Greenwood School District 50

Using Mail Merge in Microsoft Word to Create Attendance Letters

District and State policy requires that letters are sent home to parents when students have specific numbers of absences. SASIxp keeps track of the absences and provides the tools for identifying students who reach those numbers. To see instructions for getting that information from SASIxp, go to the following link: SASIxp Attendance Letters.

To create the attendance letters to merge with the SASIxp information, continue on this page.

A. CONCEPT: Mail Merge in Microsoft Word requires creation of two files:

1. Data table: Your attendance data tables are created by exporting information from SASIxp and converting it into a table in Word. The steps for completing those tasks can be found by clicking here.

2. Main document: Create each of your attendance letters as you would any other document – and link each to the appropriate data table. The steps for doing that are given below.

B. PROCESS: Creating your letter and linking it to the data table.

1. Create your data tables (one for each letter cut-off) and save those to your fixed disk – naming those as described in the instructions for exporting from SASIxp. Close each of those files.

a. The following table shows and example of the tables created from the SASIxp export files. NOTE: Column labels (first row) should be one word (that is, no spaces).

Parent	Addr1	Addr2	StudentName	PermNum	Absences	Cutoff
Mr. and Ms. John Smith	101 Elm Street	Greenwood, SC 29646	Jonathan Wayne Smith	490000010101	4	1
Sally Williams	609 Morrison Avenue	Hodges, SC 29635	Mary Ann Williams	490000009902	3	1

b. High school tables will be different and will include fields for each period in the school day and for absences for each period. All tables can contain additional columns if you choose additional fields in SASIxp.

c. The “Cutoff” field contains a number that corresponds to the letter number (1=cutoff for 3 absences, etc.).

d. Your tables should be named 1stxxx.doc, 2ndxxx.doc, and 3rdxxx.doc, where “xxx” is your SASIxp school number and the file name represents the cut-off report (1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd).

2. Begin to create your attendance letters by opening a blank page in Word.

a. Press the <Enter> key enough times to move the cursor down the page so it will be below your letterhead.

b. Type the current date and press the <Enter> key three times to move the cursor down.

c. On the menu bar, click Tools and choose Mail Merge from the drop-down menu.

d. The three-step Mail Merge Helper window will open.

e. Under Step One, click the Create button and choose Form Letters from the list.

f. If asked, choose to use the Active Window.

3. The next step is to attach the data table to your letter.

a. Choose to Get Data and select Open Data Source from the drop-down menu.

b. Navigate to your data table (recommended that it be placed in C:\AttendanceLetters).

c. Select the file that contains your data table (1stxxx.doc, 2ndxxx.doc, or 3rdxxx.doc). Word will check your data table to be sure it contains a table and that it has legal column names.

d. You will see a message that “Word found no merge field…”; click the Edit Main Document button.

e. The Mail Merge Helper window will be closed and you will be returned to your letter. You will see a new tool bar that starts with an “Insert Merge Field” button.

4. Next, you will complete and save your attendance letters (one for each cut-off period).

a. Click the Insert Merge Field button on the new tool bar.

b. Click Parent from the drop-down list.

c. Press <ENTER> to move the cursor to the next line.

d. Click the Insert Merge Field button on the new tool bar.

e. Click Addr1 from the drop-down list.

f. Press <ENTER> to move the cursor to the next line.

g. Click the Insert Merge Field button on the new tool bar.

h. Click Addr2 from the drop-down list.

i. Press <ENTER> twice to move the cursor down a couple of lines.

j. Type the word “Dear” followed by a space.

k. Click the Insert Merge Field button on the new tool bar.

l. Click Parent from the drop-down list.

m. Type a colon or a comma at the end of that line.

n. Press <ENTER> twice to move the cursor down a couple of lines.

o. Type your letter, using Insert Merge Field to insert the student’s name, ID number, and the number of absences.

p. Save the letter in C:\AttendanceLetters, using a file name that identifies it for the appropriate cut-off (perhaps, Letter1.doc, Letter2.doc, and Letter3.doc)

q. Repeat the steps 1 through 4 for each cut-off letter.

5. Next you will print a letter for each student.

a. When your document is ready to print, you should not choose File/Print. That will print only a copy of the main document.

b. When you want to print a merged copy for each student in your data table, select the Merge to printer button on the mail merge tool bar.

c. A personalized letter will be printed for each student in your list.

d. Fold, stuff, and mail.

After creating your letters, linking those to your data tables, and printing a letter for each student, you will not need to re-create those letters each time you print those. You need only complete the process in SASIxp to create your export files and convert those to Word tables (see instructions here). Then open each of your letters and Merge to printer again.