Merge fields allow you to include information specific to the recipient of the SMS, email or letter. In your communication template or draft you will see a generic merge field. When previewing the communication and when sending it out, the merge field will be replaced with the information specific to the recipient.
You can also create merge fields using information from a Custom Report Writer custom report you have made. You can do this from any report regarding Students. This allows you to set a precise set of recipients (using the filters in CRW) and then complex columns (e.g. meal balance or % attendance this term).
Permissions
- School Communications Send and administer school communications: Administer All Students - set up communication templates
- School: General Admin: Export Data - Create custom reports
If you don't have the permission, you'll need to ask your admin team to give you permission using these instructions.
Which custom report types can I use?
Not all custom report types can be used for mail merge! Reports regarding Students are also the most versatile for mail merge, but depending what the report is regarding will affect what columns are available to be used. This article has more details on this and lists out which custom report types you can send mail merge communications from in this way.
Using a Custom Report to create Merge Fields
To create a Mail Merge, navigate to Custom Report Writer by going to School > Custom Report Writer.
Create the Custom Report by choosing the specific filters you need to narrow down the group of students you wish to create a mail merge from. Then add the columns you wish to include in the Mail Merge.
Return to view the report and from the top, select the Send Mail Merge button and select whether you wish to create an SMS, Email or Letter Mail Merge from the Custom Report. Please note: this option is only available if you do not have groupings in the report.
Top Tip: If you want others to use your email/letter/SMS templates created from custom reports, you'll need to share your report with anyone who needs access to the template.
You will now be redirected to the Mail Merge you have selected. Choose the recipients, you can either choose the send the Mail Merge to the students or the guardians.
When you want to insert a column from the custom report writer into the body of the communication, click Merge Fields and click on the arrow at the bottom of the drop-down menu until you reach the options that start with Report field.
Then click on the field you want to enter and this information from the report will be entered based on each individual recipients data in the report.
Example uses
Example 1: Sending an Attendance letter to Guardians
We've got full instructions here for you to follow: Create an Attendance letter and templates
Example 2: Sending a Welcome to Arbor email to staff
We've got full instructions here for you to follow: Welcome email using non-email usernames
Example 3: Sending next year's Registration forms to Guardians
Once you've enrolled your applicants for next year into registration forms, you can let parents know what registration forms they will be in and their tutor.
To create the Custom Report, download the report template from this article and add it to your Custom Report Writer.
From the report, select the Send Mail Merge button and select whether you wish to create an SMS, Email or Letter Mail Merge from the Custom Report. Please note: this option is only available if you do not have groupings in the report.
You will then be redirected to the Mail Merge you have selected. Choose the recipients, you can either choose the send the Mail Merge to the students or the guardians.
We recommend choosing not to combine messages when using Merge fields. As the data is being taken from individual rows in a custom report, it can only pull in one data point at a time. Please select One per recipient, for each student.
In the body of the mail merge, you can insert the registration form data from the Custom Report.
Once you are happy with your message, click Proceed to view previews of the messages and send the message.
Example 4: Sending an SMS/Email to last year's Guardians
Go to School > Custom Report Writer and click Create new report.
Name your report and Select that your report is about students.
Set the date range to be covering the Previous academic Year and click Next, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'skip setup wizard'.
You can then add any filters here to determine whose guardians you would like to communicate with and add more columns if needed.
Filters are used to determine which data is included or excluded in your report. A report with no filters added would mean that all enrolled students will appear in the report. You can use the filter options to view or remove certain groups of students.
Example: To create a report concerning students in Years 1 & 2, select Year Group(s) > Add Filter.
The next box to slide over will allow you to enter the specifics for the filter condition. In this case you would select ‘Is one of…’ in the first box; ‘Year 1’ & ‘Year 2’ in the second box.
When happy with your report, click Save and view report.
When viewing your report, use the Bulk action button and select the appropriate communication, this will take you into the communication area where you can send to the guardians of these students who attended in the previous year.
Communication Templates
You can link Communication templates to Custom Report data. Create a report in the Custom Report Writer, then go to School > Communications > Templates to create an Email, SMS or letter template using data from the report as a merge field. Perfect for following up with parents about low attendance marks!
Top Tip: If you want others to use your email/letter/SMS templates created from custom reports, you'll need to share your report with anyone who needs access to the template.
Click +Add, and choose to base your template on a Custom Report from the Custom Report Writer.
Why does adding the template clear the communication recipients?
Using a custom report writer template means that the communications can only go to recipients who are included in the linked custom report!
If any changes are made to your custom report (e.g. changes to filters) that mean the recipient you want is no longer one of the report results, then you will not be able to send them communications using the linked template until the report is changed to include them again.
There is more information on this and other reasons you may not be able to add recipients to communications in this article
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