Creating a Mail Merge Template

Owned by Stephanie Pepper (e-manage|ONE)
Last updated: Jun 26, 2020
10 min read

In this section we will create a semi-complex template that we will call an e-manage Lead Sheet that will encompass using contact, company and lead data from the merge codes menu and a special function (Next Record) that will allow you to merge multiple records on one page of a word template. 

We will then use the Author fields to create a Merged By area of the document so you can see how your individual information can be added to the merged document. 

This section assumes that you have already added the mail merge toolbar to Microsoft Word (Adding the Mail Merge Toolbar to Microsoft Word). 

To begin, open Microsoft Word and go to the Add-Ins Tab at the top of the window (in Microsoft Word 2003, there will just be a new toolbar, not an add-ins tab). 

We will be working with the e-manage Merge Codes toolbar menu in the Custom Toolbars section of the Add-Ins tab. 

Create a new blank document in Microsoft Word. 

We will put a title at the very top that says "e-manage Active Lead List For " with a space after the "For", then click on the e-manage merge codes toolbar and go to the Lead Information Sub Menu and choose Assigned Salesperson.

The top of your document should now look like this:

You can center this if you want, in our example we will be doing this. 

Next, go to the Insert Tab on the top of Microsoft Word and click on the Table button and insert an 2 x 8 table (2 Columns x 8 Rows).

And choose a style from the preset styles.

Your table will look something like this depending on the style you choose.

In the Columns on the left type the following (one per row): 

Name
Company
Address
Title
Main Phone
Mobile Phone
Work e-mail
Interested In

So your document should look like this when you're done typing.

In the second column do the following in second column for each row

Row 1 - Name: Click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Contact Menu and Choose Salutation, then hit the spacebar on your keyboard, then back to the e-manage Merge Codes and back to Contact Information and choose "First Name" and press the space bar on your keyboard, then back to e-manage Merge Codes and back to Contact Information and choose "Last Name". Your document should look like this.

Row 2 - Company: place your cursor in the 2nd column of the table in the second row and click on e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "Company Name". Your document should look like this.

Row 3 - Address: Place your cursor in the second column of the table in the 3rd row and click on e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "Address" and press ENTER on your keyboard. While still in the same row click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "Address 2" and press the ENTER key on your keyboard. While in the same row, click again on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "City" and then a comma and press the Space Bar on your keyboard. While still in the same row, click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "State" and press the Space Bar on your keyboard. While in the same row, click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "Zip Code". Your document should look like this.

Row 4 - Title: Place your cursor in the second column and the 4th row and click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Contact Menu and choose "Title". Your document should look like this.

Row 5 - Main Phone: Place your cursor in the second column and the 5th row and click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Company Menu and choose "Main Phone". Your document should look like this.

Row 6 - Mobile Phone: Place your cursor in the second column and the 6th row and click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Contact Menu, then to "Phone Numbers" and choose "Mobile Phone". Your document should look like this.

Row 7 - Mobile Phone: Place your cursor in the second column and the 7th row and click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Contact Menu and choose "Work e-mail". Your document should look like this.

Row 8 - Interested In: Place your cursor in the second column and the 8th row and click on the e-manage Merge Codes, then on the Lead Information Menu and choose "Interested In". Your document should look like this.

In the interest of not wasting paper (if we were going to print these on paper and not e-mail them), we want as many leads on one sheet as possible, so we are going to add (just under the table with the lead information) a Next Record Pointer. 

Place your cursor just under (and outside) of the table and then to e-manage Merge Codes and choose "Next Record Pointer". Your document should look like this.

Next we are going to copy the table and the {NEXT} and paste it right under the {NEXT} twice to make 3 copies of our table so we do not have to manually create it again. On the last table of the 3, remove the Next Record Pointer because Word will do the next record automatically when it creates a new page so adding a next record at the end of the page, would skip one of the records. 

