E-mail Merge where merge code does not contain "X"

E-mail merge is one of the most important functions you have in GoldMine CRM. Using MasterMine, you can easily isolate target records using any number of criteria and build a GoldMine Group, all without doing a custom SQL query. And that is very good.

However, when you try to send your e-mail using the Group, you have a dialog that looks like this:

In this case, the e-mail would go to all members of the "MasterMine Masters" group, both primary and additional contacts, but only those with an "X" in the e-mail merge codes field of the respective e-mail address record.

So far so good. But what if you want to send to everyone in this group who DOES NOT have an "X" in the e-mail merge codes field? There, you're a bit stuck.

Create a report of all Main and Additional contacts in the GoldMine group of your choice. On the main screen, check Main and Additional, then click E-mail Address, E-mail merge codes, and E-mail RecID plus any other fields you want. Then click "Filter" to choose the group on the top of the filter screen. Then click "Finish" to create the report.

Inside the report, put the E-mail Merge codes field into the Row area. Then use find/group () to divide your merge codes into two groups - those that contain "X" and those that do not. If you don't have many merge codes in your data, you can probably do this grouping manually.

Roll up the "not X" group and drill down on it so you have a line listing. On the line listing sheet, change all of the e-mail Merge codes to "Z" or some value you know does not otherwise occur in the database. This is only temporary - so don't worry about losing your existing codes.

Now use MMUpdater to update the e-mail merge codes of all records on the sheet. When finished, leave the MasterMine workbook open in Excel.

Immediately go to GoldMine and send your e-mail using the dialog as above except you enter "Z" after "Limit to E-mail merge code:"

Once all the e-mails are queued, replace the original E-mail merge codes using MMUpdater's "Undo."

Now your e-mail has been sent, and everything in GoldMine is as it was before you started.

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A note about GoldMine v 8.5

MasterMine has been tested against the newest version of GoldMine, v8.5 and is almost completely compatible without any updates. However, there are a few issues that have cropped up since its final release, and these will be resolved in an early-May release of MasterMine so that there will be no "show stoppers."

In GoldMine v8.5, look for the MasterMine "Open" and "Create" menu options in the "File" menu of GoldMine instead of "GoTo." This will probably change back when GoldMine releases a service release of v8.5, but for now it is beyond our control.

You may also encounter an error that stops your existing reports that use Notes from refreshing. This will be fixed in the May release. In a later update, you will see some template changes to take advantage of the new Notes data structures.

Later this year, well before the next MasterMine major version upgrade, we will add features to take advantage of some of the 8.5 features, with new templates for Cases and Lookups, user-defined Case field labeling, and some better reporting using Relationships.

Note that GoldMine v8.5 did not require a license change from earlier 8.x version releases, so there is no need to re-license MasterMine when you upgrade.

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Get the current release

For those current on annual maintenance, MasterMine periodically provides interim releases, adding minor features and addressing bugs that crop up from time to time. If you installed MasterMine version 6.0 soon after release in September 2008, we recommend that you download and install the most current release, which was version 6.0.322 as of March 23, 2009.

Here are a few enhancements and fixes since September:

Create Reports Dialog:

• Add fields for EmailMergeCodes and EmailRecID, available with all standard reports. Improve compatibility with GoldMine filters, especially to handle "Empty" or "not Empty" fields.
• Add fields for LastOppHistoryDate, LastOppCallDate, LastOppApptDate, LastOppHistoryRef, LastOppHistoryCode, etc. in Opportunity templates
• Fix QuoteWerks database designation in preferences to handle
  dbo (database owner).
• Add rtrim() on user-defined OpMgr and Project character fields
• Add WebSite field to show website as field, similar to primary
  e-mail address
• Fix Projects templates, "Linked Doc" field to pull full path to
  Linked Doc
• Fix problem of repeating "Report appears to be from earlier
  version" Attempt is made to update, if it succeeds Version number in custom property is updated so old version will no longer trigger it.
• Fix error when opening report if Windows/Excel has "Recently used documents" turned off.
• Allow use of GM Groups with "No Pending Activity" report
• Restore usage of GoldMine CRM Groups with dBase reports - and update default report name with group name.
• Show Projects userdef fields (not just Opportunity) when toolkit chosen from radio buttons.
• Fix dBase History Log report: error trap in LogField field
• When stripping HTML from notes fields, replace & with & Fix Opportunity Manager error ("Method PivotTableWizard of Workbook failed")

Excel Addin:

• On drilldown, allow selection of row vertical alignment (Top, Center, Bottom)
• Allow user to launch MM User Manual from Information dialog
• 50 Fix Notes concatenation when column A data is blank

MMUpdater:

• Allow selection of RecID as match for Contact2 table, so deletion of extra Contact2 records is possible
• Allow update of Linked Documents
• Allow update of E-mail addresses and E-mail Mergecodes
• Allow update of notes fields (first 253 characters only)
• Add drilldown to GoldMine record from Log screen

MasterMine: "Finger-lickin' good?"

Does this slogan sound familiar? Reply to this e-mail with the name of the product it originally promoted, and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a 16oz. MasterMine ceramic mug, emblazoned with the classic Iron Rule of GoldMine CRM:

"if it's not in GoldMine... IT DIDN'T HAPPEN!"

These attractive mugs are also available for purchase. Order here, in quantity, for your GoldMine CRM users to help promote correct GoldMine usage throughout your company. Except for widespread MasterMine usage, there's no better way to ensure the success of your efforts with GoldMine CRM.

Winner for April 2009 is Terri MacNeil, Sales Operations Supervisor for The Option Institute and International Learning and Training Center in Sheffield, MA. Terri was among several MasterMine users who correctly answered that "Can you hear me now?" has been the slogan for the "Test Man" for the Verizon Wireless telephone system since 2002. The ad campaign is credited with helping Verizon gain market share and reduce customer turnover or "churn."

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Love MasterMine?

If you love MasterMine, please give us a testimonial so we can share it with the world.

If you're not pleased or have some difficulty, please let us know and we'll work to get it fixed - then share it with the world.

Here's a testimonial:

"Our IT person calls MasterMine 'Excel on steroids.' We spent four years struggling without being able to give reports to our bosses, without being able to get our information out of GoldMine -- until we discovered MasterMine. The bottom line is, if you have GoldMine, you'd better get MasterMine. That's all there is to it."

- Kim LeFevers, Sales Systems Manager,
   Deltec Homes

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