[Dave]

Hey Peter,

This has really helped me alot. Looks easier to follow than the published
tutorial. I will try this out today and let you know how it turns out.
Thanks again for taking the time out to write this for me.

Have a great day.

"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

Well, in order to do that, I will try to work backwards through the
procedure, because then the reason for each step may become a little
clearer.

I'm also going to split the description into 2 parts:
a. Getting the macro to work with some simple test data. This is to
concentrate on what the macro does (partly because you have those errors
when you try to run it) and skips the whole issue of how you actually
use mailmerge to create the files that you need.
b. How to prepare the data that the macro needs.

I'm only going to do part (a) now, partly because I don't have time to
finish right now, and partly to give us a breather. If all goes OK,
perhaps it will be enough for you to understand how the whole thing is
supposed to work, in which case we won't need part (b). But let's see.

Using this method, I suggest you do not try to grasp the entire process
in one go. Work through it step by step. At least if you get stuck, you
will probably be able to identify where and why.

The main prerequisites are that you have a version of Word that lets you
use Word VBA, and Outlook (not Outlook Express).

I'm also going to make a simplification by assuming that you want one,
and only one, attachment in each email.

Please try not to glaze over :-)

1. What does the emailmergewithattachments macro actually do?

Overview
--------
Let's suppose you want to merge to email with one attachment per email,
to 10 recipients.

The emailmergewithattachments macro has two main inputs:
a. a table that contains 10 rows, one for each recipient, and two
columns. Column 1 contains the email addresses of the recipients, and
column 2 contains the pathname of the attachment that you want to send
to that recipient. Let's call this the Attachment Table.
b. a Word document that has 10 Word sections. Section 1 contains the
text that you want to put in the message body of the email to recipient
1, section 2 contains the text that you want to put in the message body
of the email to recipient 2, and so on. Let's call this the Message
Bodies Document

It has one main output: 10 email messages, one for each recipient in the
list, sent via Outlook.

Some important details
----------------------
a. For this macro to work, the Attachment Table has to be in the form
of a Word document that contains that 10-row, 2-column table.
b. The macro prompts for the filename of the Attachment Table
c. the macro assumes that the "active document" (typically the Word
document open in front of you) is the Message Bodies Document.
d. The macro also prompts for the subject, which will be the same in
all the messages

2. To test that, it doesn't matter how we create the Attachment Table
and the Message Bodies Document. We just need them to exist and contain
the right kind of data.

So as an experiment, I suggest you try the following, which would allow
the macro to do the final part of a "merge to email with attachments",
but only to 2 recipients:

I. Create an Attachment Table
a. create a Word document called testat.docx, containing a table with
2 rows and 2 columns
b. in row1, column1, put your own e-mail address.
c. in row1, column2, put the full pathname of an attachment you want
to send to yourself
d. ditto for row2
e. save and close the document

II. create a Message Bodies Document
a. create a Word "macro-enabled" document called testmb.docm.
b. type "Test body of message 1"
c. insert a Section Break. You can use Page layout-Page
Setup-breaks-Next page
d. Type "Test body of message 2"
e. save the document, but leave it open.

III. Install the macro code

We're going to try to install the macro in the Message Bodies Document.

In Word 2007, ensure that the Developer tab is available. If not, check
Word-Office Button-Word Options-Popular-Show Developer tab in the Ribbon
a. Click Developer-Visual basic

In any of these versions,
b. Look down the "Projects" pane near the top left for "Project
(Testmb)" and select it
c. Click Insert-Module. You should see Modules and Module1 appear
somewhere not far below "Project (Testmb)"
d. Open Doug's web page at
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...ttachments.htm, locate and
select the macro code, and use ctrl-C to copy the code to the clipboard.
e. Back in the visual basic editor, Select Module1, then look at the
empty pane to the right of the projects pane. You should see dropdowns
showing (General) and (Declarations) above it. Click in the empty pane
and click ctrl-V to paste Doug's code in.
f. In the Visual Basic editor, click File-Save testmb . This saves
the .doc/.docm file, but leaves you "in the editor window"

IV. Make the reference to Outlook

This is just one of those things you have to do to make the whole thing
work.

g. In the visual basic editor, click Tools-References. The VB editor
displays a list of "references" available on your system.
h. Scroll down the list until you see something like "Microsoft
Outlook 12.0 Object Library" (assuming you are using Outlook 2007)
i. Check the box to the left of that name
j. Click OK to make the reference (which doesn't appear anywhere
obvious) and dismiss the dialog box.
k. In the Visual Basic editor, click File-Save testmb to save the
..docm file again

V. Recap.

At this point, you should be looking at the Visual Basic Editor.

The macro code for the emailmergewithattachments macro is displayed.

Somewhere behind the Visual Basic Editor, the document testmb.docm,
containing the Message Bodies, is open in a Word Window. This should be
the Active Document. Find it and click in it if you want, just to be
sure, then click again in the Visual basic Editor's cod window that
contains the emailmergewithattachments macro.

The Attachment Table is sitting there in a document called testat.docx,
but is currently closed.

VI. Run the macro.

In the Visual Basic Editor, press F5 to start the macro (or click the
"Run" arrow button if you are familiar with the VB environment and
prefer that.

If all goes well, there should be a delay if Word needs to start
Outlook, then you should see a dialog box titled "File"

Locate and select testat.docx, then click Open

If there are no problems, you should see a dialog box titled "Email
subject input"

Type "Test messages 1" in the text box and click OK.

At this point, I would expect you to see the security dialog titled
"Microsoft Office Outlook". There are actually two different messages -
depending on various factors you might see both. One says that a program
is trying to send email on your behalf, and you have to Allow that, and
the other one says that a program is trying to access your address book
(or some such) and yu can specify that it should have access for so many
minutes. In other words, if you aren't familiar with these messages,
read them, then do what is necessary to get through them.

You should receive one or two alerts about messages being sent.

And that's the end of "part (a)". You will probably want to verify that
Word has sent the two messages and attachments that you expect.

If you managed that, but still need "part (b)", let me know and I'll try
to go through it a.s.a.p (probably won't be until tomorrow). If not,
maybe you can describe what went wrong and we'll keep trying until we
can get through this test, or are otherwise exhausted :-)

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Dave wrote:
Hi Peter,
I haven't been able to get anything from the tutorial to work, I get the
ususal compile errors.I just don't understand the tutorial at all. (like alot
of other users).

Can you help?

i'm using word2007
i have a folder full of the individual attachements.
"Peter Jamieson" wrote:

1. Where do you get stuck?

2. Are your attachments defined prior to the merge (i.e. you have a
bunch of files and somewhere you're going to have to say which recipient
should get which attachment) or are you expecting the merge process
itself to generate the attachments?

Peter Jamieson

http://tips.pjmsn.me.uk

Dave wrote:
I have searched the internet and have found very little on this that actually
makes sense to me.

What i'm trying to do is create a mailmerge with say around 350 receipients,
each with an individual attachment. I have tried using this tutorial
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/MailMerge/...ttachments.htm but for the life
of me i can't get this to work. Can anyone please help me with this? or is
there different way of doing this?