Do the mail merge fields come from the data source

In a mail merge, the fields that are inserted into the document come from the data source, which is typically a database, spreadsheet, or other data storage system.

When you set up a mail merge, you specify a data source and a template document. The data source contains the data that you want to use to populate the template document. The template document contains placeholders, called merge fields, that are replaced with the actual data from the data source.

The merge fields are essentially placeholders that are defined in the template document, and they are linked to specific fields in the data source. When you run the mail merge, the software (such as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat) replaces the merge fields with the actual data from the data source.

For example, if you have a data source that contains a list of customers, and you want to create a letter to each customer, you might define a merge field called "Customer Name" in your template document. When you run the mail merge, the software will replace the "Customer Name" merge field with the actual name of each customer in the data source.

Here are some common types of data sources that can be used for mail merges:

1. Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
2. Microsoft Access databases
3. SQL Server databases
4. Oracle databases
5. CSV (Comma Separated Values) files
6. Text files
7. XML (Extensible Markup Language) files

The specific data source you use will depend on the type of data you have and the software you are using for the mail merge.