Mail Merge
Covered in this section:
About Mail Merge
Create a Mail Merge
There may be times when you wish to communicate with all the candidates who either do not have email, or by snail mail. The Voter Guide Toolkit is equipped to deal with these cases through our Mail Merge feature. Mail Merge via the Voter Guide works in a similar manner to other mail merge features you may have used with word processing programs.
NOTE: The system will test for two things: first, that a there is a biofield that is designated as an address-type biofield. The second test is to check that this biofield is populated (filled in). If either of these conditions does not exist, you will not be able to execute a mail merge. If you look in the Address column, you will see a check mark next to names where addresses that have been submitted. Select All will ONLY select names with addresses.
Click Mail Merge on the Nav Bar. Display all available candidate names by clicking All in the upper right-hand corner. We strongly suggest that you select a single recipient the first time. Click Mail Merge in the lower right corner. The next screen is the mail merge template. The Body field has access to the same macros (contact name, race name, etc.) available in the email templates. In addition to those you have seen before there are two new macros: today and mailing address. These will insert today’s date and the mailing address, respectively. Modify the content of the Body field using the macros as desired, then click Generate Letters Your letter will be created as a PDF. Open and review the PDF, making any revisions in the Body field. When you have completed editing, click Generate Letters again. Once the PDF has been created, clickGenerate Labels; this will create labels on a 3X10 grid (Avery 5160). When you print your labels, make sure your printer is set to “actual size.”
NOTE: Mail merges are not recorded in a candidate’s event log.