Updating info after a mailmerge

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35Kimmig - 21 Nov 2005 21:47 GMT

Hi All
This is what I am trying to do.
I have a number of contacts in a number of subfolders arranged by their
Company name.

Whenever I need to do a mailmerge, I copy the relevant contacts into a
folder, send it out and then follow up over the phone.
Many a times, when I am doing the follow ups --- I get additional
information which I note down in the notes section.

My problem is that I need to update this information back in the sub-folder
that I originally took the contact from. Currently, I have to cut paste the
contact into the subfolder, and replacing the older contact entry.

Is there a way to paste a shortcut or a link in Outlook?? or is there a way
to write a macro which will move the updated contacts back into the original
folder ( based on company name)??

TIA
Regards

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 22 Nov 2005 00:36 GMT

I don't understand why it is necessary to put this information into the
subfolder you created for the merge. Why not place it in the original
Contact Record?
Even better, if you did the merge from Outlook, why not use Categories
instead of subfolders to do your merge?

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> Hi All
> This is what I am trying to do.
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
> TIA
> Regards

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35Kimmig - 22 Nov 2005 12:30 GMT

Thanks for your reply Russ.
The reason I need to put this info in the subfolder created for the merge is
because it becomes easier to do a phone follow up on the contacts to whom I
have sent out the mailer to. e.e. I might have close to 1000 contacts, but a
specific mailer would go to only -- lets say -- VP & AVP level contacts --
which could be abt 100 in number and distributed in various folders as per
the companies they belong to. So I select these contacts, put them in a
folder and then do a mailmerge.

The reason I don't use categories is that I do the mailmerge using MS Word
and secondly the category information is not entered in all the contacts, so
it becomes difficult to select them if I use categories.

> I don't understand why it is necessary to put this information into the
> subfolder you created for the merge. Why not place it in the original
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> > TIA
> > Regards

Reply to this Message

Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 22 Nov 2005 21:55 GMT

So if I understand your question, you prefer to create a copy of your
Contacts to do a mail merge, but not deal with the fact that you now have
separate Contact Records for the same Contact. That is a conundrum indeed.
Categories is the answer to that problem. The fact that you use Word is
irrelevant. All mail merges use Word. You start the merge from Outlook so
you can select the Category for the merge.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> Thanks for your reply Russ.
> The reason I need to put this info in the subfolder created for the merge
[quoted text clipped - 42 lines]
>> > TIA
>> > Regards

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35Kimmig - 22 Nov 2005 22:30 GMT

Actually Russ, the situation is slightly more complex to be solved by
categories.
As I have mentioned earlier, I have stored my contacts in sub-folders
arranged by their companies.

Whenever I need to do a mail merge, I go to each folder and select the
contacts I feel are relevant targets for the mailer based on their job
titles, my prior discussion with them etc, and then copy these contacts to a
temp folder.

Doing this sorting by categories, would not be feasible as I might choose to
send the mailer to one person in one company and choose not to some other in
a diff company despite them having the same job title.

I also need to follow up with these people once I send the mailer out. So, I
need to somehow manage to keep a track of who all I have sent the mailer to.

Copying these contacts to a new temp folder gives me that flexibility, else
I will have to remember which contacts I have sent my mailer to -- abt 150 on
avg from over 90 odd companies.

But doing that creates the problem that now two separate contacts are
created. And there seems to be no way I can update the contacts in this
folder and it gets reflected back automatically.

If there is a way for me to paste a shortcut to the original contact in the
temp folder or create a list, then my problem would get solved. This way I
will have the contacts ready for follow up as well and won't have to create
additional contacts.

Thanks and Regards
MVF

> So if I understand your question, you prefer to create a copy of your
> Contacts to do a mail merge, but not deal with the fact that you now have
[quoted text clipped - 48 lines]
> >> > TIA
> >> > Regards

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Russ Valentine [MVP-Outlook] - 22 Nov 2005 23:17 GMT

Seems to me you need CRM software.

Signature

Russ Valentine
[MVP-Outlook]

> Actually Russ, the situation is slightly more complex to be solved by
> categories.
[quoted text clipped - 103 lines]
>> >> > TIA
>> >> > Regards

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Judy Gleeson MVP - Outlook - 24 Nov 2005 06:48 GMT

Try this:

Use the Phone List view, make a new field for each mailout and use it
temporarily. You can call it 24 Nov, make it a Yes/No field and click Yes
for all the people you want to mail to. Select them all, Tools | Mailmerge
and do the merge. You then still have a record of who you sent the email to
so you can follow up by phone. Make another field to tick (check) that you
rang and followed up (it could even be a date field).

If that's not enough - consider CRM software - it may do a lot more useful
things for you and at low cost!

Judy Gleeson - MVP Outlook
Acorn Training and Consulting
Canberra, Australia

see what Outlook training can do to improve productivity:
www.acorntraining.com.au/pdfdocs/ProductivITwithOutlook.pps

www.acorntraining.com.au/productivit.htm

> Seems to me you need CRM software.
> --
[quoted text clipped - 113 lines]
> >> >> > TIA
> >> >> > Regards

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