The Mail Merge (Word 2007, 2010)

What is mail merging?

• The Mail Merge feature is used to insert variable data into a fixed format by combining two files into one file. Two files need to be created before you can merge them, these are the data file and the main document file. The variable information, such as names and addresses, is stored in the data file ready to merge into the main document file. The information, which remains constant and the field names are stored in the main document file, where each field name relates to a field name in the data file. The data in the two files is merged as a series of personalised letters or envelopes.

Starting the Mail Merge Wizard

• Open a document called Company Meeting.  This is typical of a general letter which can be individually addressed and mailed.  In order to mail merge this letter we need to insert codes to tell Microsoft Word where to insert items such as the name and address of each person we are going to send this letter to.  We also need to tell Microsoft Word which list of names and addresses we are going to use and where this list is stored.

• To start the process, click on the Mailings tab.  Click on the Start Mail Merge button.  

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 1 of 6 ‘Select document type’

• From the drop down list displayed, select the Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard command.

• You will see a panel displayed to the right of your document.  In this case we wish to produce a mail merged letter, so we will use the Letters selection. 

• At the bottom right of the screen you have the option of clicking on ‘Next’ to take you to the next page of the mail merge wizard. 

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 2 of 6 ‘Select Starting document’

• You will see the following options displayed to the right of your document.  In this case we will use the current document that is displayed on your screen. 

• Click on Next at the bottom right of your screen. 

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 3 of 6 ‘Select recipients’

• The next step of the wizard lets you determine which list of recipients will be used for the mail merge process.  

• In this case we will select the option Use an existing list.

• Click on the Browse button.  This will display the Select Data Source dialog box.

• Use this dialog box to navigate to the folder containing a list called Staff.  Select this file.

• Click on the Open button.  This will display the File Conversion dialog box.   

• Click on the OK button which will display the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box.

• Click on the OK button to continue.

• Click on the Next option at the bottom right of the screen.   

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 4 of 6 ‘Write your letter’

• The following options are displayed to the right of your document. 

• Click at the start of your document (where we insert the codes relating to the person to whom the letter is addressed).

• Click on More items.    This will display the Insert Merge Field dialog box.

• Make sure that Title is selected and then click on the Insert button. Click on the Close button.  Press the Space bar.

• Click on the More items command.  This will display the Insert Merge Field dialog box.

• Make sure that Firstname is selected and then click on the Insert button. Click on the Close button.  Press the Space bar.

• Click on the More items command.  This will display the Insert Merge Field dialog box.

• Make sure that Secondname is selected and then click on the Insert button. Click on the Close button.  Press the Enter key.

• Click on the More items command.  This will display the Insert Merge Field dialog box.

• Make sure that Department is selected and then click on the Insert button. Click on the Close button.  Your document should now contain the following merge field codes.  

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 5 of 6 ‘Preview your letters’

• The following options are displayed to the right of your document 

• Click on the Next option at the bottom right of the screen.

Mail Merge Wizard - Step 6 of 6

• This is the final stage of the Mail Merge Wizard.  You will see the following choices.    If you were to click on the Print option, you would see the Merge to Printer dialog box which lets you select what to print.

• In this case click on the Edit Individual letters option.  You will see  the following dialog box which lets you select what to merge.

• Click on the OK button to merge all the print records.  A new document will be created containing your mail merged letters.  In real life you could check through this and print later.  In this case to save paper we will not actually print this document.  Scroll through the document to see if everything is as you expected.  Save the document as My First Mail Merge.  Close the mail merged document. 

• Close the open document and save your changes.

Creating a mailing list to be used within a mail merge

• In many cases when you perform a mail merge your mailing list will have been prepared and formatted by someone else.  If it is a mailing list to be sent out to business customers, it may have been bought in from a company that specialises in providing business mailing lists.  

• There are rules for formatting a mailing list, so that when you perform a mail merge Microsoft Word will recognise the format.  The mailing list should have a header row at the top of the list which describes the contents of each column.  For instance a column may be called First_name, and the next column called Second_name, and the next column could be called Telephone_number and so on.  It does not matter what you call each column, but keep the name as short as possible and for maximum compatibility with other programs do not use spaces in the description but use hyphens to join the words in a column description.

• You can create a list within a Microsoft Word document with each column of data being separated by a Tab space or a comma.  Alternatively you could create your data within an Excel worksheet.  Normally when you buy in a mailing list it is supplied in CSV (Comma-Separated Values).  A CSV file is a text file using commas to separate each column.

