PagePlus

Using mail merge

Most commonly, mail merge means printing your publication a number of times, inserting different information each time from a data source such as an address list file—for example into a series of letters or mailing labels.

PagePlus can handle many kinds of data sources and more challenging creative tasks. It is even possible to merge picture data (for example, digital photos) into single fields or even auto-create a grid layout of pictures and text suitable for catalogs or photo albums.

 Overview

For your basic mail merge needs, PagePlus provides its own Serif Database file format. “sdb files” as they’re called (since they use the *.sdb extension) are ideal for storing unformatted, plain text data typically used for address lists, but are suitable for other tasks as well. You can build an address list by creating a new sdb file and then “filling in the blanks.” One advantage of using the Serif Database format is that you can edit your data (even add new fields and information) directly within PagePlus. Of course, more complex data sources have their own advantages, and PagePlus can also merge external data from a variety of other formats. You can import plain text files (for example, as exported from a contact manager or email program), as well as tables from HTML web pages, database files from programs such as Access, Outlook, Excel… even live ODBC servers!

Whatever your source of data, once you’ve opened it in PagePlus you can edit the merge list (the actual data to be merged) by specifying which records to include or exclude, and apply advanced filtering/sorting capabilities to refine the data. You’ll need to Insert placeholder fields in the publication where the data will be merged. At any time you can preview the merged data directly in your publication. And in no time, you’ll be ready to Merge and print.

To jump to a particular subtopic, click its title below:

Opening a data source

Editing Serif Database files

Selecting, filtering, and sorting the merge list

Inserting placeholders for your data

Previewing data in the publication

Merging and printing

Opening a data source

You can create a new Serif Database (*.sdb) file, open an existing one, or open a variety of alternative data sources.

• When you save a publication, PagePlus “remembers” the current data source and reopens it “behind the scenes” automatically the next time you open the publication-so as long as you’re using the same source, you won’t need to reopen it yourself. If necessary, you can break this link between publication and data source with Close Data Source (see below).

To create a new Serif Database (*.sdb) file:

1. Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select New Data Source… from the submenu.

2. With “Serif Databases (*.sdb)” shown in the Files of type list, enter a folder and file name for the new file, and click Open.
   Note: As detailed below, you can use the Open Data Source… command to import a character-delimited or fixed-width file (for example, an address book or contact list) as a PagePlus Database (*.sdb) file.

3. The Edit Database dialog appears, displaying the first record with six fields in view. Scroll down to view additional fields. Since it’s a new address list, the fields will be blank; you can start entering information now, or wait until later. To enter information, simply type into a field. To create a new record, click Add. (For more pointers, see “Editing Serif Database files” below.)

4. To record any changes and dismiss the dialog, click OK.

The Mail and Photo Merge toolbar appears, and the Serif Database file you’ve just created is now the active data source. You can edit the sdb file and select, filter, and/or sort the actual data to be merged.

You can create any number of Serif Database files, but can only have one open at a time.

To open a different Serif Database (*.sdb) file:

1. Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Open Data Source… from the submenu.

2. With “Serif Databases (*.sdb)” shown in the Files of type list, locate the address list file to open.

The Merge List dialog appears, presenting the data in row/column format and allowing you to edit, select, filter, and/or sort the actual data to be merged. You can make any necessary changes now or later.

3. Click OK to close the Merge List dialog and return to the publication.

PagePlus lets you open plain text files (comma-delimited or fixed-width) and a wide variety of other external data sources.

To open an alternative data source:

1. Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Open Data Source… from the submenu.

2. In the dialog, locate the file and click Open. Depending on the type of data source, follow any additional instructions provided by PagePlus. For example:

• If the data source includes more than one table: You’ll be prompted to specify which table to import.

• If you selected a text file (for example a TXT, CSV, or TAB file) with source data in delimited or fixed-width format: PagePlus displays the Data Format wizard, with a preview of the selected file’s data.

