Microsoft®

Mail Merge

Amarillo College

Revision Date: November 19, 2012

Table of Contents

LETTERS

Creating a New List of Recipients

Keeping Excel Formatting in a Mail Merge

MAILING LABELS

ENVELOPES

Mail Merge Envelopes

A Single Envelope

Default Fonts for Envelopes

E-MAIL MESSAGES

Set up the Excel “Data File”

Create the Mail Merge E-Mail Messages

1

Microsoft Word 2010Mail Merge

LETTERS

The mail merge process is the same, no matter whether you are printing letters, envelopes, or mailing labels.

  1. Start with a blank document.
  2. On the Mailings tab, click the Start Mail Merge icon, located on the
    Start Mail Merge ribbon.
  3. Click the option, “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.” This will open a task pane at the right side of the screen.

Step 1 of 6

  1. Since, at the top of the task pane, “Letters” is the default option, just click
    “Next: Starting Document.”

Step 2 of 6

  1. At the top of the task pane at the far right side of the screen, specify the starting document:
  2. The current document
  3. From a saved template
  4. From a saved letter on the hard drive or network drive
  5. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Select Recipients.”

Step 3 of 6

  1. Specify where the external data (names, etc.) are stored.
  2. Existing list – the names have already been saved into another file
  3. Outlook Contacts – Names and address are currently stored in Outlook
  4. Type a New List – allows you to create the list from scratch
  5. If the merged information (names) is stored in an external file such as an Excel workbook, click the icon, and then double-click the file once it has been found.

NOTE: Excel is probably the easiest program to store the merge data.

  1. If the merged information has not been created yet, follow the directions labeled, “Creating a New List of Recipients” later in this manual.
  2. Click the button to close the list of data and get back to the document.
  3. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Write your Letter.” You will see a table listing the data that will be merged into the letters.

Step 4 of 6

  1. Start typing the letter. If you are using a previously-saved document, simply make any changes that are needed to the wording.
  2. Whenever you need to insert a data field, click and then double-click the desired field. (Close the window after adding a field)
  3. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Preview your Letters.”

Step 5 of 6

  1. This step of the wizard allows you to edit data or exclude a recipient from the list. This step is not used very often.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Complete the Merge.”

Step 6 of 6

  1. Click .
  2. To see all letters, click
  3. You can then print and/or save the document as needed.

Creating a New List of Recipients

These commands are to be used if you want to create a list of merge data from within Word 2010. It stores the data in a small Access database.

  1. On step 3 of 6, in the mail merge process, do the following:
  2. At the top of the task pane, click the “Type a new list” option.
  3. Click
  4. As shown in the illustration below, there are some fields already created for you.

  1. Rename fields by clicking on the field and then using the Rename button.
  2. Delete unneeded fields by clicking on the field and then using the Delete button.
  3. Add fields by click the Add button and type a name for the new field.
  4. To rearrange fields, click on a field and use either the Move Up or Move Down button.

Keeping Excel Formatting in a Mail Merge

Word does not keep any Excel formatting during a mail merge routine. However, this capability can be activated. Afterwards, any formatting that has been added to values in Excel will be retained in the mail merged document.

  1. Open Word 2010, but do not open any documents. If any are opened, close them.
  2. On the File tab, click Options.
  3. At the left side of the window, click the Advancedoption. There will be a scrollable list of options that are grouped together. For example, the first group is called “Editing Option.”
  4. Scroll down to the General group.
  5. Add a checkmark to the “Confirm File Format Conversion on Open” box.

MAILING LABELS

  1. On the Mailings tab, click the “Start Mail Merge” icon, located on the
    Start Mail Merge ribbon.
  2. Click the option, “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.” This will open a task pane at the right side of the screen.

Step 1 of 6

  1. Specify Labels.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Starting Document.”

Step 2 of 6

  1. Click.

  1. The most common label type is Avery #5160. Scroll down and click the product number for the labels you are using and then click.
  2. If no gridlines are displayed, on the Layout tab, click the View Gridlines icon, located on the Table ribbon.
  3. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Select Recipients.”

Step 3 of 6

  1. Either use an existing list of names or create a new list. Directions on how to do this are listed back in the “Creating a New List of Recipients” section of this manual.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Arrange you Labels.”

Step 4 of 6

  1. From the task pane at the right side of the screen, click
  2. Choose from the list how you want the address to look and then click .
  3. From the task pane at the right side of the screen, click the button.
  4. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Preview your Labels.”

Step 5 of 6

  1. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Complete the Merge.”

