Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide a tutorial for using Mail Merge to distribute student access codes.
Tutorial
Microsoft's Mail Merge feature can be used to distribute student PhysioU and OTu codes in a timely manner.
1. Upon receiving the student roster from the UP point of contact, copy and paste the student PhysioU or OTu codes into the student roster Excel sheet. The student roster Excel sheet should now contain the following titles and information:
NOTE: It is acceptable for the Student Name column to be divided into two columns: Student First Name and Student Last Name. The student name information is not needed for the Mail Merge function, however the information is still relevant as it is used for general record keeping purposes.
2. Save and close the student roster excel sheet. This information will be used later when setting up the Mail Merge process.
3. Open a new document in Microsoft Word and click on the Mailings tab.
4. Click the Start Mail Merge button under the Mailings tab.
5. From the dropdown list, click E-mail Messages.
6. Copy and paste the PhysioU Sample Student Email template or the OTu Sample Student Email template into the Mailings Word document.
Update the Dear _______ Student section to include the relevant UP's name, and ensure the signature section at the bottom includes your name. It is important to ensure information in the Word document appears exactly as it should in the email, as this is the only information that will be included in the Mail Merge emails.
7. Click the Select Recipients button on the Mail Merge tab, and select Use an Existing List from the dropdown menu.
8. Using your computer's File Explorer, select the student roster Excel sheet prepared in Step 1 and 2.
9. A pop-up will appear after opening the student roster Excel sheet.
Confirm the sheet name reflected in the pop-up is accurate.
Be sure to select First row of data contains column headers and select OK.
10. In the Mailings Word document, click on the space following the phrase "To unlock your access, use this access code." Your cursor should now be blinking in the space that the student access code belongs.
11. Click the Insert Merge Field button from the Mailings tab, and select Access_Code from the dropdown menu.
12. Verify the access code is displayed in the appropriate location:
13. Verify the access codes embedded correctly by clicking the Preview Results button from the Mailings tab and using the arrows to move through the list of student access codes, which will display in place of the <<Access_Code>> placeholder depicted in the image from Step 12.
14. When you are ready to send the emails to students, click the Finish & Merge button from the Mailings tab and select the Send Email Messages option from the dropdown menu.
15. A pop-up will appear. Select the Student_Email column from the student roster Excel sheet from the dropdown menu. Include a subject line for the email and click OK. This will distribute a unique access code to each student email listed in the student roster Excel sheet.
16. Open the Microsoft Outlook desktop app (not the web-version) and verify the emails have sent to the listed students by looking in your Outlook Outbox.
NOTE: It may take a few minutes to send all of the student emails. By using the Outlook Outbox folder in the Microsoft Outlook desktop app, you can watch the number of messages in your outbox decrease as the emails are distributed to students. When 0 messages remain in your Outlook Outbox, all emails have been sent. You can verify this by looking at the Sent Items folder, where all student emails should appear.