• • On the first screen, specify either Delimited or Fixed Width. If the first data record lists the titles of the various columns, check First line contains column headers. If your source file uses a text qualifier (for example, a quote mark to surround text fields like “Apt 3, 14 Hopalong Crescent” that might contain commas or otherwise be read as multiple fields), select the appropriate character in the list.

  • Click Next. The appearance of the next screen depends on whether you’ve specified a delimited or fixed-width file. You can either specify the delimiter – or – check (and correct, if necessary) the breaks used to separate the data fields. Double-check that the data preview appears correct, then click Finish.
    Note: Should you need to reformat the data once you’ve closed the wizard, simply reopen the source file and run through the Data Format wizard again, changing settings as needed.

Once you’ve completed any intermediate steps, the Merge List dialog appears, presenting the data in row/column format and allowing you to select, filter, and/or sort the actual data to be merged. You can make any necessary changes now or later.

4. Click OK to close the Merge List dialog and return to the publication. The data source you’ve just opened remains the active data source.

To close a data source:

• Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Close Data Source… from the submenu. This unlinks the connection between your data source and your publication when your publication has previously been saved with the data source open.

Editing Serif Database files

Each record in a Serif Database (*.sdb) file contains 20 standard fields. For data stored in .sdb format, you can use the Edit Database dialog to create or delete records, enter information, find occurrences of specific text, or revise the field order—even add new fields and data.

To edit a Serif Database (*.sdb) file:

1. Create or open the Serif Database file as detailed above.

2. Click the  Edit Merge List button on the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar.
   – or -
   Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Edit Merge List… from the submenu. From the Merge List dialog, click the Edit… button. (If the button is disabled, the current data source is not an SDB file.)

3. The first record of the current database appears, with six fields in view (scroll down to view additional fields). Use the dialog to edit the data.

4. To enter information, simply type into a field. Each field is limited to a maximum of 255 characters.

5. To create a new record, click Add.

6. Use the arrow buttons to navigate between records, or type in a record number and press Enter.

7. To delete the current record, click Delete. If you click Delete on the first record, its information is cleared, but the record form remains.

8. To find occurrences of specific text, click Find… and specify the Field to be searched. The Record list displays any text appearing in that field throughout the database. Double-click an entry (or select it and click OK), to view that particular record.

9. To customize the database fields, click Customize…. In the dialog, click Insert… to create a new field, or select a field and click Delete to remove one. To rename a field, select it and click Rename…. You can also click Move Up or Move Down to change the order of fields within the list.

4. To update the list and dismiss the dialog, click OK.

5. Closing the Edit Database dialog does not close the database file; it remains the active data source for mail merge purposes. However, any changes you’ve made are saved to disk at this time.

Selecting, filtering, and sorting the merge list

Whatever kind of data source you’re using, at any time you can view the current data in row/column format, with the option of customizing the merge list (the actual data to be merged) by including or excluding specific records. You can do this “by hand” or by applying powerful filtering and sorting options that let you include just certain records, or arrange records in order, based on the contents of specific fields.

For example, with a photo data source (see the next topic) you could easily select just the records where the “file name contains ’09′” or where the “date is greater than 10/10/04″. Or with an address list or contact database you could sort by postal code and then by last name.

• The edited merge list remains in effect until you open a different data source or close the publication.

To edit the current merge list:

1. Click the  Edit Merge List button on the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar.
   – or -
   Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Edit Merge List… from the submenu.

2. The Merge List dialog appears, presenting the data in row/column format. Any records with check marks will be included when data is merged into the publication.
   Note: If the current data source is a Serif Database (*.sdb) file, you can click the Edit… button to inspect and revise the actual data, as detailed above.

3. To exclude a record from the merge list, uncheck it. For convenience, you can also click Select All or Select None, or Toggle Select to reverse the state of each record.

4. To filter and/or sort records, click Filter…. The Filter and Sort dialog appears.

• To filter records, use the Filter Records tab, which displays five lines for defining up to five filter operations. On each line, you’re basically constructing a command (from left to right) that tells PagePlus to include just those records where the contents of a specific field is in a specific relation to a specific value.

