Merge Hyperlinks

How to mail merge with hyperlinks?

This article describes how to merge hyperlinks, enabling a personalized hyperlink to be sent to each email recipient. When combined with a file sharing service such as Google Drive, merging with hyperlinks can be used to mail merge with attachments.

Step 1: Create two columns

In Google Sheets, create two new columns and name them whatever you want (e.g., Hyperlink URL and Hyperlink Text)

The Hyperlink URL column is going to contain the mail merge hyperlink reference (or mail merge URL link) such as https://www.quicklution.com, while the Hyperlink Text column is going to contain its representive text such as Quicklution.

Step 2: Add <link|X> tag

In the name of the Hyperlink URL column, add the tag <link|X> where 'X' is the letter of the Hyperlink Text column.

This ensures that the mail merge link in the Hyperlink URL column is associated with the text in the Hyperlink Text column.

Step 3: Insert hyperlink URLs and text

For each data row, insert a mail merge hyperlink URL and hyperlink text in the respective columns.

In the two examples below, job role description documents are shared with company employees as file link attachments. In both examples , the mail merge link URL (column G) links to a file link attachment containing a job role description specific to each employee's job role.

Step 4: Insert hyperlink merge fields

In your merge template, insert the hyperlink merge field as you would for any other merge field.

In each of the examples, the merge field *|Hyperlink URL <link|H>|* is added.

Example 1 (personalized mail merge hyperlink text)

Merge Template

Merged Content

Example 2 (same mail merge hyperlink text)

Merge Template

Merged Content

Both examples above show how to insert a hyperlink in a mail merge email to mail merge with attachments.

Mail merge with attachments using hyperlinks

When you mail merge a Google Drive file hyperlink to an email, it appears as an attachment in Gmail. In this instance, mail merging with a hyperlink can be used as an alternative to mail merging with a file attachment, as shown in the screenshots below.

Email Template

Link to any Google Drive file

Merged Email

Links to Google Drive files are automatically shown as attachments