• We shall now create a small mailing list in CSV format.  Create a new document by pressing Ctrl+N.  

• Type in the following details, in each case separating one item of information from the next by a comma.  Press the Enter key at the end of each line.  NOTE: Do not press the Enter key at the end of the last line relating to Robert Menendez.  First-name, Second-name, Department George, Radanovich, Marketing Hilda, Solis, Sales Dennis, Hastert, Marketing Tom, DeLay, Production Roy, Blunt, Sales Tom, Feeney, Packaging Mark, Kirk, Sales Michael, Ferguson, Sales Christopher, Cox, Production Nancy, Pelosi, Marketing Steny, Hoyer, Marketing Robert, Menendez, Sales

• Click on the Save icon, and the Save As dialog box will display the following.  

• In the file name section use the name My-List.

• Click on the down arrow in the Save as type section and select Plain text (you may have to scroll down to see this option)

• Save the file.  You may see a warning dialog box telling you that you are saving your file as a text only file, if so confirm the save.  You have just created your first file in CSV format.  Close your document.

Merging a mailing list to produce labels

• When you are performing a mail merge to produce mail merged letters you can use Windowed envelopes so that the address in your mail merged letters matches the window in your windowed envelopes.  Alternately you may post your mail merged letters in non-windowed envelopes in which case you will need to perform a separate mail merge to produce sheets of labels, with each label displaying a different address.  If you do this, be very careful to match up the correct printed letters, with the correct printed labels!

• Alternatively you may want to send out a standard marketing flyer to many addresses, in which case you need to mail merge your mailing list to sheets of labels.  WARNING: You can buy sheets of labels for use in a printer.  If you are using a laser printer be sure that the labels you are intending to use are properly approved for use in a laser printer.  Inside a laser printer is much hotter that the inside of an inkjet printer and you may find that if you use the wrong type of labels they curl up, or even worse, cause damage to your laser printer!

• To merge a mailing list to labels is very easy. Create a new blank document, by pressing Ctrl+N. Click on the Mailings tab.  Click on the Start Mail Merge button, and from the list displayed select Labels.   

• The Label Options dialog box is displayed.  First select the manufacturer of your labels. 

  Avery is a very popular supplier of label sheets.   NOTE:  Avery has different product codes for A4 sized sheets and US letter sized label sheets.  Be sure to select the correct category if you are using Avery labels.  

• In this case choose Avery as the manufacturer.

• One you have selected a manufacturer you need to select a Product Number.  The product number relates to the size of each individual label, how they are laid out on a sheet and how many labels are contained within each sheet.  You will notice that as you select a Product number, information about this label type is displayed in the Label Information section. 

• Select an Address Label, the exact product number is not important as we will not actually be printing any labels in this exercise.  Click on the OK button once you have made a selection.  We have selected our label type, next we need to select a mailing list that will be used to print the labels. Click on the Select Recipients button and then click in Use Existing List.

• The Select Data Source dialog box will be displayed, which by default may display the contents of the My Data Source folder.  You will need to navigate to the folder containing your sample files.  

• Once the folder containing your sample files is displayed, select a Microsoft Word document called Label data list.  

• Click on the Open button and you will see the following: 

• The insertion point should be displayed at the start of the first line in the first label.

• Move the mouse pointer over the Insert merge Field button.     You will notice that this button consists of two parts.  Click on the upper part of this button, i.e. the part displaying as an icon    This will display the Insert Merge Field dialog box displaying fields you can insert into the document.    In this case click on the Cancel button.

• If you click on the lower part of the button you will see a drop down list of merge fields.    You could use either method to insert your merge fields.  In this example we will use the lower part of the button.

• Click on Firstname from the drop down list.

• Press the Spacebar and then insert the field name Secondname.

• Press the Enter key to drop down to the next line and insert the field name Department.

• Click on the Update Labels button.    Your screen will now look like this.  

• Click on the Finish & Merge button.

• If you simply wished to print the merged labels you could click on the Print Document command.  You would see the Merge to Printer dialog box, allowing some control on what to print, as illustrated. 

• In this case we will merge the data to a new document.  To do this click on the Edit Individual Document command.    You will see the Merge to New Document dialog box.   

• Click on the OK button and the mailing list will be merged to create a new document which can later be printed to sheets of labels, as illustrated. 

• You may print the merged document if you ask your tutor first (to make sure that the printer is connected and contains labels)