I'm looking for the simplest software to create a mail merge for my letter writing...

[Tim Gray]

My handwriting is quite illegible (and incredibly slow as well) so I have been working on sending out letters using MS Office and the mail merge function. I actually created a handwritten font so the letters would be more likely to be opened and read.

 

I have performed all sorts of technical feats in the past, including mail merges for email, troubleshooting, etc. but when I combined the custom font with the standard mail merge procedure in MS Office, I'm finding that this becomes a rather frustrating process at best.

 

I am moving away from Microsoft products as quickly as I can. I'm looking for Free and/or Open source alternatives if possible.

 

Does anyone know of a simpler way to create a mail merge, preferably using an open source office suite or whatever tools are available? 

[Tortuga]

I don't know what a mail merge is so I can't help you. I currently pray about each letter and write a unique letter to each person in my territory. I don't think a mail merge would help me at all.

[New World Explorer]

33 minutes ago, Tortuga said:

I don't know what a mail merge is so I can't help you. I currently pray about each letter and write a unique letter to each person in my territory. I don't think a mail merge would help me at all.

That is very commendable, need to improve in this area as I am trying different templates, and definitely not going into “mass production” direction, but praying about each single letter is something I plan to introduce at my next letter writing session. 

[Mykyl]

2 hours ago, Tim Gray said:

My handwriting is quite illegible (and incredibly slow as well) so I have been working on sending out letters using MS Office and the mail merge function. I actually created a handwritten font so the letters would be more likely to be opened and read.

 

I have performed all sorts of technical feats in the past, including mail merges for email, troubleshooting, etc. but when I combined the custom font with the standard mail merge procedure in MS Office, I'm finding that this becomes a rather frustrating process at best.

 

I am moving away from Microsoft products as quickly as I can. I'm looking for Free and/or Open source alternatives if possible.

 

Does anyone know of a simpler way to create a mail merge, preferably using an open source office suite or whatever tools are available? 

My hand writing is bad as well.
So I create a personal letter on my computer for printing using normal fonts.
As I don’t want it to come across as mass mail I include a short note, hand written, with just a couple of sentences.

In the printed letter I always explain that as they can see, my hand writing is bad from the included note and I didn’t want them to struggle reading it and that I Included the hand written note to let them know it was personally written for them. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Mykyl

[hatcheckgirl]

2 hours ago, Tim Gray said:

I am moving away from Microsoft products as quickly as I can. I'm looking for Free and/or Open source alternatives if possible.

 

Does anyone know of a simpler way to create a mail merge, preferably using an open source office suite or whatever tools are available? 

Hi Tim, welcome to our forum. I’m no techie when it comes to mail merge, but in case you missed this in your search and troubleshooting, here’s a simple solution:

 

It is an old version of a document that has become corrupt.

https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/3968/word_merged_fonts_changepf

 

 

[➕👇 ꓤꓱꓷꓠꓵ🎵Tone]

...I am moving away from Microsoft products as quickly as I can. I'm looking for Free and/or Open source alternatives if possible.
 
Does anyone know of a simpler way to create a mail merge, preferably using an open source office suite or whatever tools are available? 

I use Kingsoft WPS. It has a free version and works across multiple platforms. It can read and write all MS Office products.
WPS stands for Word, PowerPoint and Spreadsheet. You can get the suite, or just a single application.
There are also options to upgrade to read/write pdf files and convert to word etc...
Works almost the same as MS, so no learning curve to change over.
I especially like the free 'Annotations' on pdf files. I use this on my Study WT where I can highlight and write on my WT like the old days, but without paper..
Oh, and it ca mail-merge if you want...I just type in the new address straight on the template letter. You have to type it in the source file, so I just do it 'live' and print it off...
Old (Downunder) Tone

[Myew]

I use and recommend LibreOffice, it is FOSS (Free and Open Source) and the modern standard on most Linux operating systems. However.. I also have never heard of mail merge. According to Google and LibreOffice help documentation, it is something that LibreOffice can do.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Myew