Our agenda: What is Mail Merge? What does Mail Merge require? Steps for using Mail Merge. What is mail merge?

Mail Merge
For Word
Prepared by Adkham Salaydinov, Farrukh Umirov
and Otabek Otabaev

Our agenda:

• What is Mail Merge?
• What does Mail Merge require?
• Steps for using Mail Merge.

1. What is mail merge?

• Mail Merge allows us to combine lots of addresses with a single letter
• In other words, mail merge lets us make form letters.
• Form letters use the same message for many recipients and insert individual names & addresses.
• That is accomplished by using merge fields as place holders that stand for various pieces of data to insert.

2. What does mail merge Require?

Mail merge works with two documents, the data file and the letter template. The data file includes the information of the recipients to whom the letter is to be sent. This file can be a spreadsheet or database file containing separate fields for each different type of information to be merged within the letter.

Mailings tab

Open a blank document in Microsoft Word.
Click the Mailings tab tab.

rules for a mail merge

When you're sending letters to your mailing list you can customize the message. For example, include the words "Past due" for some recipients based on values in certain fields of the data source. The customization is based on rules that run when you perform the merge.
The "Past due" example would use an If...Then...Else rule, specifying to include the text, "Past due" for recipients where the value of a Due Date field is in the past.
Setting up rules is done after selecting recipients for the mail merge, and after inserting merge fields in the document.

ask

For example, you're sending out the same invitation for a quarterly meeting. Your data source doesn't store the meeting dates, and the meeting date appears more than once in the invitation.
By placing bookmarks in your document and including an Ask field, you can run the same merge for each meeting. The only thing you'll have to type is the meeting date, and you'll type it just once.

• In the merge document, press Ctrl+F9 and then type a name to create a bookmark. Repeat this, using the same name, in every place where you want the response to the Ask field to appear in the document.
• Place your cursor somewhere in the document, before the first bookmark you just created.
• Go to Mailings > Rules > Ask.
• Select the bookmark you just created (or type its name), and enter a prompt, like "Event date?" in the Prompt box.
• Select OK, and then OK again.
• At the end of the process, when you select Finish & Merge, choose Edit Individual Documents. You'll be prompted for a response for each recipient. That response will be inserted in the bookmarks you specified, in the documents that result from the merge.

Ask
Rules > Ask
Bookmark Prompt
OK

Building and address list

• Click the Selected Recipients button
• Chose Type New List

Add info to the address list

• You need to research and find companies to send your cover letter to
• Type each field value and push the tab key
• Click New Entry when ready for the next address
• When done, click OK

Save the address list

• After clicking OK, a Save Address List dialog opens
• Navigate to your account
• Enter a name for the document

• When done, click Save

Start the form letter

• Put in your street address, city and zip code.
• Date after that
• Move cursor to

Inside address

location

Address block button

With the cursor positioned, click Address Block button

Preview Address Block

• After clicking the Address block button, we preview
• Variation available Example from out list

• When done,

click OK

Greeting Line Button

• With the cursor positioned 2 lines below the Address Block, click the Greeting Line button

Preveiw Greeting line

• After clicking the Greeting Line button, we preview
• Formats available Example from out list

• When done,

click OK

• Note a comma is included.

Additional address data entries

• As we type our letter, we can add more address data to the letter with Insert Merge Fields

Insert merge fields choices

• We can choose any of the data that we have in our address file.

• As always, we need to position the cursor at the desired insertion location.

After Inserting merge field

• First name was inserted:

Previewing the letter

• The Presults Button shows us how it looks using real data:

• Click the button again to return to the field view

Finish the mail merge

• Finally, we just click Finish & Merge
• It lets us Edit some, Print, or e-mail

References

/support.microsoft.com
/msutexas.edu
/en.m.wikipedia.org

Thank you for your attention