Jiang Z - Mail merge with the use of formlett.sty

Sep 19, 2026

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Mail merge workflow using formlett.sty is presented for plain TEX and LaTEX/LaTEX2e. The material explains a parameterized form-letter format where bracketed placeholders are replaced per recipient, supports structured parameter clusters and grouped numbering, and introduces macro-driven defaults. Examples show supplying parameters via commands such as \moreletter and using \paras and \beginletter/\endletter to generate merged letters. It also covers previewing parameter positions and printing mailing labels.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time2 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Basic format

The concept of macros

Parameter naming and grouping

Printing mailing labels and previewing

Mail merge with the use of formlett.sty Zhuhan JIANG School of Computing and Information Technology, University of Western Sydney, Victoria Road, Parramatta NSW 2150, Australia. Email: [z.jiang@uws.edu.au](z.jiang@uws.edu.au) (Last updated on 26 May 2003) In this article, the author explains how to use a form-letter or mail merge style formlett.sty, designed for plain TEX and LaTEX or LaTEX2e.formlett.sty supports di􀀋erent parameter input methods, parameter naming and defaulting mechanism, as well as facilities for previewing parameter positions and printing labels.It is written for the purpose of being powerful, robust and above all easy to use. Introduction Our purpose here is to describe a comprehensive implementation of a macro system, handling form letters or mail merge under plain TEX or LaTEX 2.09 or LaTEX2e. The main objective is to provide an easy way to output many form letters with their own parameters, with or without the use of multiple 􀀌les. There will be a coherent and simple format for putting parameters inside a form letter, with a number of helping facilities for such as naming parameters and previewing their positions. A minimum support for printing mailing labels is also provided. The concept of macros [1] for form letters is not new: there already exist macros in this connection such as merge, textmerg and address to name a few, see [2,3] for further details. Our stress here is therefore laid on the ease to use, along with the power and the robustness of the macros. Basic format Suppose we would like to write a form letter for mail merge in the following form <> <> <> Dear <>, We have been looking for <> for quite a while without any luck, could you help us out? If so, please ring <> . Cheers! Michael where the text inside the double arrow brackets are to be replaced by the parameters speci􀀌c to each individual letter. If we number these parameters one by one in a single group, then the letter template will be organised as Dear, 1 { 4 We have been looking for 1 { 5 for quite a while without any luck, could you help us out? If so, please ring 1 { 6 . Cheers! Michael and we need just 6 parameters to personalise an individual letter. A simplest example of supplying a set or a cluster of these parameters to output a merged form letter is to use \moreletter Mrs L Stenson;\\#1-20 Sunset Street;% Hills, Norway;Louise;a Bible;220-8888! For more letters to be merged this way, just use again the command \moreletter in the above format, in which each parameter is separated by a semicolon ` ; ' and the whole parameter cluster is ended by an exclamation mark ` ! ' . The actual code in LaTEX for making the above form letter, along with an extra merged letter, may read as follows \documentstyle[formlett]{article} 0001 \begin{document} 0002 \beginletter 0003 \NOPAGENUMBERS\parindent=0pt 0004 \paras[1]\par\paras[2]\par 0005 \paras[3]\par\medskip 0006 Dear \paras[4], \par\medskip 0007 We have been looking for 0008 \paras[5] for quite a while 0009 without any luck, could you help 0010 us out? If so, please ring 0011 \paras[6] . \par\medskip 0012 Cheers!\hfill Michael\vfill\eject 0013 \endletter 0014 0015 \moreletter % letter one 0016 Mrs L Stenson;\\#1-20 Sunset Street;% 0017 Hills, Norway;Louise;a Bible;220-8888! 0018 \moreletter % letter two 0019 S Wales;UMIST;Manchester;Sir or Madam;% 0020 a \TeX\ package{+}manual;225-9905! 0021 \end{document} 0022 The line numbers in the above and later on are for quick reference only: they are not a part of the program code. The letter template in lines 4-13 is de- Jiang Z Mail merge with the use of formlett.sty 1 􀀌ned by the \beginletter and \endletter pair inline 3 and line 14, with each use of \moreletter generating a new merged letter. We note that command \paras[m] represents the mth merged parameter (of the 􀀌

FAQs

How are placeholders in a form letter replaced for each recipient?

The template uses double-arrow bracket placeholders like <> and <>, which are replaced by per-letter parameters supplied to formlett.

What does \moreletter do in the examples?

\moreletter provides a cluster of parameters separated by semicolons and terminated with an exclamation mark, generating each merged letter.

How can parameters be grouped and renumbered in a mail merge?

Use grouped parameter notation such as \paras[m][n] or \blockparas[m][n][pre][post] so each group’s parameters resynchronize numbering for cleaner template organization.

Sep 19, 2026

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