Mail merge
Mail merge can be used to create a set of
documents, such as a form letter that is sent to many customers or a sheet of
address labels. Each letter or label has the same kind of information, yet the
content is unique. For example, in letters to customers, each letter can be
personalized to address each customer by name. The unique information in each
letter or label comes from entries in a data source.
The mail merge process consists of the
following steps:
1.
Set up the main document. The main document contains the text and
graphics that are the same for each version of the merged document. For
example, the return address or salutation in a form letter.
2.
Connect the document to a data source. A data source is a
file that contains the information to be merged into a document. For example,
the names and addresses of the recipients of a letter.
3.
Refine the list of recipients or items. Microsoft Office
Word generates a copy of the main document for each item, or record, in your
data file. If your data file is a mailing list, these items are probably
recipients of your mailing. If you want to generate copies for only certain
items in your data file, you can choose which items (records) to include.
4.
Add placeholders, called mail merge fields, to the
document. When you perform the mail merge, the mail merge fields are
filled with information from your data file.
5.
Preview and complete the merge. You can preview each
copy of the document before you print the whole set.
Set up the main document
1.
Start Word.
A blank document opens by default. Leave it open. If you close
it, the commands in the next step are not available.
2.
On the Mailings
tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click Start Mail Merge.
3.
Click the type of
document that you want to create.
For example, you can create:
A set of envelopes The return address is the same on
all the envelopes, but the destination address is unique on each one. Click Envelopes,
and then specify your preferences for envelope size and text formatting on the Envelope
Options tab of the Envelope Options dialog box. A set of address labels Each label shows a person's name
and address, but the name and address on each label is unique. Click Labels,
and then specify your preferences for the type of label in the Label Options
dialog box. A set of form letters or e-mail messages The basic content is the same in
all the letters or messages, but each contains information that is specific to
the individual recipient, such as name, address, or some other piece of
information. Click Letters or E-mail messages to create these
types of documents. A catalog or directory The same kind of information, such
as name and description, is shown for each item, but the name and description
in each item is unique. Click Directory to create this type of document.
Connect the document to a data source
To merge information into your main document, you must connect
the document to a data source, or a data file. If you don't already have a data
file, you can create one during the mail merge process.
Choose a data file
1.
On the Mailings
tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click Select Recipients.
2.
If you have a
Microsoft Office Excel worksheet, a Microsoft Office Access database, or
another type of data file, click Use Existing List, and then locate the
file in the Select Data Source dialog box.
i. With the mail merge main document open, in the
Start Mail Merge group of the Mailings tab, click Select
Recipients, and then click Use Existing List.
ii. Locate the Excel worksheet in the Select
Data Source dialog box, and double-click it.
iii. In the Confirm Data Source dialog box,
click MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls), and then click OK.
iv. In the Microsoft Office Excel dialog
box, for Named or cell range, select the cell range or worksheet that
contains the information that you want to merge, and then click OK.
3.
If you don't have a
data file yet, click Type a new list, and then use the form that opens
to create your list. The list is saved as a database (.mdb) file that you can
reuse.
Refine the list of recipients or items
When you connect to a certain data file, you might not want to
merge information from all the records in that data file into your main
document.
To narrow the list of recipients or use a subset of the items in
your data file, do the following:
1.
On the Mailings
tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click Edit Recipient List.
2.
In the Mail Merge
Recipients dialog box, do any of the following:
§ Select individual records This method is most useful if your
list is short. Select the check boxes next to the recipients you want to
include, and clear the check boxes next to the recipients you want to exclude.
If you know that you want to include only a few records in your
merge, you can clear the check box in the header row and then select only those
records that you want. Similarly, if you want to include most of the list,
select the check box in the header row, and then clear the check boxes for the
records that you don't want to include.
§ Sort records Click the column heading of the item that you want
to sort by. The list sorts in ascending alphabetical order (from A to Z). Click
the column heading again to sort the list in descending alphabetical order (Z
to A).
§ Filter records This is useful if the list
contains records that you know you don't want to see or include in the merge.
