Hi Ilesh,
I beleive that it would indeed be possible to do this without the use of a commercial plug-in. For specific help with scripting FileMaker Pro via its own ScriptMaker language and/or via AppleScript, you could try searching or posting in the dedicated discussion lists/forums mentioned on the
FileMaker Web Resources page. There might also be some relevant tips in ClickWare's free
101 FileMaker Pro Secrets collection (downloadable in the form of an FMP database). In addition, you could try searching the usual script archives for canned FMP and/or Entourage scripts -- e.g.,
MacScripter.net's ScriptBuilders and
AppleScript Central.
If you can't find a complete FMP-to-Entourage script, or even two separate FMP & Entourage "half-scripts", then you'd need to plunge into the brave new word of scripting. :-) For a general introduction to the AppleScript language, see the links contained in the
Apple script info thread in this Forum.
You could try exploring FMP's help system to guide you through the process of using ScriptMaker or AppleScript to extract the required email addresses. Also, try opening FMP via the standard Script Editor's 'File | Open Dictionary...' menu-item (or just drag FMP onto the Script Editor), to examine its scripting dictionary for any promising commands. With any luck, FMP might even have some kind of built-in "Send Mail" command that would greatly ease your task, or is capable of interfacing directly with Entourage! (I gather that, in recent years, Claris/FileMaker Inc. has been working hard to integrate FMP more-or-less seamlessly into the MS Office/Mac suite.)
In any event, do the same for Entourage (i.e., explore its help system and examine its scripting dictionary), to see what the possibilities are for bulk mailings. E.g., can Entourage interface directly with FMP, or easily import FMP data? Alternatively, can Entourage use any externally-supplied email addresses at all (i.e., addresses that don't come from its built-in address book), such as those extracted from FMP? If so, in what format can Entourage accept them (e.g., as an AppleScript list structure, or via a text file with one address per line, or ...)? Once that's resolved, it should be relatively easy to write an Entourage script, perhaps consisting of a repeat loop, to generate and send a message to each email address, where your newsletter constitutes the message's inline body or is sent along as an attachment.
Regards,
--Paul
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