Mail Merge

Purpose:
 To create form letters, mailing labels, envelopes, or catalogs. If you have a list or group of people that you mail regularly, Mail Merge is a wonderful tool to use. Once you type out your group of addresses, you'll never have to type them again.   For example, you have a group of businesses your company mails to regularly. Any time you want to send out a letter or publication, all you have to do is merge the letter you're sending out with the file that has the businesses' information (name, address, contact person). You don't have to type out all those addresses every time you go to mail them.
     
   
The most important thing to remember when doing a "mail merge" is that three files are always involved.

   

  FIRST FILE: The form letter, the mailing labels, or envelope that you create.
SECOND FILE: The file or "data source" with your list of businesses, or people you're mailing to.
THIRD FILE: The merged file; it is the FIRST FILE (letter) and SECOND FILE (data source) merged together.

   

 
You'll understand as we go on, but I had to introduce that before we really got into it.

   
1.   We'll start with the FIRST FILE. We'll use a form letter.

   
    I've started a new file and typed a letter with the date and the body, and closing. The red arrows point to where we'll be putting fields to be merged. As you can see, there is no address or name after "Dear".

   
2.   Click on Tools and then Mail Merge as shown below.

   

 


   
3.   The Mail Merge Helper window will pop up. Click on Create and then Form Letters because that's we are creating:   a form letter.

   
4.   Click on Active Window.

   

 


   
5.   Click on Get Data in the Data Source section.

 


   
6.   We do not have a data source yet (THE SECOND FILE), so we need to create one:  a list of businesses. Click on Create Data Source.

   
   


   
7.   Here we decide which fields we want in our letter.  Highlight the fields you DO NOT want and click on Remove Field Name.  See the examples.

 


   
   

We don't need the Title field, so highlight it and click on Remove Field Name.
The Title field will then move over to the Field Name window.


We don't need the Job Title field. so highlight it and click on Remove Field Name.


Remove the remaining of the field names you don't need.

This is what we now have. The field names that are left are
the ones we'll be using in our letter.
8.   Once you have the field names you want, click OK. This is where you save the data list.   I suggest that you name it according to the people you're sending the letter, such as clients.  Remember this is the SECOND FILE of the three files with which we're working.
     
9.
   Click on Edit Data Source.  This the file you just saved. We now need to put our list of businesses in place.

 


   
10.
   Now we'll enter our businesses. You'll see our field names that we decided to keep on the left side of the window. Fill in these fields.

 


   
11.
   This is our first record. DO NOT HIT THE SPACE BAR after entering data into the fields. For example, do not hit the SPACE BAR after typing John, Smith, Docusoft, or any of the items in the fields.

 


After you put in your first record, click on Add New  Then a blank record pops up and you can
enter your second record. Enter that set of data. This is our second record. Click on Add New
again so you can enter your next record. We're completing 5 for this exercise, but you can
add, however, as many records you have.
12.
   After you've entered all of your records, then you click OK.

 


   
13.
   Now we're ready to input our fields. The Mail Merge tool bar is now present. You should see the Insert Merge Field button.

   

 


   
14.
   Place the cursor where you would normally type out the business name and address. Click on the Insert Merge Field and insert the Company field. Now the Company field is in its place. You'll see this: <<Company>>

   

 


   
15.
   Press Enter to go to the next line. Click on Insert Merge Field again and click on Address1.

 


16.
   Now the Address1 field is in its place and you'll see this: <<Address1>>. Press Enter to go to the next line. Click on Insert Merge Field and click on the City field.

   

 


Now the City field is in its place and you'll see this: <<City>>. Type a comma after the City
field just as you would if you actually typed out the name of the city. Insert the remaining fields.
17.
   Place the cursor after "Dear" and insert the First Name field. Follow that with a comma.

   

 


   
18.
   Now we're ready to merge. Click on the Merge button. The arrow is pointing to it.

 


   
19.
   The Merge window will pop up.  Then click on the Merge button.
     
   

     
20.   This creates FILE THREE, the merged file. Save that file and print it out. We had 5 records, so we'll have 5 letters printed. If you have 50 records you'll have 50 letters printed.
     
    Mail Merge is a great tool. It saves you from having to type the same addresses over and over again. Once you've typed out your "data source," you can use it forever. When you want to send out another letter, follow steps 1-5. When you get to 6, instead of clicking on Create Data Source click on Open Data Source and then follow steps 13-20. You can also use your data source to create envelopes or mailing labels.