Sending HTML Email With Just Microsoft Office 2003

Email plays a central role in the communications strategies of many nonprofits. Any number of service providers have popped up to help organizations send slick, professional email -- for a fee. Many nonprofits choose these options by default, not aware that they already have the tools to send fairly sophisticated email without them.

Using Microsoft Word, it is possible to create visually appealing, customized email messages. You can then use Outlook to send these messages to a list of recipients stored in Excel or Access. This procedure is called an email merge. This article will walk you through the steps in Microsoft Office 2003 for Windows. Similar procedures accomplish the same result in other versions of Office for both PC and Macintosh.

While Word allows you to create complex layouts, it's important to remember that they don't always translate perfectly into HTML -- the language of pretty emails. Email messages created using this procedure will never have - and should never aim for - the level of design control seen in some of the more advanced templates that email service providers offer. However, for many organizations, email merge provides a welcome and affordable upgrade to otherwise drab messaging.

Before you dive in, you must prepare your data source and properly configure Word. To perform an email merge, you need a data source -- either an Excel spreadsheet or an Access database. Regardless of your data source:

* Put all addresses in one column or field, only one address per row or record.

* Make certain that addresses are formatted correctly (xxxx@xxxxx.xxx).

When using Excel:

* Put identifiable column headings in the top row.

* You can only merge to one worksheet at a time.

* If you're merging using Access, you need to know the name of the table or query, as well as the name of the field containing email addresses.

You must make one change to the default settings in Word before you begin:
Go to Tools / Options... and select the General tab. Check the Confirm conversion at Open box, and then click OK. You need only do this once.

In Word, go to Tools / Letters and Mailings / Mail Merge. The Mail Merge task pane will appear on the right hand side of your screen. Select Email messages as the document type, and then click Next: Starting document. You are then asked to select your starting document.

It's always a good idea to test your message before you send it out into the world. Thus, it is highly recommended that you create an Excel spreadsheet with a test list of email addresses: friends, colleagues, and supervisors who must approve the message before it goes out. Run the merge procedure first using this test data source, then, once you have edited and revised, repeat using your real email list.

To pick your recipients, click Next: Select recipients. Choose Use an existing list, and then click Browse. A file browser will open to allow you to select your spreadsheet or database. Once you have selected the data source, you will be prompted to confirm. If your data source is an Excel spreadsheet, select MS Excel Worksheets via DDE and press OK. If your data source is an Access database, select MS Access Databases via DDE and press OK.

After selecting the appropriate data source, you will be prompted to locate the data. For Excel, select the appropriate sheet. For Access, choose the table or query that contains the list you wish to email to.

Having chosen your data source, a list-editing window will appear (this can be slow, so be patient). You can then individually select or unselect recipients using the boxes in the leftmost column, if you are so inclined. Once done, press OK.

Then, click Next: Write your email message at the bottom of the task pane. You are then given the opportunity to compose and format your message (or edit it, if you're working from an existing document).

You might also be excited to learn that you can insert fields from your data source into the document -- just click More items in the task pane. This gives you the opportunity to customize each email with, for instance, the recipient's name, or organization name, or any other fields/columns that exist in your data source.

While editing, you may also insert images. Images should be used sparingly and judiciously. When you perform the email merge, images are sent out as attachments to the message.

Once you've edited your message, click Next: Preview your email messages at the bottom of the task pane. This preview step allows you to see how the message to each recipient will look once the merge is completed. You only need to worry about this if you inserted fields from your data source into the document. The controls allow you to cycle through each recipient's custom message, or look up the message that will be sent to a specific recipient.

At this point, you may need to temporarily disable your virus protection software, because it might interfere with the merge process. Be sure to turn it back on when you're done.

Once you have completed your preview, click Next: Complete the merge at the bottom of the task pane. Then, click Electronic Mail. A window will appear allowing you to designate the field containing the email addresses and the subject line. Do not change the mail format; it should ALWAYS be set to HTML. Sending messages as plain text requires you to confirm once for every recipient, unless you install special software to get around this "security feature."

Once you have set these options, click OK to start the merge.

After initiating the merge process, your computer must generate and mail each individual message. This can take a long time, depending on the length of the list. You can watch the progress in the Word status bar at the bottom of the window.

If there are any malformed addresses (such as myname@bogus@address.com) in your list, the merge will halt and display a Check Names window. Just click Cancel and Word will continue with the merge. Of course, no email will be sent to the malformed addresses. Because these errors halt the merge, it is not advised that you leave your computer unattended for long periods of time during the merge process unless you are certain that the email list is free of malformed addresses.

This procedure generates a unique email for every recipient. You will thus receive one bounce report for every invalid address. This may seem inconvenient or alarming at first, but it actually streamlines bounce management in several ways.

And you are managing your bounces -- right?