When you need to send a letter to more than one contact in your ACT! database, you can use the Mail Merge feature in ACT! to send a template-based letter in one short procedure. By following the simple steps in the ACT! Mail Merge Wizard, you can write a single template-based letter to multiple contacts in an ACT! database. If you've used the mail merge features in other programs, you'll probably find that ACT!'s Mail Merge is much more user-friendly.

To perform a mail merge:

1. Perform a lookup of contacts or create a group of contacts for your mail merge.
2. Click Write | Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Wizard will appear.
3. Click Next through the first screen of the Mail Merge Wizard.
4. Select the Word Processor option and click Next.
5. Click Browse and select the template you'd like to use as the basis for the mail merge. Click Next.
6. Select the range of contacts who should receive the mail merge. Click Next.
7. Click Finish. The merged letters will appear in the default word processor.

After performing a mail merge in ACT!, you can have ACT! automatically create a history item in the Notes/History tab for each letter recipient. Just print the merged letter, and ACT! will prompt you to create a history for all contacts included in the mail merge.

Creating a history of a mass letter will put a line in the History tab for each letter recipient to remind you of the letter sent. Unlike histories created for single letters, you won't be able to double-click the mass letter history to open a copy of the sent letter.

To print a merged set of letters and create a history for the recipient contacts:

1. Perform a mail merge and send the output to the word processor.
2. Print the resulting word processor document.
3. When the Create History dialog box appears, enter the main subject of the mail merge in the Regarding area.
4. Click Create. A history of the letter sent will be added to each recipient's History tab.