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Have tried many times to do mail merge from csv file but not working have watched all u tube vids!! Please help thank you

  • 30 replies
  • 11 have this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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I've downloaded Thunderbird and have imported all emails etc - works great! BUT when I try to do a mail merge it doesn't work! I've saved my excel file as cvs and understand that I need to use {{Email}} , {{First Name}} etc It just doesn't work for me - no emails in outbox or sent items?

any ideas please?

I've downloaded Thunderbird and have imported all emails etc - works great! BUT when I try to do a mail merge it doesn't work! I've saved my excel file as cvs and understand that I need to use {{Email}} , {{First Name}} etc It just doesn't work for me - no emails in outbox or sent items? any ideas please?

All Replies (10)

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When you do the mail merge, do you get a Template saved, but nothing in the Outbox and the results showed 0 as your image?

I have managed to do this on my machine and there was no error message generated. In this case I had deliberatly merged the fields into one field. So it is as if your .csv file is not working as expected, as if the fields/column headers are merged.

So, try File > Mail Merge

set the Text delimiter to 'none'

I retested this with a .csv file with expected column headers and this also worked ok.

Modified by Toad-Hall

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I've tried again but nothing! see image

I can't seem to be able to save the office libre file on my desk top - should this be the case?

Should I just give up now Toad Hall??? It's driving me insane!

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can you see anything wrong with this file attached?

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You are opening a csv file using OpenOffice.

Select 'the 'tab' and 'comma' and 'text delimiter', not semi-colon

it seems to be looking correct in the section at the bottom. then click on ok.

The file should open for you to save as text csv. This method has worked for some people using a mac. It does not work for me on Windows.


The original Excel .csv file should have worked if saved as a 'Windows CSV.' but as things are not working as expected, you could try saving as a 'MAC CSV'.

I agree, this is really frustrating as all should be working ok.

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Ok downloading Open Office now and will come back to you.

Toad Hall you are amazing for slogging it out with me! Thank you!

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Ok downloaded Open Office and still not working?????

I tried to insert for you the new file I created via Open office but it wouldn't let me attach?

Can you please tell me what else I can do? I just want to send mass emails personalised so it looks like an email and not some mass marketing email.

Going grey!!!

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I've just opened Open Office and selected Spreadsheet aka Calc. Then created the file using OO.calc insted of Excel

created the headers and entered some data for each.

  • Saved as a ODF Spreadsheet (.ods)(*.ods)

For reasons unknown it likes to be saved as ods first and then as .csv

  • then Save as Text CSV(.csv)(*.csv)
  • keep the current format and set the character set to Unicode (UTF-8)
  • field delimiter is a comma
  • Text delimiter is double quote
  • select save cell content as shown
  • click on ok.

then in new write message template File > Mail merge and seleted the new file.csv file etc and everything works ok.

I've asked another person if they know why the column headers are not being picked up as if there was no demarkation between them.

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@JacquelineS Could you please send me the CSV file, or the first 2 or three lines of it I really don't care what the merge information is, you can mung email addresses if is you like. It sound like there might be issues with the file, having it to look at will tell the story I hope.

I need the headings row and a row of data Email Unicorn.consulting at gmail dot com.

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Ok back to the forum... I can not get the add-on to work in Thunderbird V17 or above.

My feeling is it is an add-on issue.

My enabled add-on are; Bamboo Feed Reader 2.0.3 British English Dictionary 1.19.1 Card Viewer Extended 1.0.0rc.001311 CompactHeader 2.0.8 Developer Assistant 0.3.0.20110927 DOM Inspector 2.0.14 EditHtml 0.2.3.4 EMail Address Crawler 5.1.1 English (Australian) Dictionary 2.1.2 FiltaQuilla 1.2.0 Google Contacts 0.7.12 ImportExportTools 2.8.0.4 JavaScript Debugger 0.9.89 Lightning 3.4a1 Lightning Nightly Updater (Unofficial) 0.11.110714 Mail Merge 3.7.1 Mail Summaries 3.0a2 Nightly Tester Tools 3.7 PopMailListRecipients 0.2 printplus 0.5 ProfileSwitcher 1.6.2 Quick Translator 1 Recover deleted messages 0.4 Send Filter 1.0.6 TitleCase For Thunderbird 2.5 URL Link 2.04.1 Workspace for Thunderbird 0.5.3

Hopefully there is an add-on both of us who can not make it work have that is absent from the other.

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These are my enabled add-ons and mail merge works ok for me. So you can rule out any conflict with these add-ons.

 Extensions
  • British English Dictionary, 1.19.1
  • checkCompatibility, 1.3
  • Extra Folder Columns, 1.1.5
  • ImportExportTools, 2.8.0.4
  • Mail Merge, 3.7.1
  • MoreFunctionsForAddressBook, 0.6.11.2
  • PopMailListRecipients, 0.2
  • Signature Switch, 1.6.12
  • Thunderbird Conversations, 2.7
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