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Lotus Notes Mail Merge Tool

Instructions for Installation and Use

Eric WeinbergAugust 2010

**Special Thanks to Sacha Chua for writing the code and making Mail Merge in Lotus Notes possible!**

Lotus Notes Mail Merge Installation: Create Agent

Create Agent

In order to create the agent, you need to have this presentation open (not a hard copy) so you can go into the notes view and copy and paste text.


1. While in your mail view, click Create > Agent which will open the IBM Lotus Domino Designer and create a blank agent for you to work with.


2. Choose and enter a Name for the agent, such as Mail Merge and then close this dialog box.


3. Select (Declarations) on left, and enter this text on the right:

%INCLUDE "lsconst.lss"

4. Select Initialize on left, and enter the text that is included in the Notes to this chart on the line in between Sub Initialize and End Sub on right:

5. Save your changes and close the domino designer.

To see the notes, go to View > Page > Notes View

After step 5, you have successfully created the Agent.

'Mail merge script by Sacha Chua ([email protected])

Dim ws As NotesUIWorkspace

Set ws = New NotesUIWorkspace

Dim sendTypes(1) As String

Dim sendValue As String

Dim errorCount As Integer

errorCount = 0

sendTypes(0) = "Draft messages without sending"

sendTypes(1) = "Send messages"

sendValue = ws.Prompt(PROMPT_OKCANCELLIST, "Sending options", "What would you like to do?", "", sendTypes)

If (sendValue = "") Then

Exit Sub

End If

Dim fileName As String

Dim strXLFilename As String

'Prompt for the filename - should be a Microsoft Excel file with columns, where the first row of each column

'is a token that will be used when replacing text in the body of the message

'Special tokens: [to], [cc], [subject] set the appropriate fields

'Make sure the first column does not have any blank cells

fileName$ = ws.Prompt(12, "Select file", "3")

If fileName$ = "" Then

Exit Sub 'Cancel was pressed

End If

strXLFilename = fileName$

Dim s As New NotesSession

Dim uidoc As NotesUIDocument

Dim partno As String

Dim db As NotesDatabase

Dim view As NotesView

Dim doc As NotesDocument

Dim collection As NotesDocumentCollection

Dim memo As NotesDocument

Dim body As NotesRichTextItem

Dim newBody As NotesRichTextItem

Dim range As NotesRichTextRange

Dim count As Integer

Set db = s.CurrentDatabase

Set collection = db.UnprocessedDocuments

Set memo = collection.getFirstDocument()

Dim varXLFile As Variant

'Get data from the spreadsheet

Set varXLFile = CreateObject("Excel.Application")

varXLFile.Visible = False

Dim varXLWorkbook As Variant

Set varXLWorkbook = Nothing

varXLFile.Workbooks.Open strXLFilename

Set varXLWorkbook = varXLFile.ActiveWorkbook

Dim varXLSheet As Variant

Set varXLSheet = varXLWorkbook.ActiveSheet

Dim lngRow As Integer

Dim columnNo As Integer

Dim token As String

Dim value As String

lngRow = 2

Dim maildoc As NotesDocument

While (Not (varXLSheet.Cells(lngRow, 1).Value = ""))

'Fill in the template

Dim subject As String

subject = memo.Subject(0)

Set body = memo.GetFirstItem("Body")

'Compose message

Set maildoc = New NotesDocument(db)

Set maildoc= db.CreateDocument()

maildoc.Form = "Memo"

maildoc.Subject = subject

Set newBody = maildoc.CreateRichTextItem("Body")

Call newBody.appendRTItem(body)

Set range = newBody.CreateRange

'Count the number of fields

'Look up tokens from the column headings and replace them

columnNo = 1

While Not(varXLSheet.Cells(1, columnNo).Value = "")

token = varXLSheet.Cells(1, columnNo).Value

value = varXLSheet.Cells(lngRow, columnNo).Value

count = range.FindAndReplace(token, value, 16)

If (token = "[to]") Then

maildoc.SendTo = value

End If

If (token = "[cc]") Then

maildoc.CopyTo = Split(value, ",")

End If

If (token = "[subject]") Then

maildoc.Subject = value

End If

columnNo = columnNo + 1

Wend

On Error Goto save

If (sendValue = sendTypes(0)) Then

Call maildoc.Save(True, False)

Else

maildoc.SaveMessageOnSend = True

maildoc.PostedDate = Now()

Call maildoc.Send(False)

Call maildoc.Save(True, True)

End If

Goto nextrow

save:

Messagebox("Error processing " + maildoc.sendTo)

errorCount = errorCount + 1

Resume Next

nextrow:

lngRow = lngRow + 1

Wend

If (sendValue = sendTypes(0)) Then

Msgbox "Drafted " & (lngRow - errorCount - 2) & " message(s). Errors: " & errorCount

Else

Msgbox "Sent " & (lngRow - errorCount - 2) & " message(s). Errors: " & errorCount

End If

Call varXLFile.Quit

Lotus Notes Mail Merge Installation: Run Agent

Run Agent

In order to run the agent, you need to have created a stationery (or a drafted note) and an excel file that is already set up with the data you want to merge.

This part of the deck provides examples of both that are easily imitable.


6. On the left side, scroll down to Tools > Stationery. Select a pre-set stationery created specifically for the task at hand.

**Stationery Example**


7. At the top, click Actions > Mail Merge

8. Select your sending option
Select OKChoose your source file, and voila!

**It's a good idea to select Draft messages without sending, test with a small, test spreadsheet, and check the results before sending messages out.**

Lotus Notes Mail Merge Application: Excel Example

This example on chart 5 would require an excel spreadsheet that looks like this to run correctly:

In the stationery that you create, any text [inside square brackets] will be replaced by the values in your excel spreadsheet in those columns. You can also use [to]; [cc]; [bcc]; and [subject]. One note will be generated per row in the excel spreadsheet until there is a blank line.

**Required Excel Spreadsheet Example**

Lotus Notes Mail Merge Installation: Additional Tips

Backup:Additional (Advanced) Tips

Lotus Notes Mail Merge Application: Additional Tips

The mail merge agent can be utilized in a number of ways. The previous example highlighted the basics of how it works. Here are a few tips and ideas:

To have more than one recipient or more than one person on copy, use a ,

If you have data with the e-mail addresses in separate cells, CONCATENATE can help =CONCATENATE(Cell1, , ,Cell2)

Creatively applying functions such as VLOOKUP, TRIM, PROPER, and IF can also help transform a spreadsheet or data you already have into a format that is mail merge friendly.

The text that is fed into the e-mail can be as little as one character or as big as an entire paragraph.

Setting up a stationery for the task at hand is simple and straightforward; ensuring the spreadsheet is mail merge friendly can be complex and require more advanced manipulation of the data using some of the functions listed above and more.

Start small and simple to familiarize yourself with the tool.

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