Delaying messages after a mail merge

[toadflax]

Hi,

I am trying to use a mail merge using some records in Access via Word
to create form emails to customers. Basically I need to send separate
emails to a batch of people--the messages will all have the same title
and body text, but have to be sent individually so I can add a
different attachment for each recipient (an individualised receipt for
a payment they've made). The mail merge seems to work fine to a (fake)
test group, except that the messages are then sent automatically via
Outlook and I want it to just generate the emails and then allow me to
hold them as drafts while I attach the individual receipts and in some
cases hold them until cheque payments clear. Is this possible?

I am using Outlook 2002 over a network on a Microsoft Exchange server.

From various newgroup and web searches I got the idea that working

offline would put the messages in the outbox, but I haven't been able
to work out how to set this up properly. Whatever settings I change
the messages seem to just go out to my (fake) test addresses. Ideally
I'd prefer them to go to the Drafts box for further tweaking. Is there
any reasonable way to achieve this? I'd appreciate any help, as I'm
currently creating 30 messages and then cut and pasting in 30
addresses, 30 receipts and 30 instances of the body text and it gets
extremely messy trying to match them all up.


Regards,
Michelle

 

[Brian Tillman]

I am trying to use a mail merge using some records in Access via Word
to create form emails to customers. Basically I need to send separate
emails to a batch of people--the messages will all have the same title
and body text, but have to be sent individually so I can add a
different attachment for each recipient (an individualised receipt for
a payment they've made). The mail merge seems to work fine to a (fake)
test group, except that the messages are then sent automatically via
Outlook and I want it to just generate the emails and then allow me to
hold them as drafts while I attach the individual receipts and in some
cases hold them until cheque payments clear. Is this possible?

Thsi might work: change your send/receive settings to not send automatically
when connected and not perform an automatic send/receive. When you're mail
merge completes, all the messages should be in the Outbox. Select them and
drag them to the Drafts folder, modify them to suit you, then move them back
to the Outbox. Perform a Send/Receive.

 

[toadflax]

Thanks Brian-- it didn't work at first, but after a bit of fiddling,
it seems that if I uncheck "Send immediately when connected" in Tools-
Options- Mail Setup tab as you suggested AND choose html for the mail
format, the messages are held in the Outbox and I can drag them to
drafts. This has the added advantage of getting rid of the annoying
messages about an unauthorised program trying to access addresses and
send email in Outlook. I wanted to use plain text emails, but
apparently it sends that format straight out regardless. If it bothers
me enough, I'll change them back to text once in the drafts folder.

Thanks again.


Cheers,
Michelle

 

[Brian Tillman]

Thanks Brian-- it didn't work at first, but after a bit of fiddling,
it seems that if I uncheck "Send immediately when connected" in Tools-
Options- Mail Setup tab as you suggested AND choose html for the mail
format, the messages are held in the Outbox and I can drag them to
drafts. This has the added advantage of getting rid of the annoying
messages about an unauthorised program trying to access addresses and
send email in Outlook. I wanted to use plain text emails, but
apparently it sends that format straight out regardless. If it bothers
me enough, I'll change them back to text once in the drafts folder.

Thanks again.

You're welcome and I'm glad you have an acceptable solution.