• • Starting on the first line, select a field name and a relation operator from the first two lists, then (if required) type a string or numeric value in the open box to the right. Most operators (like “Equal to” or “Contains”) will be looking for some value, so you’ll need to supply one. Some (like “Is blank”) already know what to look for. If you don’t check Ignore case, the search will be case-sensitive.
    Note: not all database technologies support case sensitivity, so the Ignore Case check boxes may not always operate as expected.

  • To define additional filtering operations, continue defining operations on successive lines, starting each line with a Boolean operator—using AND to further reduce the number of included records, - or - to expand it.

• To sort records, use the Sort Records tab, which displays three lines for defining up to three sorting operations.

• • Starting on the first line, select a field name and whether to arrange records in Ascending or Descending order according to the contents of the selected field.

  • To further sort the records, use the following lines to define new sort criteria. Note that each sort will maintain the more general ordering established by previous sorts. So, for example, if sorting by postal code and then by last name, you’ll end up with a list ordered by postal code, and alphabetically by name within each postal code.

• Click OK to perform the filtering and/or sorting operations and close the dialog.

In the Merge List dialog, you can inspect the data to be merged and make any additional changes.

5. Click OK to close the Merge List dialog and return to the publication.

Inserting placeholders for your data

In order to merge information from a structured data source into a publication, you need to insert placeholder fields so PagePlus knows which fields’ data to use. You can insert these placeholders either in the main window or in WritePlus. There are actually two kinds of placeholders. Text fields obviously handle text-based information like address list data; we’ll look at picture fields in the next topic.

To insert a text field placeholder:

1. Using the Pointer Tool, click in the text where you want to insert the address field.

2. Click the  Insert Text Field button on the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar.
   – or -
   Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select Insert Text Field… from the submenu.

A dialog appears, displaying a list of fields in the current data source.

3. From the scrolling list in the dialog, double-click the field to insert (or select it and click Insert).

4. A text field appears in your publication. The dialog remains open so you can insert additional fields if needed. To dismiss the dialog, click Close.

Previewing data in the publication

The  View Data option lets you inspect your publication with actual data from the current data source substituted for the placeholders. You can step through the data records, previewing the final appearance and making any necessary layout adjustments (for example, to allow extra space for long lines).

• You can delete or cut/copy/paste placeholder fields on the page, but to edit merged text you’ll need to edit the data source file itself, as detailed above.

To preview merged data in the publication:

• Select the  View Data button on the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar.
  – or -
  Choose Mail and Photo Merge from the Tools menu and select View Data on the submenu.

On the Mail and Photo Merge toolbar, the current record number appears in the center box.

 

A – First, B – Previous, C – Current, D – Next, E – Last

To specify which record’s data to display in the publication:

• Click the First Record, Previous Record, Next Record and Last Record buttons, or type a number into the Current Record box.

Merging and printing

Once you’ve selected which records to merge (your merge list) and inserted all necessary placeholders as detailed above, you’re ready to print the publication. Mail and Photo Merge options are accessible via the Print dialog. Click More Options and select Mail Merge from the option list to access the settings. For details on other print options, see the topic Printing basics.

• Don’t worry if not all records you’re merging include data for each of the placeholders. PagePlus trims away any excess spaces and lines after empty placeholders in the merged document.

To merge and print:

1. Select  Print on the Standard toolbar. The Print dialog appears.

2. Click  More Options, then from the options list, select Mail Merge.

3. In the Mail Merge section, set your options.

4. • The default setting, All records, results in printing one copy of each record.

   • Select Ignore Mail Merge to print the publication without merging data (placeholder text appears instead).

   • To print only selected records, select Records and type the number(s) of the record(s) to be printed.
     Hint: You can print multiple copies of a record by typing its number more than once. For example, type “1,1,1″ to print three copies of record 1. To identify record numbers, refer to the merge list or use preview mode as described above.

5. Set any other desired print options and then click Print.

Using mail merge