This article assumes that you have an Excel sheet containing Address and name of peoples and you want to post a standard letter to all of these contacts. Mail Merge, a built in feature in Microsoft word allows us to do this in few simple steps. Without Mail Merge you have to manually create separate copy of letter for each contact and copy paste address information.
Let begin our exercise. First type a letter in Microsoft word. Figure A shows a letter types in Microsoft Word
Figure A
Figure B contains a list of address in Address.Xls file. For the sake of simplicity I have created a list of five contacts. You may keep hundreds of contacts.
Figure B
Figure C shows us out desired result. After this exercise we shall have separate copy of letter for each contact like figure C.
Figure C
Step 1
Open Ms Word file containing our letter.
In Ms word 2003 click on Tools menu and pint to Letters and Mailings and click on Mail Merge.
In Ms Word 2007 clink on Mailings menu. Now click on Start Mail Merger and then clink on Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard…
A task pane will open to right of the document as shown in Figure D
Figure D
Click on Next: Start Document at bottom of Task Pane
Step 2
In this step Word asks as which letter document we want to use. We may use an existing document and current one. We will use Current Document, so simply click on Next: Select Recipients at Bottom of Task pane.
Step 3
Here click on browse button and browse the Address.xls file which contains our address list and click open. If your excel file contains more than one sheet then choose the sheet which is required one. After choosing sheet you will see a window like under in Figure E
Figure E
This windows shows all contacts from excel sheet. Here you can exclude few Addresses. Now click on OK button and click on Next: write Your Letter from bottom of task pane.
Step 4
Now insert a blank row at top of your typed letter. Place your cursor on that blank row and click on more items from task pane. A small “Insert Merge Filed” window will appear showing two columns, address and name. Click on Name field and click on Insert button. Note a Name filed has been inserted at top of the letter as shown in figure F below.
Figure F
Click on cancel and insert a new row below Address filed in you letter. In second row inset Address filed by following previous steps. If you want to make formatting changes to your letter, you can make here. After formatting your letter click on Next: Preview you Letter at the bottom of task pane.
Step 5
Here you can preview all of you letter by clicking on >> and << buttons. You can also Exclude and include recipients by clicking on Edit recipients List. Click on Next: complete the merge to go to 6th and final step.
Step 6
Now click on print to print all the letters. If you want to create a copy of each letter then click on Edit Individual Letter and clink ok. All of your letters will be displayed in a new Word document.
these simple steps make it more easier for learning mail merge etc.