Mail Merge with Attachments

This Mail Merge utility for Outlook has the crucial difference from Microsoft Office mail merge software, along with many other useful features. It allows you to mail merge with an attachment or with several ones.

Adding attachments to personalize email campaigns

Mail merge tools for Outlook offer different ways to individualize the messages in Outlook mass mailings. You can personalize addresses, the subject, any parts of the email text and other email fields. But besides the message itself, it's often necessary to send different or the same attached files to the recipients. By attaching the proper document, you can solve various commercial issues.

The advanced version of our Mail Merge add-in for Outlook provides the full set of options to personalize the bulk mail:

• General options to personalize the email itself (General tab).
• Sending options to manage the mailings sent from Outlook (Advanced tab).
• Merge options to manage attached files (Attachments tab).

Mailing out messages with the same attachment

This is the most common case when you send bulk mails with offers, invitations and similar contents. Anyway, the mail merge toolkit can individualize the messages with the same attached files in different ways. You can personalize the email's content and even the text of the attached document if its source format is Word. See Advanced options for mail merging below.

Performing a mailing with the same attachment from Outlook is an elementary task for the Mail Merge utility. Prepare the document and attach it to the email template immediately. Or specify its location as described below, from data table or a folder. Use the advanced attachment merge options to select necessary files, convert Word documents to Adobe PDF during merging and other features.

Attaching custom files to each email

Powerful Mail Merge utility features enable to send even more individualized emails attaching different files to each message of the mailing list. Flexible settings make it possible to add to an email several files from different locations. See below how to indicate the path to the attached file.

Read detailed instructions on how to send a separate document or several ones to each email address in our article Mail Merge with Individual Attachments.

You can mix custom and common attached files in one message, if necessary. You can add as many files as you want to the mail.

Specifying the attachment location

When you have prepared the files to insert in the messages, save them and indicate their path in the data-table or when configuring the utility.

1. If you put the path in the data-table, then select the appropriate column name in the Attach files from table macros list.
2. If you will add the same files to all the messages, use the Attach files from folder option. Enter the folder path, and all the files in the indicated folder will be added to each email. Otherwise, include or exclude desired files through the file mask.
3. Another way to insert files to a mailing is to enter their names with the extensions in the table, instead of the full path. Select the columns with the file names from the macros list when doing the utility settings and type the necessary folder path in the field below.
4. To insert fewer files or even none to any email, exclude them from the merge process. Leave the cells against the relevant recipients blank.

Please, note:

• all the entered paths must end with backslash "\";
• when you list several paths or macros, separate them by semicolons;
• file names must be entered with an extension like Document.docx;
• the data source table must be closed in Excel to perform the mail merge.

To learn more details, please read about preparing the data-source table sending mass email from Excel and mail merging with individual attachments.

Advanced options for mail merging with attachments

You have three powerful options to get more from the mail merge using this Outlook add-in.

1. You can expand macros in the Word attachments text. Add any macros field in the attached Word documents like this: {FIELD#Column Header}. When merging, the utility will replace these merge fields in the text with the data from the table.
2. Convert Word documents to Adobe PDF automatically if needed. Just check the relevant box to convert Word to PDF when running the add-in.
3. Remove attachments from the email template if you don't need them this once.

The utility options work well altogether. Try and create any mail merge combinations for your mass mailing campaigns using the flexible attachment merge.

Optimizing Attachments for Mail Merge

For a successful mail merge campaign, it's essential to handle attachments in a way that maximizes their effectiveness. Here are some key factors to consider:

1. The Importance of Attachment Names: Always give your attachments clear, descriptive names that indicate their content. For instance, instead of 'document1.pdf', use a name like 'July-Sales-Report.pdf'. This lets your recipients know what they're opening, giving them more confidence to engage with the attached file.
2. Keeping an Eye on Attachment Sizes: Large attachments can sometimes cause problems. They may take a long time to download, especially for recipients with slow internet connections, and they may even fail to send if they exceed certain size limits. To avoid this, try to keep your attachments as small as possible, compressing them if necessary.
3. Choosing the Right File Formats: The format of your attachments can greatly affect their usability. To ensure your recipients can open and view your files, use universally accepted formats like PDF for documents and JPEG or PNG for images.
4. Compressing Multiple Attachments: If you're sending several files, consider compressing them into a single ZIP file. This makes downloading easier for your recipients and can also significantly reduce the overall size of your attachments.
5. The Need for Pre-Sending Checks: Always verify each attachment before sending your email. Open each file to make sure it's correct, not corrupted, and displays as intended. This can help you avoid accidentally sending the wrong file or a file that's been damaged.
6. Test Run Before Mass Mailing: Before you execute a mass mailing, send a test email to yourself or a trusted colleague. This allows you to check that your attachments come through correctly and can be opened without any problems.
7. Staying Within Attachment Limitations: Different email systems have different size limits for attachments. To ensure your emails are delivered successfully, make sure your attachments stay below these limits. This can help prevent your emails from being marked as spam or being rejected altogether.

By considering these factors when you use attachments in your mail merge campaigns, you can make your attachments a valuable part of your communication strategy. This can help you increase engagement and make your campaigns more successful.

Getting results

After completing the attachment settings you need in the current mass mail campaign, you can proceed with the other setting tabs. See how to use mail merge to learn about further capabilities of the program.

Once the utility is set, you can send the mail immediately or save ready-to-send messages in the indicated Outlook folder to check everything, including attached items. If you are satisfied with the result, run the Mail Merge utility again to send emails at once or use the Redirect Messages Outlook add-on.

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About Author

David Godfrin is a software developer and blogger for Outlook and Exchange. He has a strong background in IT and works in the field of software development and tech support since 2011.