The idea of tool is to provide a '1-step' instant merge feature for Ecco via Word.

There is no need to select folders to 'output'.  (The folder selection comes into play only when you create new Word templates and use the Template Building Tool.)

There is no need to 'export' anything.

There is no need to open Word, or to manually point Word to anywhere.

You can instantly create a template merge file 'on the fly' from any ordinary ".doc" file-- just insert the folders you want wherever you desire in the document. You can freely control merge formatting through normal Word merge formatting options, and include date folders as actual dates (ie., instead of ecco date codes).

You can even use existing 'correspondence manager' templates, and freely copy and modify existing templates without any special procedures or tools.

You simply open any Ecco file,   either manually select items, or use any selection filter or query in the phone book, and then "Merge!" (or print, or email) with *any* Word document or Dot file.

Any of the following will activate MagicMerge:

1) Left click on the MagicMerge tray icon.

2) Right click on the tray icon and select 'Word Merge!'.

3) Press the Windows Key + Shift + W from within Ecco.

Note: If a Ecco is active with a Word document as the current item, that document will be automatically opened in Word for merging.

You can thus keep a 'library' of forms in your Ecco file, and merge as easy as 1-2-3. If the phonebook is filtered with the items you want to merge, simply: 1) select the desired form in Ecco, 2) activate MagicMerge and 3) click "Merge".

Note: You do not have to open Word documents to merge them. Only documents saved inside an Ecco file need to be opened in order to merge them (because they have no independent address in the windows file system).

Pressing the "Shift" key when executing a merge (eg, by clicking on the "MERGE" button), allows multiple merges from the same MagicMerge dialog.

Activating Word Merge for Email:

To activate Word merge for EMAIL:

1) press Windows Key + Shift + W + E, or, 

2) hold down the 'Shift' key while clicking on the MagicMerge tray icon, or when selecting 'Word Merge!' from the  tray icon menu.

Note: The "Advanced E-Mail Options" on the MagicMerge tray icon menu allows for selection of advanced email options such as HTML text formatting,  attaching the merged output as a .Doc attachment to the email, or the use of email plain text. (Older versions of Word do not support HTML formatting.)  

Using the Advanced E-Mail Options you can also modify the  'Recipient Options' to have recipients selected either from the first folder containing the word  "E-Mail" used in the Word template file,  or from a folder manually entered.  Because you can use 'hidden' folders in the Word template,  it is recommended to use this option.  For example, at the start of your template include:

You can use the MagicMerge template building tool to automatically insert the field (in the correct form) for the folder you desire. 

If the "Subject" line is left blank in the MagicMerge activation dialog,  the Subject of the Document is used as the subject line for the outgoing email.  You can also edit the subject field in Word (via File > Properties > Summary > Subject: ).   This way each Word Template can have it's own default Subject for emailing,  which you can always override simply by manually entering a subject in the activation dialog.

Note that E-Mail, Fax, and direct Printing is not available in MS Word for  "Report" type merges.  (See  "Document Type Control", below ). Since reports use multiple records to print a single document,  there is no way MS Word can determine which record was intended to hold the "To:" information, etc.

Activating Word Merge direct Printing:

To directly print a merge (without creating a merged Word output file), hold down the 'Control' key when selecting 'Word Merge!' from the  tray icon menu.

Activating Word Merge Faxing:

Note: This feature is not 'officially' a part of MagicMerge because the internal support for faxing is so varied across different systems.  It is included as a 'bonus' feature.   If it works for you,  enjoy!   If it doesn't,  and you need support to get it to work on your particular system or set-up,  we can help, but you'll have to pay hourly for us to figure out your system & structure the tool to fit.   If you have Word versions prior to 2002 or 2003 (or in some cases prior to 2007),  the fax feature will likely not be available to you.   Depending on your set-up (eg., Home, Vista, Premium, etc.)  you may be able to fax but not auto-select the fax to phone number.  Some 3rd party fax drivers may also cause this feature to fail.  A wide variety of system security settings can also interfere with the faxing feature.  

To directly fax a merge, hold down the 'Shift' and 'Windows" keys when selecting 'Word Merge!' from the tray icon menu,  or when left clicking on the tray icon.

The same rules that apply to E-Mail merging also apply to fax merging. To designate which folder contains the "To:" phone number, in place of "E-Mail", substitute "Fax". The E-Mail option settings apply to fax sending.

There are several ways to select which Word file to merge. You can:

1) Drag & Drop the file from windows explorer onto the file selection box.

2) Type in "Browse.."  or select "Browse.." from the bottom of the pull-down selection list.

3) Paste the file name into the selection box.

 

You can also select (from the pulldown box),  previously merged files, or,  the currently Active Word Document.

Use of the "Active Word Document" option allows you to save Word templates directly in your Ecco file,  double click to select (and open) that template,  and then merge.  (This allow keeping the Template and data in a single .eco file). Typing "A" and down arrow in the file selection box will instantly bring up the first matching item starting with the letter "A", and typically will be a shortcut to the 'Active Word Document' option.