Using Mail Merge to Adobe PDF option in Word

[Janice]

I need to send pdf attachments to various recipients. When I convert the
attachment to pdf and send it to the recipient one at a time (very time
consuming!), the recipients get the proper attachment in pdf format.
However, when I use the "mail merge to adobe pdf" option (which is much
faster!), the recipient (who does not have Outlook) get a winmail.dat
attachment. No matter how I change my Outlook settings (sending in plain
text, etc.) nothing works. Adobe insists this is an Outlook problem. Can
anyone help or point me in the right direction?

 

[Diane Poremsky]

Which version acrobat do you use?

You can’t include an attachment in a mail merge. You need to use a 3rd party
tool or VBA.

http://www.slipstick.com/addins/massmail.asp

 

[Janice]

Thanks for replying. I am using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8. According to
the instructions, sending mail merge pdf's as attachments to emails is
allowed. I've gone back and forth with Adobe and after insisting to them
that I've made all the prerequisite changes to Outlook to send in plain text,
etc, they then ended up by saying it's an Outlook problem.

 

[Janice]

Also, what is frustrating, is that when I use the adobe option (in Word) of
sending the attachment with "Convert to Adobe PDF and email", then it works
properly (giving me a window in Outlook, with the proper attachment showing,
and then I enter in the email address, whatever subject line and then any
text). I send it and the recipient gets the proper information. This is
done for each recipient, one at a time. (I select one recipient at a time
through the mail merge, go back and select another one and do it over and
over again). However, when I use the option "Mail Merge to Adobe PDF" to
send to the very same recipient, click on the appropriate box, the email
address is already there, add some subject line and text, then send, the
recipient then gets the winmail.dat attachment and not the pdf. So, one
option works but the other doesn't.
--
Janice

Thanks for replying. I am using Adobe Acrobat Professional 8. According to
the instructions, sending mail merge pdf's as attachments to emails is
allowed. I've gone back and forth with Adobe and after insisting to them
that I've made all the prerequisite changes to Outlook to send in plain text,
etc, they then ended up by saying it's an Outlook problem.

 

[Diane Poremsky]

for whatever reason mail merge is converting the message format to rtf.
Knowing how adobe's macros tend to be buggy and how outlook works, I’d guess
either adobe is changing the format in the merge or using automation will
always use RTF.

I have v7 and swear I saw the option to mail merge to pdf, but disabled all
the acrobat add-ins because they cause too many problems. Re-enabling them
last night didn't bring the option back so I'll check out v8 on a test
machine.

 

[Janice]

Thank you! You're the first person to make some sense! I've basically given
up hoping to use the mail merge option and will just go back to the manual
way but I was hoping that someone could figure out what was happening and
maybe there will be an update!

 

[Remove ABCD from Email address to reply]

I guess I am missing something. Since you are having all these problems in
sending a pdf to multiple people using Adobe, why don't you just send the
pdf thru Outlook and use a distribution list or manually pick the addresses?

 

[Janice]

I am currently doing the pdf attachments manually. I sometimes send over 20
emails at a time and it would sure help if the mail merge option would work.
A distribution list would not work as there are different recipients each
time. Thanks for replying though!

Janice

 

[Remove ABCD from Email address to reply]

If a distribution list will not work then you must pick the individual email
address each time when sending from Adobe. Why can't you just do the exact
same thing from Outlook - include the attachment once and then pick out the
20 or so emails and put them in the to: cc: or bcc:

--

Neil

I am currently doing the pdf attachments manually. I sometimes send over
20
emails at a time and it would sure help if the mail merge option would
work.
A distribution list would not work as there are different recipients each
time. Thanks for replying though!

Janice

 

[Janice]

Because each attachment has information specific to each recipient. I am
sending a form letter to different recipients with their names, addresses,
different sentences and information based on our database. I need to send
them in pdf format for security reasons. Keep coming up with ideas! Thank
you!