Ms Word – Ms Word: HOW TO PERSONALIZE DOCUMENTS AND MAILS FOR ALL YOUR CUSTOMERS IN JUST 10 MINUTES
The mail merge process combines the static information stored in one document with variable information stored in another document, as follows:
- Main document This document contains the static text that will appear in all the merged documents. It also contains placeholders—called merge fields—that tell Word where to insert the variable information.
- Data source This is a structured document, such as a Word table, Microsoft Excel worksheet, Microsoft Access database table, or Microsoft Outlook contacts list, that contains sets of information—called records—in a predictable format. You can use an existing data source, or you can create a new one as part of the mail merge process.
You can use the Mail Merge wizard to merge a main document with a data source in easy steps. The first step is to select the document type, which can be a letter, an e-mail message, envelopes, labels, or a directory. The type you select determines the subsequent steps. When you have some experience with mail merge, you can use the buttons on the Mailings tab to create and merge documents, instead of the Mail Merge wizard. Regardless of the method, the end result is one copy of the merged document for every record in the data source.
You can merge the main document and data source into a new document, with each merged document separated from the next by a page break. You can then personalize the merged documents before printing them, and you can save the document for later use. If you don’t need to edit or save the merged documents, you can merge the main document and data source directly to the printer or to an e-mail message.
Preparing Data Sources
The first step in the mail merge process is to either specify an existing data source or create one. The data source consists of a matrix of rows and columns. Each row contains one record, such as the complete name and address of a customer, and each column contains a particular type of information—called a field—such as the first name of all the customers. In the first row of the data source, each field is identified by its column heading—called a field name.
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The data source stores information in a structured way so that individual items can easily be
identified and retrieved.
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Tip Because the field names are also used as the merge fields in the main document, they cannot contain spaces. To make the field names readable with no spaces, capitalize each word, as in PostalCode, or replace the spaces with underscores, as in Last_Name.
If the data source contains many records and it changes frequently, you might want to create it in a program designed for working with large amounts of data, such as Excel or Access. You can also use the contacts list from Outlook. If the data source contains only a few records and it won’t be updated often, you can create it in Word, either as a table or as a list with each field separated by a tab. Or you can create it as part of the mail merge process.
What if you want to create merge documents for only a subset of the data in the data source? For example, you might have mail-order customers from all over the United States but want to send an announcement about a store sale only to customers with addresses in your state. After you specify the data source, you can do the following:
- Filter the data source to create merged documents for only some of its data.
- Create a query (a set of selection criteria) to extract only the information you’re interested in—for example, all the postal codes for your state.
- Sort the data source—for example, in postal code order for a bulk mailing.
When you use a filter or a query, all the data remains in the data source, but only the data that meets your specifications is used for the mail merge.
In this exercise, you’ll open a document that you want to send to multiple people (the
main document) and use the Mail Merge wizard to select the list of recipients (the data
source). After you add information for a new recipient (a record) to the data source,
you’ll sort and filter it.
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