W
WR Butler
To MS Word experts:
MICROSOFT -- TAKE NOTE!!
I used to be able to do a mail merge relatively painlessly
by using an Excel spreadsheet as the source of email
addresses for my students. I would enter the email
addresses in my spreadsheet, construct a message in Word &
merge. Under MS Office XP however, performing a mail
merge is about like pulling teeth. The main problem is
that I have to "approve" every message individually.
Here's the situation:
PROBLEM #1
In choosing the option for a data source, the only one I
been able to make work is the [see screen capture below]
third option, "MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls)".
Following this selection, a second box appears asking for
a choice between the entire spreadsheet and the print
area. I select the entire spreadsheet because the print
area does not contain the e-mail address.
When I want to send the message, I click on the "merge to
email" icon, and pop-up box appears saying "A program is
trying access email addresses stored in Outlook..."
I understand the need for security; I check the box to
allow access for 10 min. That should be sufficient,
right? Nope - FOR EVERY MESSAGE A BOX APPEARS SAYING "A
program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your
behalf. Do you want to allow this? OF COURSE I WANT TO
ALLOW THIS!! I JUST SAID ALLOW IT FOR 10 MINUTES!!!!!
In order to send a message, I must click Yes for each
message - a tedious and unnecessary task. If there is any
way to eliminate this question, I would like to know what
it is.
PROBLEM #2
A second annoyance is the fact that Outlook cannot accept
an email address as entered. It does not distinguish
between one address and another address that contains the
first. Example below shows the problem: The message is
being sent to fazadisn, but I am forced to tell Outlook
that again because it cannot tell the difference between
fazadisn1 (first name listed) and fazadisn (second name
listed) The previous version did not have this problem.
How can this disruption be eliminated?
PROBLEM #3
The previous version used to allow me to set a filter and
email only those students for whom the email address field
was non-blank. This feature is useful because students
drop & I can eliminate them from the distribution by
deleting their addresses. I have not found a way to do
the same thing in Office XP. If possible, please let me
know how to perform this process in XP.
MICROSOFT -- TAKE NOTE!!
I used to be able to do a mail merge relatively painlessly
by using an Excel spreadsheet as the source of email
addresses for my students. I would enter the email
addresses in my spreadsheet, construct a message in Word &
merge. Under MS Office XP however, performing a mail
merge is about like pulling teeth. The main problem is
that I have to "approve" every message individually.
Here's the situation:
PROBLEM #1
In choosing the option for a data source, the only one I
been able to make work is the [see screen capture below]
third option, "MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls)".
Following this selection, a second box appears asking for
a choice between the entire spreadsheet and the print
area. I select the entire spreadsheet because the print
area does not contain the e-mail address.
When I want to send the message, I click on the "merge to
email" icon, and pop-up box appears saying "A program is
trying access email addresses stored in Outlook..."
I understand the need for security; I check the box to
allow access for 10 min. That should be sufficient,
right? Nope - FOR EVERY MESSAGE A BOX APPEARS SAYING "A
program is trying to automatically send e-mail on your
behalf. Do you want to allow this? OF COURSE I WANT TO
ALLOW THIS!! I JUST SAID ALLOW IT FOR 10 MINUTES!!!!!
In order to send a message, I must click Yes for each
message - a tedious and unnecessary task. If there is any
way to eliminate this question, I would like to know what
it is.
PROBLEM #2
A second annoyance is the fact that Outlook cannot accept
an email address as entered. It does not distinguish
between one address and another address that contains the
first. Example below shows the problem: The message is
being sent to fazadisn, but I am forced to tell Outlook
that again because it cannot tell the difference between
fazadisn1 (first name listed) and fazadisn (second name
listed) The previous version did not have this problem.
How can this disruption be eliminated?
PROBLEM #3
The previous version used to allow me to set a filter and
email only those students for whom the email address field
was non-blank. This feature is useful because students
drop & I can eliminate them from the distribution by
deleting their addresses. I have not found a way to do
the same thing in Office XP. If possible, please let me
know how to perform this process in XP.