Diamond Dental Software integrates with Microsoft Word 97 or later to allow you to perform merge letter printing to your patients. MS Word is used as an extension of the Diamond Dental Software program, actually opening and closing, all from within Diamond Dental Software. Generating “Merge Letters” (also known as “Mail Merge Letters” also known as “Form Letters”) is the process of combining a standardized letter with your patient data to create “personalized” letters that appear as if they were written just for that person.

Setting The MS Word Launch Command
Microsoft Word can be run from within Diamond Dental Software. To do this, Diamond Dental Software needs to know what command to use to open (launch) MS Word on your computer. The MS Word filename is Winword.exe, with the exe part not necessary for opening the program. The command Winword by itself, works as the start-up command on many computers. On other computers, Diamond Dental Software will need to know the complete path, that includes the drive letter and directory (or folder) name, plus the word “Winword”. To set this command, from the Main Menu, click on Utilities. From the Utility Menu click on MS Word Mail Merge Maintenance button. The MS Word Mail Merge Maintenance screen will open. Diamond Dental Software suggests three possible commands to start your MS Word program. These are:

• Winword
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Winword
• C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office10\Winword

The MS Word Mail Merge Maintenance screen has the ability to run a test launching of MS Word from within the Diamond Dental Software program. Whatever command is inside the text box entitled Path to Launch MS Word will be used when you click the Launch Microsoft Word button. On many computers the command "Winword" is all that is need to open MS Word. We suggest you try this first. In the Path to Launch MS Word text box enter the command "Winword" and click the Launch Microsoft Word button. If MS Word opens, you have the path you need. If instead you get the “Action Failed” error window, click the Halt button to close it.

If "Winword" alone did not work, you will need to enter the more specific command. That command is:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\OfficeX\Winword

Where "OfficeX" is the only variable. For earlier versions of MS Word, use "Office" in place of OfficeX. For MS Word 2002, "Office10" is used. For MS Word 2003, "Office11" is used. The point is to enter the pathe where your Winword.exe file is located. Examples are: