Mail Server and Port Number fields need to be completed, your IT network support team should be able to provide these details on request.
