This is a question about approach rather than method.

I need to develop a process to send emails to contacts whose details are stored in an Access Data Project (an MSDE database). It will need to select the contacts based on criteria in the database (eg all those Contacts in the Contacts table that are linked to a selected Interest Group in the Interest Group table).

It seems to me that, using Office Automation, I have the choice of building the solution in Access, Word or Outlook. Each of these has obvious advantages:
Access - I have more experience of programming Access; it will be easier to update Access from within Access (ie with which contacts have been sent which emails);
Word - the users are most comfortable in Word; the solution might be able to include the Mail Merge Wizard with which some of the users are already familiar;
Outlook - there may be less grief from Outlook's clumsy security mechanisms if the process is controlled by Outlook.

Does anyone have any recommendations or warnings that may prevent me choosing a path I will regret?

Can anyone recommend a book that covers controlling a Word Mail Merge with VBA?

PS The users can already meet the objective by starting a mail merge in Word, selecting the appropriate view and then using Edit recipient list to filter by the appropriate criteria. However I am told that this is "much too complicated" - my commission is to give the users a simple way to do this. I imagine a form (in Access, Word or Outlook) which offers them a selection of check boxes and drop down lists and then a process which generates a view/list of selected contacts which is passed to the Mail Merge process...

R

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R

Hi Richard,

On the Mail Merge part of your question, Helen Feddema is someone who has spent a great deal of time working with just about every type of Office Automation you can think of. You might find some of her sample databases useful. She has one in particular that I've played with a bit that demonstrate four different techniques for merging to Word. Of the four, mail merge is her least preferred. Custom doc properties are preferred for creating letters, and the TypeText methos is preferred for labels and cards.

The link to "Merging to Word Four Ways" is:

http://www.helenfeddema.com/CodeSamples.htm

Look under Acces -> Word: VBA sample #24.

Helen also has published several Access Archon articles addressing merging from Access to Word. They are at:

http://www.helenfeddema.com/access.htm

Look at:

#39 - Creating Word Custom Doc Properties
#44 - Merging to Word from Linked Access Tables
#65 - Working with the Word Object Model
#92 - Mail Merge Mysteries

See also has a number of articles with sample dbs for a variety of e-mail issues.

Might give you some ideas.

HTH,

Bob

Thanks Bob

Helen Feddema's site does indeed have a wealth of useful information and examples.

R