This enhancement was added in Version 3.06.02a. Please upgrade if you are using an earlier version.

One of the major uses of a Mail List is to send out form or custom letters to patrons. This article describes how to create a patron text file in the WorkingArtist Mail List and use it as a source for a mail merge document in Microsoft Word.

Add the WAMerge.dot file to Microsoft Word Template.

1. Make sure that the WorkingArtist application is closed.
2. From your desktop, right click on the MyComputer icon.
3. From the drop-down menu, click on Explore.
4. Locate your WorkingArtist30 directory. This is probably c:\program files\WorkingArtist30.
a. On the left hand side of your screen, double-click on "c:", then scroll down to "Program Files".
b. Staying on the left hand side of the screen, double-click on "Program Files" and scroll down to "WorkingArtist30".
c. Double-click "WorkingArtist30". On the right side of your screen you will now see all the files in the WorkingArtist30 directory.
5. Locate the WAMerge.dot file. If you see "WAMerge" but not "WAMerge.dot", then there is an option on your machine that is hiding the file extensions. Here is a link to a Knowledge Base article on how to display file extensions.
6. Click once on WAMerge.dot to highlight it.
7. Click on the Copy button at the top of the screen or select File/Copy. This copies WAMerge.dot to your Windows clipboard, which is an invisible holding place.
8. Open a Microsoft Word document and click on File/New Document to open the “New” dialog.
9. Select the "General" tab and in a blank area of the white screen under the tab, right click with your mouse and select paste to paste the WAMerge.dot file.
10. Close the dialog screen.

You have created a template for letters that does not include either a header and or a footer.

Modify the template so that it includes a header and/or a footer.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click on File/New Document.
3. Double Click on the WAMerge template and a word document containing address merge tags will open.
4. Create a header and footer as appropriate. For example, create a logo or enter your name and address as a header.
5. Click on File/Save As to display a "Save As" screen.
6. Enter a name for the template
7. In the "Save As Type" field select the file type "Document Template (*dot)". When you do this, the "Save In" field will default to "Templates."
8. Click on Save.

You have created a template for letters that includes your custom header and/or footer. It contains the merge fields that will be used with the patron text file. You can create different templates to meet different requirements.

Create the Patron File.

1. From the WorkingArtist Main Switchboard, click on Mail List.
2. Create a new Mail List and add the Patrons that you want to include in the mail list.
3. From Edit Mail List, click on Reports.
-- Select Mail Merge By Name if you want the letters in alphabetical order.
-- Select Mail Merge By Zip if you want the letters in zip/postal code order.
4. Click Preview and a Save As screen will open.
5. Select the folder where you want to save the file.
6. Give the file a meaningful name such as WA060203 (for WorkingArtist 2006, February 03.)
7. Leave the the file type as .txt and click Save.

Create the Letter.

1. Open Microsoft Word.
2. Click on File/New Document.
3. Double Click on the WAMerge template or the template that you modified, and a word document containing address merge tags will open. If you double click on the modified template, a word document containing address merge tags as well as a header and or footer will open.
4. Enter the letter below the address merge tags.

Create the MailMerge.

1. Click on Tools/Mail Merge to open the MailMerge dialog.
2. In the MailMerge dialog, click on Get Data/Open Data Source.
3. In the Browse dialog, locate the txt file that you created above. Select "All Files" in the Files of Type box, so that you can view the .txt file.
4. Click on Open.
5. In the MailMerge dialog, click on the Merge button.
-- Make sure that you select Merge to New Document.
-- Make sure that the option to suppress blank lines is checked.
6. Print the letters.

Disclaimer. Although we offer these instructions for using Microsoft Word Mail Merge, we do not give support for Microsoft Word. For information regarding Microsoft Word, please consult Help in Microsoft Word.

Back to the top