After you filter the list, you can use the check boxes to include and exclude
records.
To filter records, do the following:
1.
Under Refine
recipient list, click Filter.
2.
On the Filter
Records tab of the Filter and Sort dialog box, choose the criteria
you want to use for the filter.
For example, to generate copies of your main document only for
addresses that list Australia as the country/region, you would click Country
or Region in the Field list, Equal to in the Comparison
list, and Australia in the Compare to list.
3.
To refine the filter
further, click And or Or, and then specify more criteria.
For example, to generate copies of your main document only for
businesses in Munich, you would filter on records whose City field
contains Munich and whose Company Name field is not blank. If you
use Or instead of And in this filter, your mail merge includes
all Munich addresses as well as all addresses that include a company name,
regardless of city.
Add placeholders, called mail merge fields, to
the document
After you connect your main document to a data file, you are
ready to type the text of the document and add placeholders that indicate where
the unique information will appear in each copy of the document.
The placeholders, such as address and greeting, are called mail
merge fields. Fields in Word correspond to the column headings in the data file
that you select.
Columns in a data file represent categories of
information. Fields that you add to the main document are placeholders for
these categories.
Rows in a data file represent records of
information. Word generates a copy of the main document for each record when
you perform a mail merge.
By putting a field in your main document, you indicate that you
want a certain category of information, such as name or address, to appear in
that location.
Note When you insert a mail merge field
into the main document, the field name is always surrounded by chevrons (« »).
These chevrons do not show up in the merged documents. They just help you
distinguish the fields in the main document from the regular text.
What happens when you merge
When you merge, information from the first row in the data file
replaces the fields in your main document to create the first merged document.
Information from the second row in the data file replaces the fields to create
the second merged document, and so on.
Working with fields: Examples
You can add any column heading from your data file to the main
document as a field. This gives you flexibility when you design form letters,
labels, e-mail messages, and other merged documents. For example:
Suppose you are creating a letter to notify
local businesses that they have been selected for inclusion in your annual city
guide. If your data file contains a Company column with the name of each
business that you want to contact, you can insert the «Company» field instead of
typing the name of each individual company. Imagine that you send quarterly e-mail
messages to your customers alerting them to new products and special deals. To
personalize those messages for your best customers, you can add a PersonalNote
column to your data file where you can type notes such as "Miss Miller,
the new widget is exactly what you have been looking for." By placing a
«PersonalNote» field in the main document, you can include those notes at the
bottom of certain messages. Suppose that your mailing list is for
subscribers to your newsletter, and your data file includes a column, called
ExpireDate, for storing the date that each subscription expires. If you place
an «ExpireDate» field in the label main document before you run the merge, subscribers
will each see their own expiration date on their mailing label.
You can combine fields and separate them by punctuation marks.
For example, to create an address, you can set up the fields in your main
document like this:
«First Name» «Last Name»
«Street Address»
«City», «State» «Postal code»
For things that you use frequently, like address blocks and
greeting lines, Word provides composite fields that group a number of fields
together. For example:
The Address Block field is a combination of
several fields, including first name, last name, street address, city, and
postal code. 
The Greeting Line field can include one or
more name fields, depending on your chosen salutation.
You can customize the content in each of these composite fields.
For example, in the address, you may want to select a formal name format (Mr.
Joshua Randall Jr.); in the greeting, you may want to use "To"
instead of "Dear."
Type content and add fields
1.
In the main document,
click where you want to insert the field.
2.
Use the Write &
Insert Fields group on the Mailings tab.
3.
Add any of the
following:
1.
Click Address block.
2.
In the Insert Address
Block dialog box, select the address elements that you want to include and
the formats that you want, and then click OK.
3.
If the Match Fields
dialog box appears, Word may have been unable to find some of the information
that it needs for the address block. Click the arrow next to (not matched),
and then select the field from your data source that corresponds to the field
that is required for the mail merge.
4.
Click Greeting line.
5.
Select the greeting
line format, which includes the salutation, name format, and following
punctuation.