Next we are going to use author fields to show at the bottom of the page, who merged the document. Place your curse under the 3rd and final table on the page and choose to Right Align the Text and Type "Document Merged by" and change the font to be a smaller size. Then click on the e-manage Merge Codes and the Author Fields Menu and choose "First Name" and press the Space Bar on your Keyboard, then go back to e-manage Merge Codes and to the Author Fields Menu and choose Last Name. Your document overall should look something like this now.

Now that we have created the template, we will need to save it as a template. e-manage's Mail Merge Integration needs it to be saved as a Word 97-2003 Document Template so when you go to the FILE menu and choose Save as, change the "Save as Type" to Word 97-2003 Document Template, then navigate to your desktop, give the template a name of "Sales Lead Sheet" and Save the template.

Now that the document is saved as a template, we can add it into e-manage to use for mail merges. 

Click on the Main Tool Menu at the top of the e-manage main Window and then on Perform Mail Merge.

The Perform Mail Merge window will pop-up where we will choose a folder to add the newly designed template to. If there are no folders already created that this template will categorically fit into, then we will create a new folder to add the template to. In this case we will create a new folder called "Lead Sheets". To do this, click on the "Document Templates" folder in the Available Templates tree view and then on the "New Folder" button just underneath the tree view. 

 if you have the rights to add enterprise wide templates, you will receive a message about whether or not you want this folder to be able to be used by all users. For this example we will say "Yes".

You will be asked for a folder name, let's call it "Lead Sheets".

You will see your newly created folder at the bottom of the tree under the Document Templates folder. Click to select it.

Click the "Add Template" button. The Add Mail Merge Template Window will pop-up.

Click the "Browse" button and navigate to your desktop where we saved the Sales Lead Sheet.dot, select it and click the "Open" button.

Next, give the document a Display Name (we will simply delete the .dot off of the end of the Display Name that already exists).

You can choose to allow other users to merge using the template if you have the appropriate rights to do so. Simply check the box and if you made the folder an enterprise wide folder, other users will see the folder and the template inside. For this example, we will check this box. Then click the "Add Template" button. You will now see the template under the "Lead Sheets" folder.

Next, let's go ahead and perform a mail merge using our new template.  To do so, double click on the template (do not double click any folders when trying to merge, just the templates). The template will move into the Templates to Use box under the available templates tree view. You can add multiple templates to use at the same time by double clicking on more templates, but for this manual, we will just do the one template.

Next we need to add some recipients to tell e-manage where the information for the merge will come from. Because this template contains lead information, we need to drag and drop our recipients from the Open Leads panel, or the Interested In information will not merge into the document. Click on the Open leads pop-out panel on the bottom of the e-manage main window, select the leads you want to merge (in this case we want to only select the leads from one salesperson, because it is intended to send these lead sheets to a salesperson based on the design). You can get a list of just one salesperson's leads by filtering the grid. Select multiple leads in the open leads by clicking on the first selection, then press the SHIFT key on your keyboard before clicking the last selection (you can also use the CTRL + Click method when the leads you want to use are not next to each other). Then click and drag the leads into the recipients box in the Perform Mail Merge window in the background.

Next we will choose an author to fill the merge field for who merged the document (in most templates you would use the author fields to "sign" your merges). If your name is not in the list of authors, you can add it by choosing "New" from the Author drop down list box, then on the "Define/Edit Authors" button and fill out the "Define / Edit  Author" Window completely.

You can add your signature so your letters can be electronically signed. The graphic file needs to be a .wmf (windows meta file) in order to be used for the mail merge. You can call in for support if you would like to add your signature, but are not sure how to do a meta file. Click the "Save" button once you have filled out your form, then choose your name from the author drop down list (it will now be there). 

You can choose other options while merging the document, but for this section, we are just going to press the "Merge" button at the bottom right of the Perform Mail Merge window. 

Your merged document will pop-up and look something like this.