You can use a query to export Slate record data directly into a mail merge document.

Exporting to a mail merge helps simplify highly customized processes, such as when sending print mailings to records, or creating customized address labels.

Slate Desktop

The first time you use the mail merge Word Document output on your device, you are prompted to install Slate Desktop, which enables integration with desktop hardware and software. Slate Desktop must be installed to export a query directly to a mail merge document.

Direct integration with mail merge in a Microsoft Word document is currently only available on a PC. Mac users can export their query as an Excel document and then perform a traditional mail merge.

Slate Desktop is provided as-is. Errors may result from specific local configurations. See Troubleshooting Scanning (Slate Desktop, Slate Acquire, Batch Acquire) for more information.

Setting up the Microsoft Word document

1. Using Microsoft Word, create and format a document, including address labels and letter content.

2. Add placeholder text where merge fields are to be added. These placeholders will be populated by the values of exports in your query.

3. Save and close the document.

Configuring the query

1. Go to Queries / Reports.

2. Select a query, or create a new one.

3. Create filters to select only those records you want to be exported to the mail merge.

4. Add exports to the query that return all of the values that appear as merge fields in your Microsoft Word document.

To limit the Country export to appear only on foreign addresses, add a display filter to your country export so the export appears only if the country is NOT IN your home country.

💡 Tip

Still want to include records in a mailing if they only have a permanent address? The Active Address export block exports the overall rank 1 address.

Running the mail merge

1. Follow the breadcrumb navigation to the query overview page.

2. Select Run Query.

3. From Output, select Mail Merge Word Document.

4. Select Export.

5. You are prompted to install Slate Desktop, which enables integration with desktop hardware and software.
   🔔 Slate Desktop must be installed to export a query directly to a mail merge document.

6. Select Export and setup merge as the action.

7. Select Choose File.

8. Select your Microsoft Word document.

9. From the Use list, select the document.
   

10. Select Export. A new Microsoft Word Document is created.

11. Select the Mailings tab.

12. Select Insert Merge Field.

13. Add the desired merge fields.

14. Select Finish and Merge. This will produce a Word document that can be printed.

Ongoing mail merge processes

The following additional steps can be taken to set up the mail merge to be used on an ongoing basis:

1. After adding merge fields to your Microsoft Word document, save a new copy of this document.

2. Upload this new document into the mail merge section of the query and delete the previously used document.

3. Moving forward, whenever the query is run, Export and execute merge can be selected, along with the desired document

Accessing documents from multiple computers

Everyone with access to a particular query can access these Word documents. Multiple documents can also be added to a single query. For example, both a letter document and address labels can be used as mail merge templates for the same query.

Interactions

If a query is used to send a physical mailing, an interaction can be set for each record in the query run. This assists with tracking the records that have been pulled and the recipient of a mailing. An interaction can be set in one of two ways:

• Use batch management to set an interaction once the query is run.

• When a query is set to Retrieve only the new records since query was last run, a Set Interaction option becomes available. Designating an interaction here sets that interaction for every record when the query is run.

Retrieving only new records

Set the query execution option to Retrieve only the new records since query was last run. Typically, a query that is used as part of a recurring mailing should use this execution option to prevent a record from being returned or mailed more than once.

When a query is set to Retrieve only the new records since query was last run, a row limit can be set to limit the number of rows returned each time the query is run. This can be helpful when a single mailing exceeds the capabilities of your campus mail room.

Formatting numbers

When building or executing a mail merge in Microsoft Word, a connection is initiated with Microsoft Excel to supply the data for the mail merge. Whether the mail merge is initiated through Slate or through Word and Excel directly, any values containing fractional numeric data may change, due to Excel converting any numbers to floating-point numbers, which is an approximate binary representation of a decimal number.

When merged into a Word document, a decimal value like 3.87 may become 3.8700000000000001. This is due to how Word and Excel interact with numbers during a mail merge, and there is no way to pass a numeric-typed value into Excel that will not undergo this conversion to a floating-point number.

To reformat the number to a specific number of digits following the decimal point, follow these steps to reformat the merge field:

1. Right-click the merge field in the Word document.

2. Select Toggle Field Codes.

3. The field will now list a merge field code like MERGEFIELD  GPA. You can append the desired numeric formatting following this text, such as MERGEFIELD  GPA \# #.##, where each hash mark # following the decimal point indicates a possible digit. When using a hash mark, trailing zeros are automatically removed. If you do not want to remove trailing zeros, you can enter zeros 0 instead. For example, to display 3.87 as 3.870, you would enter MERGEFIELD  GPA \# #.000.

4. Right-select the merge field and select Toggle Field Codes again to exit this edit mode.