Creating a Mail Merge

Mail Merge is a very powerful tool in Admire. It is used to create customized letters, receipts, statements and other customized documents. Users can save a lot of time by using Mail Merge with Advisor, the Admire automation engine, to automate regular administrative tasks. 

To get started: 

1. Open the Mail Merge screen by clicking on the 'Mail Merge' button on the menu. (The Mail Merge tool can also be found by Report -> Mailings -> Mail Merge Wizard.)
   
2. In the 'Mailings Selection' tab, choose the Mailing and select the filter you would like to use for this mailing. 
   Filtering when using the Receipt Mailing

   No filter is needed unless you would like to pull the receipts for specific donors. The Mail Merge will automatically pull the receipts that have 'To Print' checked off.
   
   NOTE: When printing all receipts, the system will NEVER include a Receipt if the 'To Print' checkbox is not checked. 

   
   
3. Click 'Next' to continue to the 'Letter Types' tab. 
   1. To run all receipts, keep the 'Merge All' option selected. 
      1. If no 'Design Template' is selected, the default template will be used. 
      2. To use a template besides the default template,check the checkbox 'Merge THIS Template for ALL', choose the desired template in the dropdown directly beneath the checkbox and choose the EXACT SAME template from the 'Design Template' dropdown. 
   2. To run only receipts that have a letter code selected, choose the 'Merge Selected' and check off the letter type you wish to Merge. 
      1. To use a different template, you have right-click -> Select 'Override Template' -> Choose the desired template to use.
         
         
4. Now that you have the which letters to print and the template selected, click 'Next'.
   1. Option to Edit Template

      If you have selected the 'Merge All' option or on specific template, you will be given the option to temporarily change the template for this one mail merge(Example: Adding a greeting/ending message). These changes will not be saved to the template design.
      
      To continue with the 'Mail Merge' process, click 'Next'.
      
   2. After selecting and editing the Template/s, you will taken to review the 'Recipients' tab. Here you can review which Accounts will be included in your 'Mail Merge' to receive the document. Then click 'Next'.
   3. Selecting Recipients

      1. Please note the list is pulled based on the filter that you originally put in, if there is no filter for receipts, this list will pull all Accounts with payments that have ‘To Print’ checked off. You have the either:
         1. Click ‘Select All’
         2. Manually check off the records  to include in the merge
5. The 'Options' tab is where the sort order can be set. This is optional. Fields can be placed in the order which the letters should be sorted. You can choose which field you want to sort by choosing the field from ‘Available Fields’ and then choose the ‘>’ and it will move it over to the ‘Sorted Fields'.  If you don’t select a sort field, it will sort by Account Last Name.
   
   
6. Now click 'Next' to run the Merge. The 'Mail Merge' will run and create a document that you will see in the 'Results' tab. Right-click on the file and hit ‘Download’. This will save it to your local computer's 'Downloads' folder. 
   
   
7.  Optional: Click 'Next' to be taken to the 'Update' tab to run an update.
   
   Available Updates

   Updates are available based upon which mail merge is selected.
   Example: After running a Receipt Mail Merge, any payment that had a receipt generated will be updated with a Receipt Date and the 'To Print' checkbox will be unchecked. 
8.  Lastly, click 'Finish' to close the 'Mail Merge' screen.