How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images

Hold Ctrl+click to open sample

This is an example on how to create a series of five-day menus for a school

cafeteria as shown.

To do this, you will need:

1. A menu layout
2. A collection of photos of meals.
3. A list (data source) that includes the days of the week and the
corresponding meals.

Creating the Data Source

OnMerge Images can work with many types of data sources, but we strongly
recommend that you use an Excel spreadsheet since that you would typically use
to plan a menu. In this example, the chef would create a row for each week in the
spreadsheet.
How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images 1
Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
Setting up the Photos
OnMerge Images doesn't create any new images, but selects the correct existing
image to use on each merged page or record. It does that by using the data
source to compose the appropriate Folder and File Name for each page’s or
record’s image.

In this example, we will name the photos with each meal’s names:

Burger with Fries.jpg

Tagliatelle Pasta.jpg
Assorted Sushi.jpg
Tofu Lasagna.jpg
Fishburger with Fries.jpg

Windows named these particular files ending in .jpg because they are in the
popular JPEG format. However, OnMerge Images also supports most popular
formats such as TIFF, PNG, GIF, BMP and others. For a complete list, refer to
the OnMerge Help.

Setting up the Master Menu Layout Template

We have included a pre-setup template for the above menu so you can easily
follow along these steps. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on this sentence to
bring up that template in another window.

[Word 2002 & 2003: Select Tools + Letters and Mailings + Mail Merge Wizard]
or [Word 2007 & 2010 only: Select Mailings + Start Mail Merge + Step by Step
Mail Merge Wizard] to bring up the Mail Merge wizard on the right side of your
screen. The wizard will guide you through six steps to complete your merge:

 Step 1, Select document type: this example creates a single sheet but
Word classifies this feature in Letters, so select Letters and click Next
at the right, bottom of the screen.

 Step 2, Select starting document: if you were typing in a document

from scratch, you would select Use the current document. If you
already have a pre-existing letter, select Start from template or Start
from existing document and select a document using the controls
below that. Click Next.

How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images 2

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
 Step 3, Select recipients: We will be using the Excel spreadsheet we
previously set up, so select Use an existing list, click the Browse icon
below, and navigate to the spreadsheet. In this example, the
spreadsheet is located in the My Documents\OnMerge Image
Samples folder and is named Menu of the Week.xls

o You will see a Select Table dialog: select the first line (titled
Sheet1$) and click OK.

o You will see a Select Recipients dialog: click Select All and then
OK.

o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard.

 Step 4, Write your letter: the menu template has already been created
in this example as follows:

o This menu is organized in three columns and five rows. Therefore,

you will need to create a table with three rows of columns covering
the menu. Select [Word 2002 & 2003: Table + Insert + Table] or
[Word 2007 & 2010: Insert + Table + Insert Table…] as shown:

o Once your table comes up as shown,

How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images 3

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
 drag the small square to the on the bottom right so that the entire
table is flush with the page’s margins. You will have to repeat this
operation a few times to get it fully flush with the margins. Also,
Sizing Images? drag the middle vertical lines in the table to match the sample menu
Different images that shown at the top of these instructions.
you merge in the same
spot may have different
sizes and orientations.
o Click on the leftmost column of the menu. Type Monday through
When you actually do Friday going down the column.
the merge, OnMerge will
size the image to the o In the rightmost column use the More items button in the Mail
largest possible size that Merge Wizard to insert the meal name for each day of the week.
your master template
supports.
o Click in the top, middle column where you want the OnMerge
There are two ways to Image inserted. Click [Word 2002 & 2003: the button in the Mail
tell OnMerge what that Merge toolbar] or [Word 2007 & 2010: Mailings + OnMerge
maximum image size is.
1) On the Options tab Images] to activate the OnMerge dialog box.
of the OnMerge dialog,
set Image Box Width  Click Browse to tell OnMerge which folder your image
and Height; or, 2) Drag collection is located in. In this example, the folder is located
the image’s corner so in My Documents\OnMerge Image Samples and click OK.
that it fills the maximum
There is no need to select a specific image file, just the
width and height (image
box) that the image folder the images are located in.
could possibly occupy in
your layout. As you drag  Under first row under Type of name part, select Merge
the corner, note that the Database and under File Name, Bookmark or Text, select
image may appear Monday. You will immediately see the meal’s photo pop up
distorted or stretched
but OnMerge will
for the first Monday.
correctly resize the
image as soon as you  You may use the controls to preview the
click outside it.
image for each photo.
OnMerge will
remember the  Select OK.
maximum image box
you just sized and use
that size in the merge  The OnMerge Image will be displayed in your document with
even though it does small squares at the edge. Use the mouse to enlarge the
not appear on-screen image by dragging the bottom right corner. Stretch the
in the master template. photo so that the photo fills the entire box in the table.
This means that, unless
all merged images have
exactly the same
proportions, you may
end up with white or
blank space on sides or
tops of the merged
images since each
merged image may
have different
proportions than the
maximum image box.

How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images 4

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
 Click outside the image to get rid of the small squares.

 Center the image in the column using Word’s text centering

feature.

o Repeat down the column for each day of the week

o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard.

 Step 5, Preview your menus: you may use the << and >> buttons in
the mail merge wizard to preview your finished menus. Click Next.

 Step 6, Complete the merge: Clicking Print will merge the menus and
photos directly to your printer. Clicking Edit individual letters will
create a new Word document that contains all the menus in the
completed mail merge; this option is useful for final verification before
printing.

How to Create a Menu of the Week using OnMerge Images 5

Copyright © 2005-2010 OnMerge. All rights reserved.