What is a Mail Merge?

A mail merge is a document that serves as a template for a variety of recipients. Each recipient receives a personalized copy of the document, with individual data such as name, address, and other information automatically inserted. Microsoft Word offers a mail merge function to efficiently create such personalized documents.

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How To: Create Event Invitations via Mail Merge in Microsoft Word with Data from Oniva

Generating the personal link through Oniva

• Log in to your Oniva account.
• Prepare an Excel file with all relevant contact details of invited guests.
• Import your contacts into Oniva. Make sure to use a meaningful identifier, especially if you don’t have the email addresses of your contacts. This helps in recognizing your contacts. For example, the contact number from your CRM can be used as an identifier.
• Once the import is complete, you can download the data from Oniva again. Each contact will have received a personal event link from Oniva, which can be used for the printed invitation.

Checking the data

• Ensure all necessary information is present and the data is clean and correctly formatted.
• Save the file in an easily accessible location.

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Creating the Invitation with a Program that Supports Mail Merge (e.g., Microsoft Word or Adobe InDesign)

Creating the invitation template

• Create a new document in the chosen tool.
• Design the layout of your invitation as desired. Insert placeholders for personalized data such as [Name], [Address], [QR Code], etc.

Setting up Mail Merge (Example with Microsoft Word)

• Start the mail merge wizard.
• Go to the “Mailings” tab and select “Start Mail Merge.”
• Choose “Letters” as the document type.

Selecting the recipient data source

• Click on “Select Recipients” and choose “Use an Existing List.”
• Navigate to the previously saved Excel file from Oniva.

Linking the fields

• Click on “Edit Recipient List” to ensure all data is correctly linked.
• Insert placeholders in your document by clicking on “Mailings” > “Insert Merge Field” and selecting the appropriate field.
• Place the field in the appropriate location.

Inserting the QR code

• Switch to the “Insert” tab and select “Quick Parts” > “Field.”
• Choose “Formula” and enter the following formula in the field: DisplayBarcode “XXX” QR
• A QR code with the information “XXX” will appear.

Inserting the Personal Link into the QR Code

• To replace this information with the personal link, switch to the field code display mode by pressing ALT + F9 on your keyboard. Field codes are used in Word to insert dynamic content into a document, such as mail merge fields, date and time fields, reference fields, etc.
  Select the “XXX” and then navigate to “Mailings” > “Insert Merge Field” and select “Personal Event Link.”
  The formula should now look as follows:

• Exit the field code display mode by pressing ALT + F9 again.