The process of creating and working with templates is slightly simpler when working with CRM inside Outlook.
The process within the web client is as follows:
To run a mail-merge with existing templates the procedure is as follows:
- In CRM navigate to the appropriate view for the entity
- To run mail merge on specific records, highlight them first otherwise skip this step
- Click on the Word Icon on the toolbar
- In the dialog box that appears select the appropriate template in the Start with a section
- In the Merge section select the records to run the mail merge on
- Then click OK
- In the File Download dialog box that appears click Open
- Word will start. In the Word dialog box that appears with the words, ”Opening this document will run the following SQL Command” Click No.
- Then click the CRM icon on the toolbar in Word and you are into the Mail Merge part of Word
To create a new mail-merge template the procedure is as follows:
- In CRM navigate to the appropriate view for the entity
- Highlight any one record – it doesn’t matter which one
- Click on the Word Icon on the toolbar
- In the dialog box that appears select start with a blank document (or an existing one if you want to modify it or copy it to create a new one)
- In the Merge section choose selected records
- Click Data fields. A new dialog window called Add Columns appears.
- Choose the fields that are needed in the mail merge document. The ticked fields will be available in the mail merge document but they do not have to be used – i.e. it does not matter if a field is ticked and then not added to the actual document.
- Then click OK to close the Add Columns dialog window
- Click OK to close the Mail Merge dialog window
- In the File Download dialog box that appears click Open
- Word will start. In the Word dialog box that appears with the words, Opening this document will run the following SQL Command Click No
- If a Macro is disabled or similar warning appears choose to enable macros
- Then click the CRM icon on the toolbar in Word
- In the Mail Merge Recipients window click OK
- Layout the document with the required text and mail merge fields – don’t proceed to complete the mail merge as we are just creating the template
- Click Save As and choose XML document. Save the file with any name in any location but note where it was saved and what it was called.
- Close Word.
- Back in CRM navigate to Settings | Templates
- Click on Mail Merge Templates • Click New on the Toolbar
- In the Mail Merge Template: New window type a name and description for the template
- Select Contact in the Associated Entity picklist
- In the File Attachment section browse to the XML file that was created earlier and then click on Attach
- To allow other users to use this template click on Actions and then Make Available to Organisation. Click OK in the dialog box that appears. Otherwise the template will be available only to the person that creates it.
- Click Save and Close
- The template can now be used as per the first procedure