Collate Option

Getting Started

The collate option is designed for mailings where each recipient needs to receive a unique version of a document—such as personalized letters generated in programs like Microsoft Word. This feature ensures that the content of each letter aligns correctly with the corresponding recipient in your address list.

In This Article

What Is the Collate Option?

The collate option tells our system that the uploaded PDF document contains recipient-specific content in a fixed order. Each page or set of pages in the PDF should correspond directly with a recipient in the provided address list.

When to Use Collate

Use the collate option if:

  • Each document or letter contains unique information for each recipient (e.g., personalized greetings, individual account details).
  • You’ve generated a PDF using software like Microsoft Word’s mail merge feature.
  • All recipients are intended to receive the same number of pages.

How Collate Works

To use the collate option:

  1. Combine all your personalized letters into a single PDF file.
  2. Prepare a CSV address list that matches the exact order of the letters in your PDF.
  3. When uploading the PDF, select the Collate? checkbox.
  4. Indicate how many pages each recipient should receive under the Number of Pages option.

The system will then match page sets to recipients in the exact order they appear in the address list and document.

Best Practices

  • Review proofs carefully before approving the job. Look for matching names and content.
  • For large mailings, we recommend checking proofs from the beginning, middle, and end of the list.
  • Double-check the order of your PDF and address list before uploading.
  • Ensure each recipient’s letter is the same number of pages, as the collate feature does not support variable-length mailings.