How To Use The Mail Merge Feature For Letters

Use A Names & Addresses (Contacts) File To Auto-Fill Your Letters

If you need to repeatedly create the same letter but for a list of, different, people/clients you may want to investigate the Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Office 2007 (and 2010). It allows you to use a Contacts List, made from an Excel File or C.S.V (Comma Separated Values) File for example, in order to create mass letter headings.

Mail Merge is ideal if you are in business whereby you need to send out plenty of promotional letters to a list of potential customers or have a christmas/wedding list whereby you need to create mass sticky labels for it. There are many other uses for a mail merge but the point here is you can let microsoft office do the bulk of the work for you.

You only need to create, or supply it, your contacts list. Once it has your contacts list loaded microsoft word can then create letter headings and so on for you whereby each letter heading for example is automatically filled in with one of your corresponding contact's details. So if your contacts list contains 20 Names & Addresses microsoft word can create 20 letter headings for you, with each letter heading containing the name and address of its corresponding contacts list entry.

THE  CONTACTS  LIST

In this first example I will assume you have a contacts list to use, either from an exported address book (c.s.v) file or from an excel file. If not, don't worry, you can use (download) this example excel file called mail_merge.xlsx that I have created for this example. Your file can be called what ever you like because it's name is unimportant. The important thing is its content.

Fig 1.0  A standard contacts list created in Microsoft Excel for mail merge purposes

As you can see from the above screenshot; My contacts list is very small, and basic, and was created using Microsoft Excel only. It's this file that is loaded into Microsoft Word in order to then use/merge its content (names and addresses) onto sticky labels, letter headings and envelopes. You can have more headings (i.e. telephone, e-mail address, etc) and contacts in your file, if need be, but here I have kept things simple.

One important thing to point out here is that you need to create headings (title, name, etc) for your contacts, as these are used to identify and separate your contact details (explained below).

So with a contacts list (excel file) created the next thing to do is open (run/execute) Microsoft Word and run its Mail Merge Wizard. The wizard is a step-by-step guide that helps to automate certain tasks, as opposed to you having to manually do (figure out) those tasks (which is where many people get stuck).

THE  MAIL  MERGE  WIZARD

Begin by opening microsoft word and from the HOME Tab click on the MAILINGS Tab. Tabs are the headings on the Ribbon such as HOME, INSERT, PAGE LAYOUT and so on. Doing so will display the tools and features associated with the MAILINGS Tab (Fig 1.2 below).

Fig 1.1  Open (run/execute) Microsoft Word and then click on the MAILINGS Tab

Once you are on the MAILINGS Tab (Fig 1.2 below) click on the drop-down menu button called START MAIL MERGE, which will then expose the mail merge menu-items, and select the option (menu-item) called STEP BY STEP MAIL MERGE WIZARD. The MAIL MERGE Task Pane will then appear on the right-side of the main display window (Fig 1.3).

Fig 1.2  Click on the START MAIL MERGE button and select the STEP BY STEP MAIL MERGE WIZARD option




Fig 1.3  The MAIL MERGE Task Pane with tasks on it that are dedicated to the mail merge feature

As its name suggests, a task pane is a window pane with dedicated tasks on it - Links to other tasks, features and tools that are associated with the current task (in this case the mail merge task). The wizard displayed this window pane (task pane) in order to show its 6 Steps of guidance - If you look towards the bottom of the task pane you will see STEP 1 OF 6. These are the wizard's guidance/help steps which you need to follow in order to create a mail merge.

Step 1 (the current step) allows you to select which type of mail merge you require - LETTERS, E-MAIL MESSAGES, ENVELOPES, LABELS or DIRECTORY. By default LETTERS is selected, which is what you need selected in this example (Fig 1.3 above), so there is nothing else for you to do in this step but to click on the link called NEXT: STARTING DOCUMENT (located at the bottom of the task pane) in order to proceed to the next step (Step 2).

Step 2 (below) asks you for a Starting Document, which is the document you would like to work with for this letter mail merge. You could keep the default option of USE THE CURRENT DOCUMENT selected, if you just want to use the current blank document as your starting document, but for this example I will show you how to selected a predefined template. So begin by selecting the START FROM A TEMPLATE option and then click on the SELECT A TEMPLATE link. Doing so will then bring up the Select A Template window (Fig 1.5 below).