6.
Select the text that
you want to appear in cases where Microsoft Word can't interpret the
recipient's name, for example, when the data source contains no first or last
name for a recipient, but only a company name.
7.
Click OK.
8.
If the Match Fields
dialog box appears, Word may have been unable to find some of the information
that it needs for the greeting line. Click the arrow next to (not matched),
and then select the field from your data source that corresponds to the field
that is required for the mail merge.
9.
On the Mailings
tab, in the Write & Insert Fields group, click Insert Merge Field.
10.
In the Insert Merge
Field dialog box, do one of the following:
§ To select address fields that will
automatically correspond to fields in your data source, even if the data
source's fields don't have the same name as your fields, click Address
Fields.
§ To select fields that always take data
directly from a column in your data file, click Database Fields.
11.
In the Fields
box, click the field you want.
12.
Click Insert,
and then click Close.
13.
On the Tools
menu, click Mail Merge.
14.
If you have selected
individual contacts to include in the merge, click Only selected contacts.
If you want to include all the contacts currently visible in the view, click All
contacts in current view.
15.
If you have configured
the Phone List view so that it displays exactly the fields you want to use in
the merge, click Contact fields in current view. Otherwise, click All
contact fields to make all of the contact fields available in the merge.
16.
If you want to
generate a new main document for the merge, click New document.
Otherwise, click Existing document, and click Browse to locate
the document to use as the main document.
17.
If you want to save
the contacts and fields that you have selected, so that they can be reused,
select the Permanent file check box, and then click Browse to
save the file. The data is saved in a Word document as comma-delimited data.
18.
Select any merge
options you want:
§ Form Letters Prepare a batch of letters for a mass mailing.
§ Mailing Labels Set up address labels for a mass
mailing.
§ Envelopes Set up envelopes for a mass mailing.
§ Catalog Create a single document that contains a catalog or
address list.
§ New Document Generate merged documents, which you can edit
individually in Word.
§ Printer Send merged documents directly to the default
printer.
§ E-mail Generate merged documents designed to be e-mail
messages. When you are ready to complete the merge in Word, on the Mailings
tab in the Finish group, click Finish & Merge, and then click
Send E-mail Messages. The Subject line is filled with the text
you typed in the Mail Merge Contacts dialog box in Outlook.
19.
Click OK. When
the document opens in Word, on the Mailings tab, in the Write &
Insert Fields group, click the arrow next to Insert Merge Field, and
then click the fields that you want to add the document.
You can't type merge field characters («« »»)
manually or use the Symbol command on the Insert menu. You must
use mail merge. If the merge fields appear inside braces, such
as { MERGEFIELD City }, then Microsoft Word is displaying field codes (field code: Placeholder text that shows where
specified information from your data source will appear; the elements in a
field that generate a field's result. The field code includes the field
characters, field type, and instructions.) instead of field
results (field results:
Text or graphics inserted in a document when Microsoft Word carries out a
field's instructions. When you print the document or hide field codes, the
field results replace the field codes.). This doesn't affect the merge, but if you want to display the
results instead, right-click the field code, and then click Toggle Field
Codes on the shortcut menu.
Format merged data
Database and spreadsheet programs, such as Microsoft Office
Access and Microsoft Office Excel, store the information that you type in cells
as raw data. Formatting that you apply in Access or Excel, such as fonts and
colors, isn't stored with the raw data. When you merge information from a data
file into a Word document, you are merging the raw data without the applied
formatting.
To format the data in the document, select the mail merge field
and format it, just as you would format any text. Make sure that the selection
includes the chevrons (« ») that surround the field.
After you add fields to your main document, you are ready to
preview the merge results. When you are satisfied with the preview, you can
complete the merge.
You can preview your merged documents and make changes before
you actually complete the merge.
To preview, do any of the following in the Preview Results
group of the Mailings tab:
Click Preview Results. Page through each merged document by using the
Next Record and Previous Record buttons in the Preview Results
group. Preview a specific document by clicking Find
Recipient.
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