Mail Merge Basics

First, let’s figure out what a mail merge is. Mail merge is when you take a document (such as an e-mail message, a letter, or a label) and merge it with a data source (such as a list of addresses). The finished result is customized to each entry in the data source.

For example, let’s say you want to send a Christmas newsletter summing up the events of the year to all the members of your family. You would like to have it personalized for everyone, but you have 50 people on your mailing list! You can use mail merge to create the letter and then merge it with your address list so that each letter is addressed to the recipient.

Here’s a list of terms you’ll hear in relation to a mail merge:

Merge fields / These are the places where Word will insert your data. For example, the <Address Block> merge field marks where each person’s address will go.
Data Source / This is the file that contains the personalized information, such as a list of addresses. Data sources can be existing files (such as Access databases), pulled from an application (such as your Outlook contacts) or created during the mail merge.
Record / A record is one set of data in your data source. For example, a record from your Outlook contacts could contain the person’s first and last name, mailing address, and e-mail address.

The easiest way to perform a mail merge is by using the Mail Merge wizard, so we’re going to devote this whole section to the various options in the wizard. You can access this particular task pane by clicking the Tools menu, choosing Letters and Mailings, and clicking Mail Merge.

The wizard is in a task pane on the right hand side of your screen, so remember the basics about task panes:

-You can resize and move them.

-You can close them using the X in the top right hand corner.

-You can change what task pane you are viewing by clicking the name of the task pane.

The bottom of this task pane will tell you what step you are on. You can click Next or Previous to advance a step or go back a step to change options.

There are six main steps to a mail merge:

1)Choosing Your Document Type: Pick what kind of document you want to create.

2)Choosing Your Starting Document: You can work from an existing document or a new one.

3)Select Recipients: Select who you’re going to send this document to and where this list is.

4)Customize Your Document: Customize what your document will contain.

5)Preview Your Document

6)Finalize Your Document

During all steps of the mail merge you can still type in, edit, and format your document.

These steps are all a bit different depending on the document type you’re creating, so we’re going to look at each type separately. In all the lessons, we’re going to start from the point of opening the task pane.

Creating Letters with the Mail Merge Wizard

When you open the Mail Merge wizard, the first step you will see will prompt you to choose a document type.

Once you select a type, a description of that type will appear below the list. We’re going to start with the first choice: Letters. Once we click Letters and click Next at the bottom, you will see the dialog on the next page.

This dialog asks us to choose our starting document. Like Step 1, we have a list of three choices. Clicking on any of the choices will bring up a description below the choices.

The three choices you have are:

Use the current document / Merges the document you are currently in.
Start from a template / Uses a template for the merge document.
Start from an existing document / Allows you to choose one of your documents for the merge.

If you choose either of the last two choices, there will be a Select or Browse box in the description section for you to pick a file. Once you pick a file, it will be displayed in the document window.

Once we click Next, we will be prompted to select our recipients. The options in the second half of the task pane will vary depending on the first choice.

Select Recipients Choice / Use an Existing List option / List option actions
Use an Existing List / Browse / Use the Browse dialog to choose a source for your data.
Select from Outlook contacts / Choose contacts folder / Opens a dialog to choose your Outlook contacts.
Type a new list / Create / Opens a dialog to create a new address list.

For this sample, we’re going to use Outlook contacts.

Once we have our recipient list, we’re going to click Next so we can start writing our letter. Here’s what Step 4 looks like:

Note the message at the top of this task pane: if you haven’t typed your letter yet, now is the time to do so!

Step 4 also allows us to insert merge fields into our letter. Merge fields indicate where Word will fill in information that is customized to each recipient, such as a greeting (“Dear Mr. Smith”) or their address. Let’s look at each of the choices in the list.

If you click the Address Block link, you’ll see the dialog pictured above. This dialog lets you customise these elements:

-Recipient’s name (ie, Mr. Bugs Bunny, Dear Bugs, or Bugs Bunny and Family)

-Whether or not the company name is included

-Whether or not to include a postal address

-When to include the country or region in the postal address

-Whether or not Word should format the address according to the destination country or region

A preview in the bottom portion of the Insert Address Block dialog will show you the effects of the changes you have made. Once you’re done, click OK for those changes to be applied to your document.

The next option we can configure is the greeting line.

This dialog lets you choose how recipients will be addressed in your mail merge document. In all of the fields, you can choose an item from the drop-down menu or type your own. Like the Insert Address Block dialog, you can see a preview of your changes at the bottom of this dialog. Once everything is set, click OK to apply the changes to your document.

The third option in Step 4, electronic postage, lets you add electronic postage if you have the proper software installed. As these options vary depending on the software you use, we’re going to skip it.

The fourth option lets you insert a postal bar code, which will allow a machine to read the ZIP or postal code on your envelope or label. This field is usually not necessary for letters.

The last option in Step 4 allows you to insert additional merge fields. First, click to place your cursor in the place you want the field in your document. Then, click the More Items link. This dialog will open:

At the top of this window, you can choose the field type. The list of fields will then change depending on which option you select. To insert any of these fields, just select it and then click Insert. The field will then appear where your cursor is. Normally, you will not need to add any of these custom merge fields, but it is good to know where to find them if you need them.

Once you’re done customizing merge fields, click OK to return to the main Mail Merge screen.

If you’re using a template, some merge fields may already appear in your document, like this:

In this case, clicking any of the links will modify those existing fields.

Step 5 of the Mail Merge wizard will show you a preview of your letter in the main document screen.

Note that although merge fields (circled in red) have been filled in, template fields (circled in blue) have not been filled in. Also note that this is just a preview, so Word has only created a letter for one sample recipient. All of your letters will not appear in this preview.

In Step 5, you can use the Mail Merge task pane to find a recipient in the list, edit recipients, or exclude recipients. If you want to go back and change any of your previous settings, now is the time to do it.

If your letter looks right, click Next to move on to Step 6, which is completing the merge.

The task pane in this step contains important information about what to do now that the merge is complete.

-Click Print if you’re all done to print out your letters.

-Click Edit individual letters if you want to edit the individual letters. This will open all the letters in a new document so you can come back to the original document if you want to make global changes.

If you click Edit Individual Letters, you will receive confirmation of the merge in the form of this dialog box:

Typically, you would want to choose All and click OK.

Here’s a sample of the completed merge:

You can see that we have four different letters; each is addressed to a different person. You can also see that we forgot to fill out template information (such as Company Name), so we’ll have to go back into the main document. Once we complete that information, we can re-do the merge, rather than editing each letter.