30 Easy Steps in Creating Mail Merge

               In the professional world, sending out information to convey important is vital. Because of ICT, things are now sent much faster than the traditional newsletters or postal mail. You can now use the Internet to send out information you need to share. What if we could still do things much faster­–an automated way of creating and sending uniform letters with different receipts? Would that not be more convenient?

MAIL MERGE

            One of the most powerful and commonly used features of Microsoft® Word called Mail Merge. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to create documents and combine or merge them with another document or data file. It is commonly used when sending out advertising materials to various recipients.

            The simplest solution for the scenario above is to create a document and just copy and paste it several times then just replace the details depending on whom you send it to. But what if you have hundreds or thousands of recipients? Would not that take too many hours? What if you have a small database of information where you can automatically generate those letters?

            Mail merging basically requires two components: the document that contains the message and the document or file that generally contains the list of names and addresses, as in our scenario. When these two documents are combined (merged) during mail merging, feed your printer with enough paper until all mailers are printed out. Each document includes the individual names and addresses you need to send it to.

            Let us assume this is the mailer that you would want to send:

Figure 1. Sample Form Document

STEPS IN CREATING A SIMPLE MAIL MERGE

1.     Open Microsoft® Word and start a new blank document. You can use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+N after Microsoft® Word has been loaded or opened.

2.     On the Mailings tab, from the Start Mail Merge group, choose Start Mail Merge→Letters.

Type the letter below. You will be typing in only the common parts of the letter. The next that does not change for each copy you print.

3.     Save your letter and name it “Sample Letter”

4.     Insert the fields you need in the letter (Last Name, First Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State, and Country or Region). You may want to make special markings on these fields as you are typing it. Most common marking you can do is by typing it in capital letters or ALL CAPS so you can easily identify them later.

5.     Save the main document once more. You can use Ctrl+S to quickly do this step.

6.     On the Mailings tab in the Start Mail Merge group, choose Select Recipients→Type a New List.

7.     Click the Customize Columns button on the dialog box for the New Address List.

This will allow you to modify the fields in the address list that Microsoft® Word has pre-determined.

8.     Select a field that you do not need then click the Delete button. A confirmation dialog box appears.

9.     Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box. The dialog box closes, and the unnecessary field disappears.

10.  Repeat steps 8 and 9 for each field you do not need. After removing the excess fields, th next step is to add the fields you need.

11.  To add a field that you need in your document, click the Add button.

12.  Type the field name on the prompt inside a small Add Field dialog box and click the OK button.

13.  Repeat steps 11 and 12 for each new field you need in your main document.

14.  Click the OK button on the Customize Address List dialog box to confirm your changes.

15.  The New Address List dialog box will appear again ready for you to type in your data.

16.  Type the individual data from your list corresponding to Last Name, First Name, Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State, and Country or Region.

17.  Press he Tab key each time to enter the next field.

18.  To add a new record, press the Tab key after inputting the last field.

When you press the Tab key on the last field in a record, a new record is automatically created and added on the next line.

19.  Repeat steps 16 through 18 until you enter all the records you want.

Once you are done typing your data, click OK button on the Add New List dialog box to save your data. A special Save Address List dialog box pops up, allowing you to save the recipient list.

20.  Type a name for the address list. Name it “Client List”

21.  Click the Save button. You should be back on your main document soon after.

22.  Select a field placeholder (ALL CAPS) in the main document.

23.  Click the Insert Marge Field command button.

24.  Choose the proper field to insert into your text. For example, if you are replacing the text name in your document with a name field, choose the Name Field from the Insert Merge Field menu. The field is inserted into your document and replaces the ALL CAPS text.

25.  Continue adding fields until the document is complete. Repeat steps 22 through 24 as necessary to stick all fields into your document.

26.  Save the main document.

27.  Choose Finish & Merge to edit, print, or send your merged documents through email.

28.  Or you may want to choose Preview Results to check your work before you send it.

29.  You should get a merged document close to this one:

If you decide to print document, the Merge to Printer dialog box appears, from which you can choose records to print. Choose All to print your entire document. Alternatively, you can specify which records to print. Click OK. The traditional Print dialog box appears. Click the OK button again to print your documents.

30.  Save and close your document.

SOURCE: Innovative Training Works. 2016. Advanced Word Processing Skills. Empowerment Technologies. Innovative Training Works, Inc.