Fig 1.4  Select the START FROM A TEMPLATE option and then click on the SELECT A TEMPLATE link




Fig 1.5  Select a template to use as your letter (starting document) and then click on OK

When the Select A Template window appears (above) select a template by clicking through the Tabs - GENERAL, FAXES, LETTERS, OTHER DOCUMENTS, REPORTS and RESUMES - and then click on the OK button. In this example I have selected the Oriel Resume template from the RESUMES Tab.

With a template selected, whereby you have now been returned to the MAIL MERGE Task Pane, either start filling in the resume and then click on the NEXT: SELECT RECIPIENTS link or just click on the NEXT: SELECT RECIPIENTS link. Meaning, you can fill in the resume later if you want. Either way you will be going to Step 3 (Fig 1.7 below).

Fig 1.6  Fill in the resume now or later and then click on the NEXT: SELECT RECIPIENTS link to continue

Step 3 (below) requires a you to select a list of recipients (contacts list) whose name and address details will be printed on the letter (resume in this example). The recipients can come from a Microsoft Outlook contacts list, from an existing contacts list (i.e. from an excel file) or from a contacts list that you type out. In this example use the mail_merge.xlsx excel file as your contacts list - Click on the BROWSE link to locate it.

Fig 1.7  Click on the BROWSE link to locate and open the mail_merge.xlsx excel file

When you open the mail_merge.xlsx excel file the following requester appears displaying all of the data sheets in that file. It is important to leave the first sheet (Sheet1$) selected as the contacts list in that sheet will be used as the recipient data. Not only that, the other two sheets are empty. So selecting either one of them would mean you using an empty contacts list.

The option called FIRST ROW OF DATA CONTAINS COLUMN HEADERS should be ticked. It tells the mail merge feature that the first row of data in Sheet1$ contains headings (i.e. Title, Name and Address) that are associated with the column data (i.e. the actual titles, names and addresses). And furthermore that the first row of data should only be used as headings and not as actual letter data (i.e. not as actual name and address details).

If you untick this option microsoft word will take the first row of data as the data to be used for headings, regardless if that first row of data contains headings or actual name and address details.

For this example keep things simple and just leave everything set to their default settings - Sheet1$ selected and FIRST ROW OF DATA CONTAINS COLUMN HEADERS ticked - Click on the OK button to continue.

Fig 1.8  With Sheet1$ selected, and FIRST ROW OF DATA..... ticked, click on the OK button to continue.

When you click on the OK button the contacts (recipients) will be displayed/listed in the next window (below) whereby you can select or deselect certain contacts from the list before clicking on its OK button to return to the main window of step 3. Simply select (tick) the contacts (recipients) you need for letter printing, if they are not already selected, and deselect (untick) those you don't need. They are all selected by default!

Fig 1.9  Select (Tick) the contacts (recipients) you need for letter printing and Deselect (Untick) any others

With your needed contacts selected, click on the OK button (above) to return to the main window of step 3 - The window you have just used to BROWSE for your contacts list file (Fig 1.7 above). It is easy to forget which window and step you came from with all these optional windows (extra steps) popping up, but it's these kind of things you have to remember and pay attention to if you want to succeed.

So with the main window of step 3 back in view (below) click on the NEXT: WRITE YOUR LETTER link to continue to step 4 (Fig 1.11 below).

Fig 1.10  Step 3: Click on the NEXT: WRITE YOUR LETTER link to continue to step 4

Step 4 (below) allows you to insert letter headings into the letter (resume template), such as Name & Address details and Greetings (i.e. dear sir/madam). This is done by clicking on the links called ADDRESS BLOCK and GREETING LINE. Before you insert your letter headings though you should make some room at the top of the letter by placing the text cursor at the top of it and then press the ENTER keyboard key a few times. Doing so will move the actual letter content (resume content) down the page.

With the letter content moved and room now available for letter headings, proceed by putting the text cursor back at the top of the letter; in the top-left corner of the page. Now click on the ADDRESS BLOCK link, on the Task Pane (Fig 1.11 below), to bring up the Insert Address Block window (Fig 1.12) in order to then insert letter headings.

Fig 1.11  Step 4: Click on the ADDRESS BLOCK link to bring up the Insert Address Block window

The Insert Address Block window allows you to view and change the text/label formatting options for the inserted text (i.e. name and address text). For this example though, to keep things simple, just click on the OK button with the default settings in place.

