This features was announced on June 28Google announced a new mail merge feature on June 27, 2023. Here are some initial notes and instructions for the mass email feature using Google Sheets. There are two options:
- Multi-send. You enter the recipients manually and use default variables @firstname, @lastname, and @email to personalize the message.
- Mail merge with Sheets. You create a spreadsheet with a minimum firstname, lastname, email columns. You can send up to 1500 emails a day.
Instructions for sending mass email via Google's native feature
Note: if you plan to use a Google Sheet recipient list, create the sheet with minimum firstname, lastname, email columns. The column names can be anything you choose.
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Step 6. Click Continue to start the process of sending your email.
Comments from testing...
- In initial testing, for whatever reason, the Sheet selected didn't "take" – if this happens check to make sure you are the owner; look at the error message for clues of the problem, e.g, Duplicate entries.
- You cannot send to external email recipients (non-Lehigh email).
- The mass email feature does not handle Google Drive doc attachments/links; the email displays only the text of the Drive file name.
- The mass email feature will accept links as variables so long as the link begins http:// or https:// – the rendered variable displays as a link in the sent mail.
- The preview message did always work. If you do not get the message, do not refresh the page to check for new email. Refreshing deletes the compose message content.
- When you Send all messages, your sent mail will show the email template, then each individual message.