I am having problems sending an attachment via mail merge with office 365

It is not an error message.

Word will freeze if the data source is located on OneDrive or in a folder that is synchronized with OneDrive, so I incorporated a check to determine if it is located on OneDrive or in a folder that is synchronized with OneDrive.  If that is where the data source is located, the add-in will display the message that you have seen.

Note that in Microsoft 365, by default, the Desktop and the Documents folder are synchronized with OneDrive.

To work around that, I recommend that you create a new folder in the root directory of the C: drive (I suggest naming it Merge Files, but that is not essential) and put the data source into that folder and then attach it to the mail merge main document from that location, then save the document before using the Merge Tools utilities.

Use the Merge with Attachments facility of my Merge Tools Add-in that is contained in the MERGE TOOLS ADD-IN.zip file that you can download from:

 https://mergetoolsaddin.com/

Extract the files from the archive and read the:

“READ ME – Setting up and using the Merge Tools Add-in.pdf

to see how to install and use the various tools.

Using those tools, it is possible to perform the following types of merge that cannot be done with Mail Merge “out-of-the-box”:

• Merge to e-mail messages either with or without attachments, with the documents created by the merge being sent as either Word or PDF attachments or as the body of the e-mail message .  The email messages can, if necessary, also be sent to CC and BCC addresses and the subject of the message can include data from a field in the data source.
• Merge to individual documents in either Word or PDF format with the filenames being supplied by the data in one of the fields in the data source
• Many to One type merges, which can be used for creating documents such as invoices where there are multiple records in the data source that have common data in one of the fields
• Merging to a document that will include a chart that is unique to each record in the data source
• Merging a document with Content Controls
• Merging a document that contains Legacy FormFields
• Duplex Merges
• Merging to a printer that will collate and staple the output created from each record in the data source.

The requirements for using the system are:

• The mail merge main document must be of the Letters type, though that does not mean that the output cannot be sent as an e-mail message where relevant.
• For the Many To One, Merge with Attachments and Merge to Individual Docs utilities, the data source may be either a table or query in an Access database, or in the form of an Excel worksheet. For the Chart Merge utility, see the Mail Merging with Charts document that is included in the Merge Tools Add-in Zip file for additional requirements for the data source for use with that utility
• For a data source in the form of an Excel worksheet, the field names must be in the first row of the worksheet and there must be a field name in all of the cells in that row that are within the range of columns that contain the data.
• For both types of data source, the field names must contain only alphanumeric characters (No @,#,$,%,&,(,), etc) and the field names must not start with a numeric character (0-9). The number of characters in the field names, including spaces, must not be more than 40.

The MergeTools Add-in will NOT work with the “New Outlook”, which is just a re-badged version of Windows Mail and like its predecessor, it does not support automation and hence will not send the messages created by the MergeTools Add-in.

Be aware, that any messages that you had tried to send with the “New Outlook” will have been placed in the Outbox of the original Outlook and they will be sent as soon as you revert to that version of Outlook.   If you do not want that to happen, you should put Outlook Off-line, or disconnect your computer from the Internet.

Try http://www.gmayor.com/MailMergeWithAttachments.htm or get a trial version of Doug Robbins's Merge Tools Add-in from https://mergetoolsaddin.com/

Great thanks I'll try that although may take a few days for me to get it right!

Hi Jill,

Thank you for reaching out. My name is Furkaan, a user just like you. I’d be happy to help you with your concerns. There are a few limitations and workarounds to consider when trying to send attachments with mail merge in Office 365 (2016 version):

Limited Functionality: Unfortunately, native mail merge in Word doesn't directly support attaching unique files for each recipient. Workarounds:

Attach a Single File: If you only need to send one attachment to all recipients, you can directly add it to your email during the mail merge process.

Link to a File Location: Include a link in your email body that points to a shared location where recipients can access the attachment. This can be a cloud storage service like OneDrive or a network drive.

Troubleshooting Tips:

Repair Office Installation: Try repairing your Office 365 installation. This can sometimes resolve glitches causing the "Word not responding" error. Check File Size: Ensure the attachment size isn't too large, as this can slow down the process and lead to crashes. Reduce Recipients: If it only worked for a few recipients previously, try sending a smaller test batch to isolate the issue.

If you have any additional questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to reach out. Give back to the Community. Help the next person who has this issue by indicating if this reply solved your problem. Click Yes or No below. Best Regards, Furkaan