Using digital signature in the documents emailed via the Microsoft Word Mail Merge feature

Let’s say, I need several personal copies of my Agreement to be signed by specialist. They are away, but available via e-mail. Can I use the Signature feature in Microsoft Office Word and let my document be converted to personal PDF files, then, sent immediately and individually to the addressees? – Yes!

First, I’m preparing my Agreement in a Word Document, then go to the Insert tab on the ribbon and select “Microsoft Office Signature Line”:

Microsoft Office signature line

So, the document is ready to set the specialist’s hand on it:

Signature line in Word document

Next, I start Mail Merge: go to the Mailings tab, select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard:

Start Outlook mail merge

This selection is important: “Letters” can be used for printing, but we will need e-mail messages:

Outlook mail merge selection

I connect to my data source in the next step:

Data source for mail merging

Then, I click “Merge & Send” on the ribbon (that is exactly the option provided by the Mail Merge Toolkit for Outlook add-in) – and fill in the fields: select the field containing e-mail address from my data source, type the subject line, and select “PDF Attachment (optimized for printing)” – with this message format, my document will be converted to a PDF file, and attached to my message:

Outlook mail merging with PDF attachment

In the next step, I can type my e-mail message text; using data source fields is supported as well:

Text of email message

If I open my message from Outlook Outbox – it looks individually and contains my PDF attachment:

Received email with PDF attachments

After getting my message, the specialist can open my PDF file, select “Fill & Sign” – add his signature. Save changes and send the Agreement back to me via e-mail:

Signed document in PDF file

In this way, the opportunities of the Microsoft Word Mail Merge feature let me handle a very specific task: with the help of the Mail Merge Toolkit add-in and its important feature of converting messages to PDF, sending personal PDF files is enabled with the support of specific fields like “Signature Line”, even in the automatic mode.

9 thoughts on “Using digital signature in the documents emailed via the Microsoft Word Mail Merge feature

    1. Mail Merge Toolkit is designed as a plugin to enhance bulk emailing options in Microsoft Word and Outlook.
      Some users prefer to use Microsoft Publisher instead of Word to create message templates.
      One more requirement is to have a configured email account in Outlook to be used to send created messages.

  1. Hello. Is it possible to create a locked PDF using mail merge toolkit? I don’t want anyone to able to edit the e-signed letters.

    1. Hello, thank you for your question. The option to protect or lock PDF files from editing generally depends on the PDF-handler used:

      • in the OS (if you attach PDF files from the specified location: if they are protected, the add-in will attach them without changes), or
      • in the Office Mail Merge system (if you convert your document/publication to PDF-attachments).
  2. Hi there, how is it possible to change the font and font size in the Message body? We need to adjust this to meet our company standards.
    In the message box it is indicated that HTML is supported. We tried different HTML tags but we could not figure out how to change the required parameters. It seems the Add-In always uses font-size:8.5pt and font-family:”MS Shell Dlg 2″.

    1. Hello Andre. HTML-formatted text is supported: you can copy your HTML code (e.g. a web page) and insert it into the form. If you have a template saved as .htm or .html file – please open it in your HTML browser, select and copy your text into clipboard, then insert it to the form.

    1. Hello. Thank you for your question. The conversion feature is exclusive to the Mail Merge Toolkit PRO version, but is also available in the free evaluation version.

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