Step 6 of 6

  1. Click
  2. You can then print and/or save the envelopes as needed.

ENVELOPES

Mail Merge Envelopes

  1. On the Mailings tab, click the “Start Mail Merge” icon, located on the
    Start Mail Merge ribbon.
  2. Click the option, “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.” This will open a task pane at the right side of the screen.

Step 1 of 6

  1. Specify Envelopes.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Starting Document.”

Step 2 of 6

  1. Click.
  2. Make any changes as needed and then click .
  3. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Select Recipients.”

Step 3 of 6

NOTE: If the merged information (names) is stored in an external file such as an Excel workbook, click the icon, locate the file, and then double-click the file.

  1. Either use an existing list of names or create a new list. Directions on how to do this are listed back in the Mail Merge section of this manual.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Arrange you Envelope.”

Step 4 of 6

  1. On the keyboard, press the DOWNARROW keyto place the cursor in the main editing box in the middle of the envelope. A blue-dotted Address Block Text box will appear on the screen showing where the address will be displayed.
  2. From the task pane at the right side of the screen, click
  3. Choose from the list how you want the address to look and then click . This will put a code named, “Address Block” in the box in the middle of the screen.
  4. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Preview your Envelopes.”

Step 5 of 6

  1. This step of the wizard allows you to edit data or exclude a recipient from the list. This step is not used very often.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Complete the Merge.”

Step 6 of 6

  1. Click to open a new document with each person’s letter included.
  2. You can then print and/or save the envelopes as needed.

A Single Envelope

  1. Load an envelope into the printer.
  2. On the Mailings tab, click the Envelopes icon on the Create ribbon.

  1. On the Envelopes tab, click the Delivery Address field and then type the address.
  2. If desired, click in the Return Address field and add your address.
  3. To set the return address as a default, click .

Default Fonts for Envelopes

The fonts used inside an envelope are set from a Word Style. This has to be changed before the default font can be made permanent in an envelope.

  1. On the File tab, click the Styles Launcher symbol (circled in the illustration below) located on the Styles ribbon.
  1. As circled in the illustration below, click the Manage Styles button.
  1. Scroll down and then click on Envelope Address style. (see note below)

NOTE: The styles are NOT in alphabetical order, so keep looking!

  1. Once it is found, the style may be grayed out, but click on it anyway.
  2. Make formatting changes as needed.
  3. Click the option button for “New Documents Based on This Template”.
  4. If you want to change the default font for the Return Address too, click Envelope Return and follow the same steps to change the font.
  5. Click the button until the styles window is closed.
  6. Create your envelopes as needed.

E-MAIL MESSAGES

Since Amarillo College is using Outlook, it is an easy step to create a mail merge document and send it out as an e-mail to a group of people. Remember, if you send a large e-mail message to many people, you will use up a lot of space in your “Sent Items” folder in Outlook.

Set up the Excel “Data File”

  1. Use Excel to hold the data to be merged into the messages.
  2. If the columns of data do not have column headings, add a blank line at the top of the data and add column headings.
  3. Make sure one of the columns contain valid e-mail addresses.

Create the Mail Merge E-Mail Messages

  1. Close the Excel data file if it is currently open.
  2. On the Mailings tab, click the “Start Mail Merge” icon.
  3. Click the option, “Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard.”

Step 1 of 6

  1. Specify E-mail Messages.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Starting Document.” The document will look a little different than a normal document, but don’t worry about that.

Step 2 of 6

  1. At the top of the task pane at the right side of the screen, select the appropriate option button to specify which document is to be used as the body of the e-mail message.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Select Recipients.”

Step 3 of 6

  1. Click the icon in the task pane.
  2. Find and double-click the Excel file which contains your merge data and e-mail addresses.
  3. If you are asked to confirm the data source, just click the OK button.
  4. As shown in the illustration below:
  5. Since Excel workbooks usually have multiple worksheets in them, you have to specify which worksheet contains your data. In the illustration below, the default (Sheet1) is chosen.
  6. As circled in the above illustration, specify that your data contains column headings.


  1. Click . A table will open displaying all of the chosen records. If anyone in the list is not to receive this e-mail, just remove the checkmark in front of their name.
  2. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Write your E-Mail Message.”

Step 4 of 6

  1. Create the e-mail message. Whenever you need to insert a data field, click and then double-click the desired field. (Close the window after adding a field)
  1. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Preview your E-mail Messages.”

Step 5 of 6

  1. At the bottom of the task pane, click “Next: Complete the Merge.”

Step 6 of 6

  1. Click to open a new document with each person’s letter included.

  1. In the Subject Line field, type whatever you want to be displayed in their mailbox in the subject line of your e-mail message.
  2. Leave the “Mail Format”as HTML.
  3. Close the message document.

Page 1