Email Merge Letters

Use the Email mail merge action to send merge documents via email, as well as recording them in the appropriate correspondence histories. The text of the merge document will be used as the body of the email message, and optionally included as an attachment in .PDF format. If the merge document includes any patient images, those images will not appear in the body of the email message, but will be included in the resulting .PDF, and can optionally be included as individual email attachments.

Get Started

Set Up Document Email Type - Use the Email Type column of your Mail Merge Documents editor to define which email address to use when merging this document to send via email. If this column is blank, you cannot email this document via mail merge. See "Create and Edit Mail Merge Documents" for details.

Obtain Email Addresses - Enter email addresses for your patients, responsible parties, dentists, referrers, and professionals.

Edge Portal Settings - You may use your Edge Portal settings to choose to capture any outgoing emails or attachments sent to a professional and store them in Edge Portal. Instead of receiving an email with sensitive patient information the professional receives a notification to log into Edge Portal to retrieve the message and any attachments. This option can be enabled in the Options page of the Office Edge Portal.

Use This Feature

1. Initiate Mail Merge - Home ribbon bar > Reporting section > Mail Merge. (You might also be able to open this feature from the Quick Access toolbar at the top of your Edge Cloud window.)

   

2. Choose Document to Merge - Select a document name from your Favorites or Documents list, at the left of the Mail Merge window. (You can also use the Search field to find the document(s) you want to work with.)

   

   To add or remove a document from your "Favorites" list, simply drag and drop it from the Documents list. Adding a document to "Favorites" does not remove it from the "Documents" list.

3. Choose Recipient(s) - Choose whether to merge the document for all records, a subgroup of records, or a single record. The choices you have for selecting recipients depend on the "selection type" of the document you chose to merge. (See "Create and Edit Mail Merge Documents" for details about assigning document properties.)

   Single record - Select this option to generate the document for an individual record. If a patient folder is open when you initiate mail merge, that patient is the default, and the Mail Merge window tab displays that patient's name for your reference.

   You can use the Search field to look for a different patient, if needed. The document's "selection type" property determines whether you will search for a patient, responsible party, or other party, and whether additional information, such as the patient's scheduled appointments, is included in the search.

   In addition, if you selected a document with the "selection type" property of Professional, Responsible Party, Patient Professional, or Patient Responsible Party, the list of records associated with the active patient appears for you to choose from.

   In this example, the default patient is automatically selected. You can click the Search icon to look for a different patient.

   

   This example shows the active patient's professional records, for merging a Professional type letter. The active patient's name remains on the Mail Merge tab for your reference.

   

   Note the difference between 1) a Professional or Responsible Party type letter and 2) a Patient Professional or Patient Responsible Party letter type: When you merge a document for the first letter type, the document will merge for each patient who is associated with the selected professional or responsible party. However, when you merge a document for the second letter type, the document will merge only for the active patient, addressing the professional or responsible party you selected. See "Create and Edit Mail Merge Documents" for details.

   Subgroup -Select this option, then choose the subgroup to send the document to. See "Subgroup Editor" for details about creating subgroups.

   

4. Choose Merge Action - Choose the Email merge action.

   Edge Signature Documents - When you select to merge an Edge Signature document, you must use the Sign merge action: If you select any other merge action, you will not be able to digitally sign the document. See "Edge Signature" for details.

   

5. Include / Omit Image Attachments - Enable the Attach Images option to include any merged patient images as individual attachments to email messages. While images are not included in the body of the email message, they are always embedded in the .PDF file attachment. (If the document does not use any patient images, this option is ignored during the merge.) Note that whether or not patient images are included in a merge document, you can manually attach images or other files to a merged email message when you process the message from your Queue (rather than merging it immediately).

   

6. Include / Omit Original Document Attachment - Enable the Attach Original option to include a .PDF version of the merged document as an attachment to the email message.

   

7. Finish - Click Merge to process the email message immediately, or click Queue to add the document to your mail merge queue for future processing. (Using the Queue allows you to manually attach additional files to the email message before sending it.)

   Merge Now - Click Merge to send the email message immediately. The text of the merge document will be used as the body of the email message, and optionally included as an attachment in .PDF format. If the merge document includes any patient images, those images will not appear in the body of the email message, but will be included in the resulting .PDF, and can optionally be included as individual email attachments.

   

   Merge Later - Click Queue then select the Email output type to add the document to your mail merge queue for future processing. At that time, you can attach additional files to the message before processing and sending the email message. The text of the merge document will be used as the body of the email message, and optionally included as an attachment in .PDF format. If the merge document includes any patient images, those images will not appear in the body of the email message, but will be included in the resulting .PDF, and can optionally be included as individual email attachments. See "Mail Merge Queue" for details.

   

More Information

Correspondence History Records - Once processed, your mail merge documents are automatically added to the appropriate correspondence history, in .PDF format. Depending on the document selection type, it may be recorded in multiple correspondence histories, such as both the dentist and patient histories. (See "Create and Edit Mail Merge Documents" for details.) In addition, when you view an expanded patient correspondence history, emailed mail merge documents are preceded by an email icon to indicate that the document was sent electronically. You can hover over the icon to see a tooltip identifying the email address that was used. See "Patient Correspondence History" for details.

View & Edit,Then Email Option - You can also first view and edit a merged document, then send it to your mail merge queue flagged for Email output. This feature is especially useful if you need to make changes to the final output before permanently adding it to the patient's record. See "View Mail Merge Documents" for details.

Email Patient Images - You can also email patient images and image montages directly from the patient folder Imaging page. See "Email Images & Layouts" for details.

Send Quick Email Message - You can click an email address nearly anywhere in Edge Cloud to send a quick message to that party. Those messages are also recorded in the appropriate correspondence history. See "Send Quick Email Messages" for details.

Automate Mail Merge Documents - Use the Merge Letter workflow activity to generate a specific merge document for the patient whenever the activity is triggered by a workflow. See "Workflow Activities" for details.