Mail Merge Tool: Patient Images

You can add variables that will insert VP Imaging or Edge Imaging patient images into your mail merge documents.

Use This Feature

  1. Create or Edit a Document - Open your Letter Library to add merge tools to a new or existing document. See "Letter Library" for details.

  2. Position Your Cursor - Place your cursor in the document where you want the information to print.

  3. Click to OpenOpen Variable Menu - Open the Add-Ins menu (if needed). Choose the Select Fields option to open a window of variable categories, most of which have subcategories.

  4. Click to OpenChoose Image - Click the Imaging tab at the top of the window. Then select the timepoint and the image type to work with from the list. (You can also use the Search field to find the variable to use.) Click Insert (or double-click the image name) to add the image to the document. (If the image name variables do not match your imaging system, please contact Ortho2 for assistance.)

  5. Position & Resize Image - You can click and drag the image box to the desired location. You can also hold down the Shift key, then click and drag the box handles to resize the image. (If you resize without holding the Shift key, your image proportions will become distorted.)

  6. Click to OpenEdit Timepoint / Image Type - Double-click the image variable placeholder to select a different timepoint and / or image type.

  7. Save & Exit - Click the X in the upper right corner of the document window. As you exit, you have the opportunity to save the document. We recommend identifying the image in the letter description (e.g. Dental Exam Notice with Facial Frontal Image ) to facilitate selecting appropriate letters.

More Information

Toggle Merge Code Display - When creating and editing word processing documents with mail merge codes (such as variables and conditional statements), it is helpful and sometimes necessary to be able to see the codes. During regular daily use, however, you may wish to have them off. While different versions of Word have different ways of accessing this setting, an easy way to toggle the merge code display, regardless of your version of Word, is to press Alt+F9 on your keyboard.

The Image Doesn't Show Up - The Imaging page of the patient folder must have the exact image type in the exact timepoint specified by the imaging box properties in order for the image to appear in the merged document.

Archived Images Don't Merge - You cannot merge archived patient images, because those images are no longer in the active image directory. You can, however, restore the images to active status, then merge the document with the images in it. See "UnArchive (Restore) Patient Images" for details.

Send Patient Images as Email Attachments - You can optionally include any merged patient images as individual attachments to email messages. While images are not included in the body of the email message, they are always embedded in the .PDF file attachment. See "Email Merge Letters" for details.