Email Mail Merge and hyperlinks

I am sending a newsletter to clients using Word 2013 email mail merge.  I have included several hyperlinks in the content of the newsletter.  These are not from the data source, they are simply hyperlinks that have been manually entered to text content in the newsletter.

When clients receive the newsletter, some hyperlinks are broken because the URL has been changed in some way.  For example I had some text that pointed to http://www.microsoft.com and when the clients received it the URL had been changed to http://www.microsoft..com.  an extra period had been added.

Other hyperlinks were fine and had not changed.  This has happened on multiple newsletters.

Is this an SMTP corruption?  Is there anything that can prevent it?

Thanks.

If you use the Merge with Attachments (attachments are not essential) utility on my MergeTools add-in, you should avoid the problem.

You can download the MergeTools – 20140218.dotm Add-in that I created from the following page of my One Drive:

http://bit.ly/1hduSCB


The file needs to be saved in the Word Startup folder.  In Windows XP the default location for that folder is

C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

In Windows Vista and Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 it is

C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Word\STARTUP

If you do not see the AppData folder: -

In Windows 7, -
In Windows Explorer, click on the Organize drop down and then on Folder and search options and in the Folder Options dialog, go to the View tab and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types".

In Windows 8 and 8.1, in the File Explorer, click on Options on the View tab of the ribbon and then on the View tab in the dialog that appears and select the item "Show hidden files, folders, and drives".  While there, it is a good idea to uncheck the box of "Hide extensions for known file types".


When that has been done and Word is started\re-started, the tab shown below will be added to the Ribbon:

One thing to note is that the field names in the data source must contain only alphanumeric characters (No @,#,$,%,&,(,), etc) and the field names must not start with a numeric character (0-9).

You may also want to download
the Merging with Attachments document that is also on that page which explains how the system is used.  It is not actually necessary to have separate attachments as the facility can be used to send just the documents created by the merge itself as attachments, either as the body of the message itself or in the form of Word files or .pdf files.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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Thanks for that.  I have given it a try and it did produce a slightly cleaner result.

However it still generates seemingly random extra periods, this time not in the hyperlink but within the text of the email.

Embedded graphics also disappear randomly for recipients with a placeholder indicating the graphics could not be found.

I have tried sending test emails via multiple email providers/servers all with the same results.

I am giving up on Word as a mail merge email generator.  I have used Publisher email mail merge in the past which did not experience the same problems (though produced a lower quality graphics rendering).  I understand why larger organisations use external mail houses to generate their email publications.

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If you will send me a copy of the mail merge main document and at least the header row of the data source, I will investigate the issues that you mention.

An example of the faulty output would also help me to troubleshoot it.

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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Have shared a OneDrive folder with you, but my invite was rejected by the mail server.

Thanks.

Colin

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Hi Colin,

Try using dougrobbinsmvp[atsymbol]gmail[dot]com

Hope this helps,
Doug Robbins - MVP Office Apps & Services (Word)
dougrobbinsmvp@gmail.com
It's time to replace ‘Diversity, Equity & Inclusion’ with ‘Excellence, Opportunity & Civility’ - V Ramaswamy

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Last updated October 5, 2021 Views 1,544 Applies to: