Mail Merge

Whilst there are several ways to carry out a mail merge within Google Workspace we reccomend using the Autocrat Extenson. This provices a nice step by step method of getting your mailmerges setup, customised and sent with minimal hassle. And offers a similar way of working to the Microsoft Office Suite. 

Please follow the below instructions to carry out a successful mail merge.

Setup your google sheets spreadsheet properly - 

make sure you have all of the fields you require (first name , surname etc,) and title them accordingly.

Each field  name should be unique

Make sure there are no blank rows in your data.

Make sure your document templateis formatted correctly - 

Merge tags in google docs use << >> rather than { } so make sure your documents merge tags are entered properly (ideally with the matching field name in them so autocrat can automattically match the spreadsheet field to the merge tag.) 

A properly formatted example would be <<first name>> 

​Start the merge

Open your spreadsheet containing the mailmerge data

​Click Extensions

Click Autocrat

Click the "NEW JOB" button to start the merge wizard

1. Enter an appropriate name for the merge job (this is so you can easily find the job to reuse later if you want to.)

2. Choose your template (Click the "From Drive" button and locate the file you want to use.)

3. ​make sure the merge data is mapped properly (if you named your merge tags according to your spreadsheet fields this should be done automatically for you)

4. Name the file that the merge will produce something appropriate (you can use merge tags for the file name too!) select the type of document you want to produce from the merge (google doc or PDF.) and leave the output as multiple output.

5. Choose the folder you want the merged docuents to be stored in 

6. Skip dynamic folder refrence 

7. Add a merge condition if you want this to run at set intervals or on specific triggers.

8. Select if you want to share the document with the recipient, if you do want to share it:
   Make sure you select how you want the doc to be shared as
   Whether or not you want the recipient to be able to reshare the doc
   If you want the email sent from No-Reply
   And then setup your email (you can use merge tags here too!)

9. ​Click save

Once done, click run on the job you created and let the merge do its thing. Or if you want a preview before its sent off click the little eye icon on the job and click preview for first mergeable row.