Hello,
I have created an invitation in Illustrator, exported it as a .png file, inserted it into Word -- and hope to send it as a mass-mailing email to an excel-based list of email addresses.



I need some help on
(1) whether, in general, this is the right way to proceed
(2) whether .png is the correct choice of file type
(2) what the dimensions of the illustrator invitation should be
(3) whether mail merge will size the invitation for various devices - cell phone to monitor
(4) If there are better options.

I tried a few trials and found that Word stalled/locked. But I'm not sure if this relates to the plan or to something unrelated.
Thank you for any help here! I need it!

Word's mail merge will not personalize the invitation in a .png format.
I think if I were attempting this I would be using Outlook instead of Word.
I haven't answered your questions, though. I am moving this to the mail merge forum.


Here is the new address.
https://www.msofficeforums.com/mail-...file-mass.html

Sorry, this isn't much assistance but more a word of warning to let you know this can be very complicated.

Sending invitations via email can be complicated because the receivers can use a wide variety of email packages and devices to view the email. By default, graphics may be blocked requiring additional steps that the receiver must make to view the graphics.
It is certainly worth doing some tests of the possibilities and view on Mac/Windows/iPhone/Android devices to understand some of the variability at the receiving end.

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

We did something similar a while back to send an invitation to a retirement party.

I believe our image was in .jpg. Nothing within the image was customized, just the email and the Dear ___ greeting stuff.

We ran a few tests with only in-house Email addresses, and that test group checked it on our computers and our phones to make sure it looked decent. Strongly suggest you do the same, as Andrew suggested above.

I think we also opted to make the image hyperlinked to open to a page in a browser just in case Email didn't display it well. Maybe that was a different merge Email.

I think finally in the end we sent in batches, sending to a filtered list of recipients in the first go, who were in my boss's inner circle, so that if there were any hiccups, she'd hear it first from them.