Email Merge: sends documents, but eliminates all hyperlinks!

[Nadine]

Okay, after struggling to get mail-merge working at all, finally got it to
work, but when I send an email merge, it converts all the hyperlinks to just
formatted text.

In other words, the Text to Display for each link is there, but the
hyperlink is gone. I'm using Office XP (Word & Outlook 2002, SP3).

If I go to File>Send>Mail Recipient, then it sends the email and the links
are still in the email, it only eliminates hyperlinks when I do a mail merge.

I have 3 types of hyperlinks in the document: Web Page links, email links,
and links to different parts of the page.

The document is saved both as a word document and as an HTML page, I have
this mail-merge issue with both files.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

There are certainly problems in this area. I would start with

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/912679

I would also experiment with unchecking

Microsoft Office Button|Word Options|Advanced|Web Options...Files"Update
links on save"

although I have no evidence to suggest that will make a difference in this
case.

However, what happens may well depend on whether your hyperlink is inserted
dynamically or is a "static" link.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Nadine]

Thank you for your response, but I'm not sure how to use it. The article
seems to imply that the hyperlinks are merge fields, but they're not. What
I'm trying to do is create a template that has all my contact info and links
to my web sites in it, then send it as a mail-merge to my subscribers. So the
hyperlinks are created in the Word Document, then the only thing I'm merging
is the Subscribers Name from my Contacts in Outlook.

I could try doing this, but then what data source do I use, and then
wouldn't I have to do two merges, one for the hyperlinks and one for the
email merge? I'm not real clear on what the article is trying to tell me to
do...

2 - What is dynamic and static links? I put the hyperlinks in my document
using File Menu>Insert>Hyperlink.

Hope you can help some more!

--

There are certainly problems in this area. I would start with

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/912679

I would also experiment with unchecking

Microsoft Office Button|Word Options|Advanced|Web Options...Files"Update
links on save"

although I have no evidence to suggest that will make a difference in this
case.

However, what happens may well depend on whether your hyperlink is inserted
dynamically or is a "static" link.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Peter Jamieson]

2 - What is dynamic and static links? I put the hyperlinks in my document

using File Menu>Insert>Hyperlink.

That's what I meant by "static" links, i.e. the ones that the article does
/not/ talk about.

However, there's an another article at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/287004/en-us

that discusses mmerge to email with Word XP which /might/ shed some light on
this. What it says is that
a. when you merge a "web page" to email, the hyperlinks disappear (as you
describe)
b. to work around, you have to save as a single-page microsoft .mht format
"web page" and merge it as an attachment
c. the "problem" (and I have to assume the specific one they describe) is
fixed in Word XP SP3

There is also an article at

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813673/en-us

which might have to be applied as well.

So what I'm wondering is whether trhe merge would actually work if you saved
your mail merge main document as a web page (i.e. .htm, not .mht) rather
than a .doc, then do the merge as normal. (The article also assumes you are
trying to merge using HTML format). The thing is that none of the stuff that
Word can do in .doc format, such as headers and footers, will get through an
e-mail merge anyway, so you probably would not lose by saving as .htm first.

I can't check this right now, but if that doesn't work, my only other
suggestion is that if merging using the technique described in the article I
previously mentioned actually works, then perhaps it is worth trying to
create your static links as if they wer dynamic links, e.g., instead of
their example

{ HYPERLINK { MERGEFIELD "Address1" } \*Mergeformat }

you could try

{ HYPERLINK { QUOTE "your hyperlink text" } \*Mergeformat }

or maybe

{ SET myhl "your hyperlink text" }{ HYPERLINK { REF mylt } \*Mergeformat }

If any of the above do work, please post back.

Peter Jamieson

Thank you for your response, but I'm not sure how to use it. The article
seems to imply that the hyperlinks are merge fields, but they're not. What
I'm trying to do is create a template that has all my contact info and
links
to my web sites in it, then send it as a mail-merge to my subscribers. So
the
hyperlinks are created in the Word Document, then the only thing I'm
merging
is the Subscribers Name from my Contacts in Outlook.

I could try doing this, but then what data source do I use, and then
wouldn't I have to do two merges, one for the hyperlinks and one for the
email merge? I'm not real clear on what the article is trying to tell me
to
do...

2 - What is dynamic and static links? I put the hyperlinks in my document
using File Menu>Insert>Hyperlink.

Hope you can help some more!

--

 

[Peter Jamieson]

The thing is that none of the stuff that Word can do in .doc format, such

as headers and footers, will get through an e-mail merge anyway

Unless, of course, you merge to an attachment.

Peter Jamieson

 

[Nadine]

Thanks for all the advice. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. I was
on a business trip, and didn't have time to try any of this stuff until
yesterday. I thought that I had the latest Updates, because in
Word>Help>About Word it said version/SP3, but when I clicked on find updates
that was there. So after updating pretty much all day, my mail merge finally
works like it should! Yay!!!! Hyperlinks included ;-)

 

[Nadine]

Actually didn't have to do anything else but update. Now I can email-merge
from the .doc file, and all the 3 different kinds of hyperlinks in my letter
still go through. The http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813673 was the answer
to the problem I was having.

 

[Peter Jamieson]

Thanks, useful feedback.

Peter Jamieson

Actually didn't have to do anything else but update. Now I can email-merge
from the .doc file, and all the 3 different kinds of hyperlinks in my
letter
still go through. The http://support.microsoft.com/kb/813673 was the
answer
to the problem I was having.