Use enhanced mail merge with Word templates

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Important

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Users, automatically Mar 1, 2023 Apr 1, 2023

Business value

Creating emails or documents based on Word templates saves businesses time and resources. For example, rather than creating individual communications for each customer or vendor, they can create the same communication for all of them. Emails or documents based on Word templates ensure consistency in messaging and branding, which can help establish strong brand identity and recognition. Emails and documents based on Word templates are templated, but businesses can personalize them by including customer-specific information. For example, their name, order history, or preferences. This can help build stronger relationships with customers and increase customer loyalty.

Templated emails and documents can be used for marketing and sales purposes, such as promoting new products or services, offering discounts, or announcing upcoming events. This can help increase customer engagement and drive sales.

Feature details

You can create Word templates and apply them by choosing the Apply Word Templates action for specific customers, vendors, and contacts, or for specific interactions that you have with them. You can:

  • Add multiple levels of related and unrelated tables for a selected record to make data in Business Central available for use in Word templates by choosing the Add unrelated entity action on the Word Templates Related Entities page.

  • Change prefixes for related and unrelated entities in the Prefix column. Specifying prefixes makes it easier to work with merge fields in Word templates because it's easier to determine the Business Central table that the data is coming from.

    Shows new Add unrelated entity action and list related and unrelated entities.

  • Pick the fields to include or exclude for base, related, and unrelated tables to limit the amount of fields that appear on the Insert Merge Fields menu in Word. Word currently supports up to 250 merge fields.

    Shows Include and Exclude fields action in field selection for entity

  • Include standard calculated fields, such as formal and informal salutations, in the list of fields in the Insert Merge Field menu in Word.

    Shows related and unrelated entity fields in Word's Insert Merge Fields menu

  • Use calculated fields to help make communications more personal, and unrelated entities that allow for more consistency when sending templated emails or documents.

    Results of mail merge using calculated fields and fields from unrelated entities.

Interaction templates now also support these capabilities for Word templates.

Note

Developers can easily add additional custom calculated fields to the list of fields that will appear in the Insert Merge Field menu in Word.

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See also

Use Word Templates for Bulk Communication (docs)