iTechtalk

John

Given that mail merge is a more complex procedure than, say, formatting a paragraph, Microsoft included a mail merge wizard to help you through your mail merge sessions. Although the wizard is great for beginners who have never done much mail merging in the past, even the pros use the wizard, so don’t think of it as a crutch.

After you use the wizard for a while, you might want to adjust the way you perform a mail merge and use the specific buttons on the Mailings ribbon more. Most of the time, though, you’ll probably resort to the wizard since it guides you through each mail merge so well.

Request a Mail Merge
Display your Mailings ribbon and click the Start Mail Merge button to display a list of options. Click to select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard. Word opens the Mail Merge task pane and begins to guide you through your mail merge.

Specify the Mail Type
Tell Word the kind of document you want to use for the mail merge. For example, if you were sending emails to everybody in an email contact list, you would select E-mail Messages. Probably you’ll most often send letters for which you want the recipient’s name and address filled in, so in that case you click to select Letters if that option isn’t already selected for you. Click Next: Starting Document to continue the wizard.

Specify the Main Document
Let Word know if you want to use the current document (which might be blank if you have not typed your form letter yet), use an existing document, or use a template. If you have never created a form letter before, you’ll click to select Use the Current Document to use the current, blank document for your form letter’s main document.

Locate Your Data Source
Word needs to know the data source you’re going to use for your current mailing’s recipients. One of the most obvious places will be your Microsoft Outlook Contacts list, if you use Outlook. For a large data source, hardly any tool is better than Microsoft Access. Word can use either of these, plus a wide array of other common data sources, as your mail merge contacts list. Word enables you to select from an existing list (again, the list of recipients can be from several kinds of data sources), or to specifically select from Outlook contacts, or perhaps you want to create a new list on-the-fly and begin using it. Obviously, the latter method is time-consuming and doesn’t lend itself to easy editing later. An Outlook Contacts list or, better, a database data source such as a Microsoft Access database, makes for a far more manageable data set that can grow with your needs.

If you’re using an existing data source, click the Browse button to locate the file you want to use. After you locate the data source, such as an Access database, Word displays a Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, from which you can select some or all of the recipients to use in your mail merge. Word doesn’t have to send a letter to each recipient in your list, only those you want the current mail-merged letter sent to. Click OK after selecting some or all of the recipients to close the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box.

Write a Form Letter
Assuming that you didn’t already have a main document form letter before you started the wizard, now is the time to write your letter. You’ll tell Word exactly where to insert each field from the data source you want to use. Word provides help in the Mail Merge task pane as you write your letter. For example, if you want your letter to include the recipient’s address, click the task pane’s Address Block link. Word displays an Insert Address Block dialog box, where you can select the exact format you want to use for your recipient’s address in your final letters. Word inserts a mail merge placeholder field, in this case <<AddressBlock>>, to indicate where the recipient’s name and address will appear in the form letter.

Preview the Letter
Word displays a finished letter with the first recipient’s personal information filled in. Here you can see how your letter’s formatting and flow look. Click the >> button in the Mail Merge task pane to see the next recipient’s details filled in. As you click through the list of recipients, look over each letter, especially if you’re new to mail merging, to make sure that the spacing and format look good. You might, for example, realize that you allowed too much space between the recipient’s return address information and the salutation; if so, click the Previous: Write Your Letter link to remove the spacing.