Microsoft Word Mail Merge Instructions using Excel Files
1. Open or create a document which contains the generic information that you want to repeat in each form letter, mailing label, envelope, or catalog.
2. From the Tools menu, choose "Mail Merge" to access the Mail Merge Wizard.
3. Click the "Create" button and choose the type of document you are creating (Form Letter, Mailing Labels, Envelopes, Catalog). Choose "Active Window" if you have the main document open. Choose "New Main Document" to create a new document.
4. Click the "Get Data" button to find the Excel file that contains the data to be merged.
5. Choose "Open Data Source", find the location of the Excel data file, and open it. Click the "Edit Main Document" button when the dialog box appears. The Mail Merge wizard will then close, and the Mail Merge toolbar will appear.
6. In the main document, go to the position the merged data will appear. Using the "Insert Merge Field" button on the Mail Merge toolbar, place fields where the data should appear in the main document.
Example
April 9, 2001
<<NAME>>
<<ADDRESS>>
<<CITY>> <<STATE>> <<ZIP>>
Dear <<SALUTATION>>,
Thank you for your interest in our organization. (letter continues..)
7. To view the main document with actual data (instead of Field Names), click the "View Merged Data" button (<<ABC >>) on the Mail Merge toolbar.
8. When all merge fields have been placed and the document is ready to print, go back to the Mail Merge Wizard (from the Tools menu), and click the "Merge" button. To merge to a new Word document, choose "New Document" from the "Merge to:" drop down menu in the dialog box. This will create a Word document containing a letter (or label or envelope) for each record in your Excel file. To merge directly to the printer, choose "Printer" from the drop down menu.
The above simplified instructions are provided to assist you in preparing mailing labels using Microsoft Word. Please consult the Word documentation for more complete instructions and explanation of additional options. If you are not using Microsoft Word, you should request your list as a CSV text file and consult your product documentation for mail merge instructions.