Issue 12 • ACT! 2005/2006 Edition

Dear FIRSTNAME,

Last month, we showed you how to create a letter template.  This issue of our tips & tricks newsletter focuses on how to use these templates.

ACT! makes it really easy to create a mail merge -- a mass personalized letter created for multiple contacts at once.

Click these links to learn more detailed information about the the tips outlined in this issue:

As always, if you have any questions about ACT!, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me at 800-322-1049.

Best regards,

The staff at

Innovative Solutions
 

  

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L A T E S T   N E W S

This section removed for the newsletter archive.
 

We recommend that you purchase:

Managing Contacts
with ACT! 2006
$24.99   $22.49

Click here to order.
 
 
Preparing for a Mail Merge
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

If you've added field placeholders to the template you're about to use as the basis for your mail merge, you'll want to ensure that you have good data in these fields.

If you're including data from your ACT! database in a mail merge, make sure you don't have bad, inappropriate, or sensitive data in the fields you use for a mail merge. For example, if a negative comment about a client of yours is mistakenly entered into a field that you use in a mail merge, you could end up sending that insensitive comment directly to your client.

To narrow your lookup or group to include only contacts that contain data in a specific field:

  1. Perform a lookup of the contacts that will be included in your mail merge.
  2. If you plan to send the mail merge to a group, then perform a lookup of the contacts in the group. To do this, click the View Groups/Companies button in the upper right corner of the ACT! interface and select the group or subgroup.
  3. Click Lookup | Other Fields.
  4. Select a field you plan to use in the mail merge.
  5. Click the Empty field option.
  6. Click OK. Your current lookup will now include just the contacts who do not have any information in the field you selected in Step 4.
 
Performing a Mail Merge
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

When you need to send a letter to more than one contact in your ACT! database, you can use the Mail Merge feature in ACT! to send a template-based letter in one short procedure. By following the simple steps in the ACT! Mail Merge Wizard, you can write a single template-based letter to multiple contacts in an ACT! database. If you've used the mail merge features in other programs, you'll probably find that ACT!'s Mail Merge is much more user-friendly.

To perform a mail merge:

  1. Perform a lookup of contacts or create a group of contacts for your mail merge.
  2. Click Write | Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Wizard will appear.
  3. Click Next through the first screen of the Mail Merge Wizard.
  4. Select the Word Processor option and click Next.
  5. Click Browse and select the template you'd like to use as the basis for the mail merge. Click Next.
  6. Select the range of contacts who should receive the mail merge. Click Next.
  7. Click Finish. The merged letters will appear in the default word processor.
 
Printing the Mail Merge and Creating a History
Relevant for ACT! 2005 & ACT! 2006 Users

After performing a mail merge in ACT!, you can have ACT! automatically create a history item in the Notes/History tab for each letter recipient. Just print the merged letter, and ACT! will prompt you to create a history for all contacts included in the mail merge.

Creating a history of a mass letter will put a line in the History tab for each letter recipient to remind you of the letter sent. Unlike histories created for single letters, you won't be able to double-click the mass letter history to open a copy of the sent letter.

To print a merged set of letters and create a history for the recipient contacts:

  1. Perform a mail merge and send the output to the word processor.
  2. Print the resulting word processor document.
  3. When the Create History dialog box appears, enter the main subject of the mail merge in the Regarding area.
  4. Click Create. A history of the letter sent will be added to each recipient's History tab.

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© 2006 Thomson Course Technology.  Text adapted from Managing Contacts with ACT! 2006. Reprinted with permission.