[GLLUG] Mass emailing from Access Db

[Brian Hoort]

We need to email custom messages to each of our entries/records in our 
database (Access). In short, I want to annually send each individual a copy 
of all the entries we have for them in our Db, so that they may respond if 
any address information, or other, has changed.

I'm thinking this is an opportunity to sneak in some public/free/gpl-ware 
into the office.

As I envision it now, I will need to create a report in Access that 
exports/saves a text file onto disk of all the emails, back-to-back in the 
format used by mail-clients, which I believe to be:

[start file]
To: foo1
From: Me@foo.com

Hi foo.

To: foo2
From: Me@foo.com

Hi foo2.

To: foo3
From: Me@foo.com

Hi foo3.
[end file]

Then I should be able to run an MTA, like sendmail, or similar program, 
that parses that "queue" and mails out all the messages. This cannot be 
done as a Word/Access mail merge because it is not a form letter -- as you 
can see the body of the message will be different for every recipient.

Have any of you done this? We have been searching for some time and are 
having difficulty finding something to do this with, yet it strikes us as a 
common need.

Thanks, as always!


________________________________________________________________________
   Brian Hoort      |      Agricultural Economics Computer Service, MSU
   "Be the change you want to see in the world" -Mahatma Gandhi