Accurate bulk letters and emails: mail merge, checks and safe sending

Skills you'll practise

• Prepare a mail merge data source with one header row, matching column names and consistent formats
• Find records that will produce broken or ambiguous letters before merging
• Calculate the expected number of documents and reconcile it with the merge output
• Preview and test a merge using awkward records, not just the first one
• Choose a safe way to send a bulk email so recipients can't see each other
• Respond correctly when a bulk message goes to the wrong people or exposes recipients

Course outline

1. 1.Accurate bulk letters and emailsVideo · 2 min
2. 2.A clean data sourceLesson · 13 min
3. 3.Merge, preview, test and countLesson · 14 min
4. 4.Sending bulk email safely, and when it goes wrongLesson · 13 min
5. 5.Accurate bulk letters and emails: mail merge, checks and safe sending: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 16 questions
6. 6.Final exam9 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• Microsoft Support: Use mail merge for bulk email, letters, labels, and envelopes (main document, data source, merge fields, preview results, finish and merge)
• UK ICO: Email and security (UK example: bulk emails, CC and BCC; BCC alone isn't enough for sensitive information; consider bulk email or mail merge services, or separate emails for a few recipients)
• UK ICO: Personal data breaches: a guide (breaches include sending personal data to an incorrect recipient)
• GOV.UK A to Z style guide (UK example: dates as '4 June 2017', commas in numbers over 999, '5:30pm', '£75' and '£75.50')