How to E-mail Reminders Using Word 2003

Perhaps the most important factor in maintaining a high level of compliance for your practice is the use of reminders. As the name implies, these remind your clients of what vaccines and check-ups their pets need. However, printing, stamping, and mailing reminders can be a time and labor intensive procedure, thereby causing a staff member to be unavailable for their normal duties. Cornerstone, however, allows for reminders to be generated and sent to your clients e-mail accounts, as long as that e-mail account is part of the client’s Cornerstone record. This saves time, labor, materials, and expenses, and additionally provides the client with another alternative. The procedure is not difficult, and after the first couple of times will become second nature.

**Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook must be installed. This will not work with Outlook Express**

**Outlook must be configured with the correct mail server settings**

Set-up: Confirm that Word and Outlook are installed and functioning. Outlook needs to be configured with the appropriate mail server settings; usually these are POP3 and SMTP servers. Contact your ISP provider for this information if you use Roadrunner/Brighthouse or Verizon.

1. Double left-click “My Computer”. Double left-click the “C:” drive. Double left-click the “Cstone”

folder. Double left-click “Email.dot”. 

2. In the window that appears left-click the “Yes” button. 

3. Change the information to your practice’s name, address and phone number. 

4. Left-click the “File” menu button, then left-click “Save As...” In the window that appears left-click the arrow at the end of the window titled “Save as type:” and left-click “Document Template (*.dot)” Left-click the arrow at the end of the window titled “File name:” and type “Reminder Postcard.dot” Left-click the “Desktop” icon on the left side of the window. Left-click the “Save” button. Close the document by left-clicking the “File” menu button, then left-clicking the “Exit” button. 

5. In Cornerstone, generate reminders by left-clicking “Activities”, left-clicking “Reminder Selection >”, and left-clicking “Generate Reminders”. 

6. In the window that appears, enter the dates, Client information, and Species information for which you want the reminders to be generated. Leave the “Output information” unchanged. Left-click the “OK” button. When the reminders finish generating left-click the “OK” button.

7. Open Microsoft Word by left-clicking the “Start” button in the bottom-left corner of the screen, then left-clicking “All Programs”, left-clicking “Microsoft Office”, and left-clicking “Microsoft Office Word 2003”. Microsoft Word should open with a blank document showing. 

8. On the main toolbar left-click "View", left-click "Toolbars" and make sure that the box next to "Mail Merge" is checked. If there is no checkmark, left-click “Mail Merge” to place a checkmark next to it.

9. On the main toolbar left-click "Tools", left-click "Letters and Mailings" and left-click "Mail Merge..." 

10. On the right side of the screen left-click "E-mail messages". Left-click "Next: Starting document" in the bottom-right corner.

11. On the right side of the screen left-click "Start from existing document". Left-click the "Open..." button. Left-click the “Desktop” icon, then double left-click the “Reminder Postcard.dot" file.

12. In the window that appears, left-click the “Yes” button. Left-click "Next: Select recipients" in the bottom-right corner.

13. On the right side of the screen left-click "Use an existing list". Left-click the button labeled "Browse..." 

14. Left-click the "My Computer" icon, double –left-click "Local Disk(C:)", double left-click "Cstone", then double left-click "namelist.txt" 

15. A window will appear titled "Mail Merge Recipients". You may refine who to send reminders to using the check boxes, or left-click the "OK" button to select the entire list. When you are finished left-click "Next: Write your letter" in the bottom-right corner of the screen. 

16. Left-click "Next: Preview your letters" in the bottom-right corner. You may look at the different reminders using the left and right arrows on the right side of the screen. 

17. Left-click "Next: Complete the merge" in the bottom-right corner.

18. In the second toolbar, near the middle of the row, left-click the button "Merge to E-Mail" -- this will appear if you leave your mouse over the icon which has 2 pages pointing to an envelope. 

19. A window will appear titled "Merge to E-mail". Make sure the "To:" area says "EmailAddr". Put "Pet Health Reminder" in the subject line. Press "OK" when finished. 

20. Left-click the “Start” button in the bottom left-corner of the screen, left-click “All Programs”, left-click “Microsoft Office” and left-click “Microsoft Office Outlook 2003” to ensure that your messages were sent. If they were not, left-click "Tools", left-click "Send/Receive", then left-click "Send All".

**There will be fewer e-mails sent than reminders generated. This is because not all of the reminder recipients have e-mail addresses associated with their Cornerstone contact info**