Skip to main content

Search

Welcome to Support

How to create and run a Mail Merge document

  • Updated

Mail Merge fills a document you write with each registration's information, one copy per enrollee, ready to print. Go to Reports > Mail Merge, click Add Document and insert fields from the editor's Links drop-down, then click Run Mail Merge, choose the document and program, and click Run.

Applies to: Admins whose role includes Mail Merge · All plans (pictures of uploaded files and signed terms: Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise) · Registration programs

Where: Reports > Mail Merge

Create a document

  1. Go to Reports > Mail Merge.
  2. Click Add Document.
  3. Type a Document Name (up to 50 characters). Each document needs its own name.
  4. In Page Break, choose Yes to start each enrollee on a new page, or No to print them one after another.
  5. Write the document in the editor. You can add tables, pictures and formatting.
  6. To add a field, click where it should go, open the Links drop-down, click the plus sign next to Mail Merge and click the field. It appears in braces, for example {Enrollee First Name}.
  7. Click Save.

What you'll see: "The Document has been added." and the document in the list on Reports > Mail Merge.

Which fields you can use

  • Registration fields, the same ones as the Enrollment Information report's columns, such as {Enrollee First Name}, {Enrollee Birthday}, {Program Name} and {Assignment - Team Name}. Customer fields are the account holder's; Customer 2 fields are the second parent or guardian's.
  • Fields with a prefix: (e) your enrollment fields, (es) sections TeamSideline set up for you, such as medical information, (a) add-ons, (c) custom fields and (terms) your Terms and Conditions.
  • {Enrollee Picture}: the registration photo.
  • Your organization: {Organization Name}, {Organization Street Address}, {Organization City}, {Organization State}, {Organization Zip Code} and {Organization URL}, plus {Date} for the day you run the merge.

You can also type a field in braces yourself, but the name must match exactly. Anything in braces that isn't a field prints as nothing, so don't use braces in your own text.

Run the merge

  1. On Reports > Mail Merge, click Run Mail Merge.
  2. In Document, choose the document.
  3. In Enrollment Type, choose All Enrollment Types, Player, Volunteer, Sponsor or General.
  4. In Program, choose the program.
  5. Optional: choose one Offering, one person in Enrollee, or a Date Range (Starts and Ends), which filters on the date each registration was placed.
  6. Click Run.

What you'll see: the merged document opens in your browser, one copy for each accepted registration, sorted by offering and then by last and first name. Print it from your browser, or choose Save as PDF as the printer. Use your browser's Back button to return. Mail Merge doesn't email anything.

Edit, copy or delete a document

  • Edit: click the Edit Document icon (pencil), make your changes and click Save. You'll see "The Document has been updated."
  • Copy: click Copy Document, choose the Document, type a New Document Name if you like, and click Copy. You'll see "The Document was successfully copied." For any default Mail Merge documents, the edit will be greyed out. Use the Copy Document option to copy and edit the document.
  • Delete: click the Delete Document icon (red X), then OK on 'Are you sure you want to delete Document "(name)"?'
  • Library documents: a document with a Library Name comes from a Mail Merge library TeamSideline added for your organization, such as your association's forms. You can run it but not edit or delete it; copy it to make your own version.

Pictures, uploaded files and signed terms

  • Uploaded files: a File-type enrollment field or player custom field prints as a picture on player registrations when it's a JPG, JPEG, PNG or PDF file (the first page of a PDF). This needs the Mail Merge Embedded Image permission, which comes with the Enhanced, Elite and Enterprise plans. Printing uploaded documents in bulk, such as birth certificates, has its own article.
  • Terms and Conditions: a (terms) field prints that terms text. For each enrollee who accepted it, the merge also prints the agreement text, the eSignature when there is one, and a line such as "Agreed to by: (name) on behalf of (enrollee) for (program) on (date)". This also needs Mail Merge Embedded Image; without it, the field prints nothing.

Share a form with parents or coaches

  • Parents (Print Forms): on the program's 2 Configuration page, under Deploy Merge Forms, click Add Form, choose the Form and click Add. Families with a registration in that program then get a Print Forms tile after they sign in on your website. They choose the Enrollment and the Form and click Print to get the form filled in with that registration, including terms they accepted. Forms are filled in only for accepted player registrations. The Deploy Merge Forms section appears only after TeamSideline turns it on for your organization; contact TeamSideline Support.
  • Coaches (team sites): deploy forms from the program's 5 Team Sites page with Deploy Forms. See Deploy Emergency Contact Forms to Team Sites. On a coach's printout, (terms) fields show the current terms text only, never an enrollee's acceptance.

If it doesn't work

  • "Please make a selection for Document.", "Please make a selection for Enrollment Type." or "Please make a selection for Program." Choose the option named, then click Run.
  • "The Start date cannot fall after the End date." Fix the Date Range, or leave it empty.
  • "Please complete the 'Document Name' field." or "Duplicate Document names are not allowed." Enter a name that no other document has.
  • "Document is required." Choose the document to copy.
  • The program isn't in the Program list. Choose an Enrollment Type first. Archived programs, and programs whose registration hasn't opened yet, aren't listed.
  • Someone is missing. Only accepted registrations are merged; canceled and waitlisted ones aren't. Check the Offering, Enrollee and Date Range too.
  • A field prints blank. The registration has no answer, or the name in braces doesn't match a field exactly. Of the (c) custom fields, only player custom fields are filled in today; account, team and internal enrollment custom fields print blank.
  • A picture or uploaded file doesn't print. The registration has no photo, the file isn't a JPG, JPEG, PNG or PDF, if that is not the case contact support@teamsideline.com. Insert file fields from the Links drop-down rather than typing them.
  • The merge is slow or very long. Run it in smaller batches with Offering or Date Range, especially when it has pictures.

Good to know

  • Mail Merge is for admins. Families see forms only through Print Forms, and coaches only through forms deployed to their team sites.
  • With Page Break set to Yes, keep each document to one page so every enrollee's copy prints on its own sheet.
  • Links in the document don't work in the merged printout; their text prints as plain text.

Related articles