Microsoft Word Mail Merge Tutorial
Microsoft mail merge is a very useful feature of Microsoft Word it allows you to quickly create multiple documents that contain the same base information but at the same time need to have unique data in, for example you may want to send out a letter to 100 people, the main body of the letter will be the same but for each recipient you want Dear <Name of recipient>, you could manually create an individual letter for each recipient, this method would be time consuming and also be open to typing errors, or you could use Microsoft Word mail merge. Microsoft mail merge not only allows you to to merge batches of letters and documents it can also be used to create customised labels, envelopes, emails, postcards or even flyers, this is a great tool for sending out communications to your clients.
The below tutorial will take you through the steps of using Microsoft Word mail merge 2007 to create a set of letters:
You can create a mail merge manually but the easiest way to do this is to use the Mail Merge Wizard, this will take you through the 6 steps needed to complete your mail merge, lets get started below!!
1. To start the Mail Merge Wizard first of all open up a new document in Micrsoft Word, at the top of the page click on the Mailings tab, then click on Start Mail Merge, a drop down menu will appear with a list of options, select Step By Step Mail Merge Wizard…..
2. You will now see the Mail Merge window appear to the right of your new document, this is the Mail Merge Wizard, notice at the bottom it says Step 1 of 6, this is to show you what stage you are on for the mail merge process, you can also see there is a Next link, as you go through the steps you will also see a Previous link you can use these to go forward and back through the steps if you decide you want to change anything at a certain point. We will now discuss each step of the wizard.
3. The first step of the Mail Merge Wizard asks you to specify what type of merge you want to create, as you can see you can create mail merges for letters, email messages, envelopes, labels and a directory, for this example we are going to create a letter merge, select Letters and click on Next: Start Document at the bottom of the Mail Merge Window.
4. The second step of the Mail Merge Wizard asks you to select a base template for your letter, you can choose from the current document, a Micrsoft Word template or an existing document that you have previously saved. We are going to use to the current document, select Current Document and click on Next: Select recipients.
5. The third step of the Mail Merge Wizard prompts you to set where your list of unique values should come from you can choose from an existing list, your outlook contacts or create a new list, when selecting an existing list you can open up a range of data sources two of which can be either a Micrsoft Access database or a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, for this example will will create a new list, select Type a new list and then click on Create, the Address List window will appear.
6. The Address List Window shows a list of commonly used fields, you can enter data under any of these columns or you can create your own columns by clicking on Customize Columns….., for this example we will use the First Name and Company Name columns, type the following data into the Address List window as shown below, you will need to click on the New Entry button to create a new row, click OK when you have finished adding your data.
7. You will be prompted to save your list the file will be saved in Access, browse to the folder of your choice and save the file as MyData.
8. Next the Mail Merge Recipients windows will open, you can use this window to deselect certain records in your data or apply a filter i.e if you had a really long list you might only want to create letters for people with their last name begining with A, we will not change the records we are going to use for this example, just click OK then click on Next:Write your letter.
9. The fourth step of the Mail Merge Wizard asks you to write the letter that you want to use for your mail merge in the blank document type the following:
Dear
This letter is an example of a mail merge document for your company .
Kind regards
Your name
10. Now you need to add in the placeholder for where you want your unique data to be inserted, click after the word Dear to ensure your cursor is behind the letter r and press space, this is where we are going to insert our first place holder. At the top of the screen ensure the Mailings tab is selected and click on Insert Merge Field, a drop down menu will appear showing all the columns that where in the Address List window earlier, click on First_Name, you will see that <<First_Name>> appears after the word Dear, this is known as a place holder and tells Word to insert the column First_Name here.
11. Now we will add a Company_Name place holder, click behind the word Company on your letter so the cursor is behind the letter y, click on Insert Merge Field and select Company_Name, again you will see that <<Company_Name>> appears behind the word company, now click on Next: Preview your letter.
12. The fifth step of the Mail Merge Wizard allows you to view the results or you mail merge, if you scroll through the document you will now see that there is a new page for each recipient you created earlier. You have one final chance to scroll through you merge and remove any recipients letters before you confirm the mail merge, we will now go to the last step, click Next: Complete the merge.
13. Well done you have completed your mail merge!! You are given the options to either edit your letters individually or print them, you can also save your merge if you want to print it later the same you would a normal document.
Thank you thanking reading this tutorial we hope you enjoyed it, if you would like to learn more about Microsoft Word or any other Microsoft Office product please visit our website to view our onsite Office 2007 training.
Tutorial provided by Edatum IT Solutions.
