Mail Merge and Publisher

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I had a quick question from Pamela LeBlanc today about Mail Merge and Publisher. She is creating a post card for a neighborhood.  She needs to pull the tax records from our MLS and merge that file onto her postcard. I thought I had already wrote about this, but I was wrong. I did one on Using Mail Merge on Microsoft Outlook.

So here’s how you use Mail Merge on Microsoft Publisher…

First you will need to get your data file. If you have a mail list already, you won’t need to build one from the tax records. This is also a good way to build your farm list. In Pamela’s instance, this is only going to be a one time use and she can delete the data file after she is done. Her Sellers want to offer a bounty to the neighborhood to bring a bona fide buyer (and close on the property.) It’s time to think outside the box! (she knows and I know it’s still in the price and condition that is the magic combination.)

Search for your neighborhood in the tax records for the homes you want in your mailing. I did a search for Wormans Mills but only found a few homes. Looks like the majority are called Park Place on the Tuscarora now.

Now you are ready for exporting the file. I leave it as “Tax Default” This way all the data fields are in the file for you to use. You might want a part of the tax record included in your mail merge like the transaction date to remind the buyer how long they had the house. (Not in Pamela’s use)

Now you have your data file. Remember where you saved it.

NOTE: If you are using one of the Workstations in one of the Long & Foster workrooms, you will not be able to merge this file to Publisher. You will need to save it, open MS Excel and then open that txt file. If it doesn’t automatically place all the fields into columns, Click on Data and then “Text to columns”. Save this file as excel workbook. This will be your new data file.

Open up your Publisher file (the postcard.) I prefer the postcard to be broken into two files one for the front and one for the back. Otherwise it is more difficult to print. So I will refer to the back of the postcard only.

• Now under tools is the Mail Merge and Catalog Merge. Click and follow the series of questions. You are going to click next at the bottom after each step.
• First you will add your data file that you saved earlier. The file will be “tab deliminated”
• Next… Here you will set up your card. You will have a selection of fields to place on your card.
• I sometimes just Use “Current Resident” instead of the homeowners name.
• “Property Address” is the whole street address
• Then the TaxParcelCity, state and zip
• Notice the illustration below. I pushed enter after “property address” and Taxparcel zip only. It doesn’t look that way because the field title is longer than the actual data it is replacing.
• Next will show you a preview of what your data looks like with real information. Needs formatting? Just click “previous” on the mail merge tool.
• Now you are done. Print your mail merge document.

Budget tip: I usually print on 110 lb cardstock full sheets not the perforated type. It cost about $6 at Sam’s Club for 250 sheets (1000 postcards) After that I take my completed merge to Kinkos. They will 1/4 sheet cut them perfectly for less than $4. The post office won’t kick them back for not being uneven. One last thing, make sure you have your Presorted Permit stamp printed on the corner.

There you go you have your postcards with all addresses in place, and cut perfectly.

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