Fig 1.12  Select your preferred text format, if need be, and then click on the OK button to continue

Clicking on the OK button inserts the text AddressBlock (below). This is a code marker that microsoft word uses in place of each row of data associated with your contacts list, and more precisely its name and address details.

Fig 1.13  The ADDRESS BLOCK marker has been inserted

As you will see in the next step (Step 5), that AddressBlock code marker is replaced by the names and addresses within your contacts list for each letter produced/printed. For now though, click on the NEXT: PREVIEW YOUR LETTERS link to go to step 5.

Fig 1.14  Click on the NEXT: PREVIEW YOUR LETTERS link to go to step 5

Before clicking on the NEXT: PREVIEW YOUR LETTERS link (above) you could insert more details into the letter using the GREETING LINE link (i.e. insert Dear Sir/Madam), the MORE ITEMS link (i.e. insert a Telephone Number) and the standard INSERT Tab (i.e. insert a Photo). Obviously some extra items may not be applicable to a letter heading, as they may be meant for envelopes for example, but that does not prevent you from investigating and experimenting with those link options.

Remember, many of those items can come from your contacts list; which can be customized with your own headings and details....so you could have Return Address details for example.

Step 5 (below) allows you to preview what each letter will look like when printed. Simply use the LEFT and RIGHT Arrow buttons to navigate between each letter preview. You can also change the font, colour, etc of the letter text using the standard formatting tools on the HOME Tab of the ribbon.

Fig 1.15  The preview of the first letter with Address Block 1 inserted




Fig 1.16  To preview the second letter with Address Block 2 inserted, click on the RIGHT ARROW button.

When you have finished adding details and/or formatting the letter text, if need be, click on the NEXT: COMPLETE THE MERGE link to go to step 6 and therefore complete the mail merge process. In the example below I have filled in the resume, but not formatted it in any way.

Fig 1.17  Click on the NEXT: COMPLETE THE MERGE link to go to step 6

Step 6 (below) is the final step. It allows you to print your letters and save the letters (resume templates) as a word document if need be. Clicking on the PRINT link will start the printing process whereas clicking on the EDIT INDIVIDUAL LETTERS link will allow you to see every letter (resume) as a separate page in a new word document thereby allowing you to further edit and save that new, letter, word document.

So to clarify. If you have 1,000 letters with 1,000 different names and addresses on them, word will create a new document consisting of 1,000 letter sized pages. Or put another way, a 1,000 page word document containing the same letter (resume) but with different name and address details etc on them. That 1,000 page word document could then be saved as letters.docx for example.

Fig 1.18  Click on the PRINT link to start the printing process




Fig 1.19  Select how many letters (names and addresses) you want to print




Fig 1.20  Select your printer, if need be, and then click on the OK button to start printing the letters

When you click on the PRINT link (Fig 1.18 above) a requester appears (Fig 1.19) that asks you if you want to print ALL of the letters, the CURRENTly displayed letter or a RANGE (i.e. FROM 1 TO 10) of letters only. In this example I have kept things simple and will be printing ALL 3 of my letters.

Having decided how many letters you want printing, the standard PRINTER requester appears (Fig 1.20 above). This is the standard requester from your printer and nothing to do with microsoft word. Meaning, if you want to use another printer and/or make 10 copies of the print job (i.e. print 3 letters 10 times) you can do so with this printer requester - it has nothing to do with your envelope in terms of the above mail merge wizard. You could even cancel printing for example.

SAVE  THE  LETTERS  AS  A  WORD  DOCUMENT

After doing all the work above with the mail merge wizard you certainly wouldn't want to do it each time you needed to print letters! So to get around that scenario you would simply save the completed letters (resumes in this example) into a separate word document, as described above, by clicking on the EDIT INDIVIDUAL LETTERS link instead of the PRINT link. From there you would save the newly created letter document, with all your letters inside it, as letters.docx for example in the normal way. Notice in the example below - PAGE: 1 OF 3 - to denote there are 3 Pages inside this word document.

Fig 1.21  You can save this newly created, letter (resume), word document as letters.docx for example

Below I have edited one the letters (resumes) with font, colour and photo changes, so you can see what I mean by customization of your letters. By doing your changes early on though, in step 2 (Fig 1.6 above) of the wizard for example, will mean all of the other letters inherit the same changes. However, in this example I only wanted one letter changing.

Fig 1.22  Customization of one letter only

In the next section I will be showing you how to mail merge using the Labels template. It is ideal for creating multiple labels for one or more people.