Perform a Mail Merge in LionMail

This article assists users with conducting mail merges in LionMail. Although there is no built-in mail merge tool in LionMail, there exist a few different ways to send customized emails to large groups of people within LionMail and Google apps.

Step-by-Step Guide (Option One):

This is the recommended method. It uses a Google sheet and does not place a limit on the number of emails sent in one day.

1. Make sure you are logged into LionMail, and then Open this file
2. From the toolbar, click File and then Make a Copy. This creates a copy on your drive which you will be able to edit.
   
   
3. NOTE: After copying, you may need to close and reopen the sheet once in order to see the Mail Merge menu appear
4. Now, go to LionMail and create a template of the email which you would like to send
   1. Choose which email address to send your mail merge from by changing the From field (if applicable), but leave the Recipients field empty
   2. Give your email a subject: It must be the only email in your Drafts folder with that subject
      
      
   3. Use Brackets (<< and >>) anywhere you want a custom entry from your spreadsheet (e.g. <<FirstName>> or <<UNI>>)
   4. If you want to include a photo it must be available online. Find it and copy its URL, then while in your template email, click the Insert Photo button (it looks like a picture with mountains). Select Web Address (URL) and paste your image in the field.
      
      
5. Back in your Mail Merge spreadsheet, create columns for each bracketed variable you made in your email (these should not have brackets)
6. Enter every email address you want to send you message to, and fill in the corresponding values for any variable columns you created.
7. If you want to CC or BCC any of the emails, you can include those addresses in the CC or BCC columns
   
   
8. When your spreadsheet and email draft are ready, in the toolbar click Mail Merge and then Send.
   
   
9. Now, you may be prompted for authorization, and if you are please follow the steps and press Allow​. If not, proceed onto the next step.
10. When prompted, enter the subject of your draft email and click Ok
    
    
11. You will then be prompted one more time to confirm your address and name. If everything looks correct, click Yes
12. Your messages will be sent out. After emails are sent, addresses will be turned filled green in the spreadsheet. NOTE: don’t close the mail merge spreadsheet until the "Running Script" message towards the top of the screen changes to "Finished Script"
13. You then click on Mail Merge and Reset Spreadsheet to clear the spreadsheet for a new mail merge
    
    

_{Thank you to SPS IT for the creation of the spreadsheet and the original documentation.}

Step-by-Step Guide (Option Two):

This is the method recommended by CUIT. Using this method, there is a limit to 50 emails per day.

1. Log into LionMail
2. Add https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace to the URL address bar and hit enter
3. In the Search field, type in mail merge and hit enter
   
4. Click on the extension titled Mail Merge with Attachments
   
   
5. Click on the Install Button
6. Click Continue
   
   
7. (If prompted) Choose your columbia.edu account
8. Scroll Down and Click Allow
   
   
9. Click on Next, and then Done (if prompted)
10. Click on the green Launch button in the top right corner
    
    
11. At this point, Sheets should open, and you should then click Add-ons from the ribbon, and navigate to Mail Merge with Attachments and then Enable Mail Merge
    
    
12. You may be prompted to click continue, plus you may have to choose your Columbia account again. If Mail Merge requests access, please Allow
13. Now, again, navigate through: Add-ons and then Mail Merge with Attachments, and click on Create Merge Template
    
    
14. You can now manually add the First Name, Last Name, and Email address by pasting from another source OR you can do it in bulk by choosing Add-ons, Mail Merge with Attachments and then Import Google Contacts
    
    
15. To add a file to the respective person click on the field under the File Attachment and then Add-ons, Mail Merge with Attachments, Add File Attachment then either choose Google Drive or from Computer or Google Drive folder
16. ​If you want to send immediately, the Scheduled Date field can be left blank
17. Now click Add-ons, Mail Merge with Attachments then Configure MailMerge
18. Fill out Sender Email Address, Sender’s Full Name and Reply to Address and click Continue
    
    
19. Click on the row named Create Email Template and click on Use a Visual Editor. You can now fill in the subject and contents of your email, and then press Save and Continue.
    
    
20. In the next menu, you have the option to test email, or select Run Mail Merge and Go
    
    
21. As the emails send, a status will populate in the Mail Merge Status Column of your spreadsheet.

Included here is a YouTube video which includes more details about the process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F07Py7sraDg