Excel: How to Send Multiple Rows Per Email (Grouped Automatically)

Many Excel users eventually run into this limitation:

How do I send multiple rows per email from Excel — grouped by recipient?

By default, Excel and traditional mail merge tools send one row per email. But in real-world workflows, that’s often not enough.

Let’s walk through a practical scenario and explore how to solve it properly.

The Problem: Sending Grouped Emails Manually Every Day

Lily Summers is a teaching assistant at a college.

Every morning, she receives an Excel file containing:

• Column A: Student names
• Columns B–J: Attendance details
• Column K: Instructor names Her task sounds simple:

Sort 250 absent students by instructor.

1. Take a screenshot of each instructor’s student list.
2. Paste the screenshot into an email.
3. Add a standard message.
4. Send the email. Repeat this process over 40 times.

Daily student attendance sheet received by Lily(sample data)

Emails to be sent by Lily

The entire workflow takes 90 minutes per day.

The key issue is this:

She needs to send multiple students (multiple rows) in one email to each instructor — not one row per email.

And the list must be sent as an image, not as an attachment.

Why Standard Mail Merge Doesn’t Work

Most tutorials explain how to:

• Send one row per email
• Use Word mail merge
• Insert single-record data fields However, these methods do not solve the grouped email problem.

Mail merge does not:

• Automatically group multiple rows by recipient
• Create one email per group
• Convert a dynamic Excel range into an image
• Embed that image directly into the email body So while mail merge works for simple notifications, it does not support sending multiple rows in one email grouped by a specific column.

What Actually Needs to Happen

To send multiple rows per email from Excel correctly, the workflow must include:

Step 1: Group Rows by Recipient

All rows sharing the same instructor name must be grouped together.

Step 2: Generate a Separate Report per Group

Each instructor should receive only their students.

Step 3: Convert the Grouped Range into an Image

Since the requirement is to send the list as an image, the system must capture the grouped table and convert it into an image format while preserving formatting.

Step 4: Insert the Image into the Email Body

The image must be embedded inline — not sent as an attachment.

Step 5: Send Automatically

Generate and send one email per instructor without manual repetition.

This is not a simple mail merge — this is a grouped reporting automation workflow.

Can This Be Done with VBA?

Technically, yes — but it requires:

• Writing grouping logic
• Creating dynamic ranges
• Converting ranges to images
• Handling Outlook or SMTP integration
• Managing error handling
• Maintaining the script long-term For non-developers, this becomes complex quickly.

A Practical Automation Workflow

In Lily’s case, we implemented the following workflow in SQLMessenger through straightforward configuration:

• Importing Excel data
• Grouping records by a specified column
• Generating grouped reports
• Converting reports to images
• Creating draft emails automatically

The email task configured in SQLMessenger

Each day, she simply:

1. Imports the student list.
2. Executes the predefined task.
3. Reviews the generated draft emails.
4. Clicks “Approve.”

Run the task and import the student list

Emails generated by the task (email bodies sent as images)

After clicking "Approve" in the interface, the system automatically starts sending the generated emails

What used to take 90 minutes now takes about five.

The key insight: solving this problem requires data grouping + report generation + automated email creation.

When Do You Need This Type of Workflow?

• Sending attendance reports by instructor
• Sending sales reports by regional manager
• Sending support tickets by team lead
• Sending financial summaries by department
• Sending grouped order lists by supplier

If your current process involves filtering data manually, taking screenshots, and repeating emails dozens of times, you are performing grouped reporting manually — which can be automated.

FAQ

Can Excel send multiple rows in one email?

No. By default, Excel mail merge sends one row per email. To send multiple rows to the same recipient, the data must first be grouped.

How do I send grouped records from Excel automatically?

You must group rows by recipient, generate a report per group, and then send one email per group automatically.

Can I send an Excel table as an image in an email?

Excel does not natively convert dynamic grouped ranges into images and embed them into emails. This requires automation logic.

Is this possible without coding?

Basic scenarios can be handled with VBA, but structured grouped automation often requires dedicated automation software.

Final Thoughts

If you're trying to send multiple rows per email from Excel, the real challenge is grouping the data correctly and generating one structured report per recipient.

Once that part is automated, the email step becomes simple.

Understanding this distinction is the key to solving the problem efficiently.

Reposted from https://www.sqlmessenger.com/excel-send-multiple-rows-per-email