In the new Colleague UI 5.x versions, you may have errors about actual Mail Merge MS Word documents in Communications Management.

Here at Durham Tech email is the preferred method of communicating with students via Colleague. However, there are some letters (for example the Return to Title IV Funds R2T4) that have to be sent via postal mail, which require a mail merge from Colleague to MS Word to generate the paper letter.

If the individual document does not download properly from Colleague to MS Word, follow the steps outlined below in HDCD and tell the user to use the preferred web browser (currently Google Chrome as of 10/20/2017). This should correct the issue of the MS Word mail merged letter not downloading properly.

  1. Go to HDCD for the document
  2. Change the Word Processor Document Format to DOCX
  3. Click Create/Edit document to open the document in Word
  4. Click the File, then Info. Click Convert under "Compatibility Mode" if this option is given (it should be first in the list). If convert is not an option, it will show the option for Permissions first.
  5. Click Save in Word, then close the document.
  6. Click Save in the prompt to go back to Colleague
  7. Test a document on PCEX or PCB to see if this resolves the issue.