# How can I automatically generate a personalized greeting in Outlook?



## eaglesbaby (Nov 14, 2012)

I want to automatically include a personalized email in individual emails I send. For example, I would Outlook to automatically say "Hi Joe," when emailing a particular contact. I've tried Bells and Whistles and ReplyButler, but they're kind of clumsy. Does anyone know of another addon I can use or another way to accomplish this in Outlook?


----------



## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Without using a third party program, in the business world we use Mail Merge to personalize mass mailings. If you only want to this personally and for one Email at a time, then it's easier to personalize at the time of composition. That way you could change your openings to "Joe". One time it might be Hi Joe, then another time Whazzup Joe?


----------



## eaglesbaby (Nov 14, 2012)

Thanks, Corday. I'm not trying to mail merge. Actually, I do want to automate greetings for individual emails, since I always say "Hi So and So,". It would actually be much easier to automate it than type it every time.


----------



## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

If you're trying to avoid a paid program, you have to use VB or possibly a macro to customize. I wasn't sure if you wanted to do this as a header or in the body, but a friend with VB skills could help.


----------



## eaglesbaby (Nov 14, 2012)

I'd like to to this in the body. Do you have any ideas on where I could find steps to create a macro? What is VB? Visual Basic?


----------



## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

Yes, VB is Visual Basic. Assuming you have no programming background, look for Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6 by John Smiley. You'll pick up on some great ideas without having to learn a ton of code that only a full time Programmer needs.


----------



## Corday (Mar 3, 2010)

An additional thought. VB Script might also do the trick. Read this article and go to all the links: Writing VBA code for Microsoft Outlook


----------

