How to do a mail merge with word and excel

A mail merge! A classic technique to automate the process of sending personalized letters or documents to a large number of recipients. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do a mail merge with Microsoft Word and Excel:

Prerequisites:

1. Microsoft Word (2010 or later) and Microsoft Excel (2010 or later) installed on your computer.
2. A list of recipients in an Excel spreadsheet.
3. A Word document template with placeholders for the recipient information.

Step 1: Prepare your Excel spreadsheet

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet and create a table with the following columns:
   • First Name
   • Last Name
   • Address
   • City
   • State
   • ZIP
   • Email (optional)
2. Enter the recipient information in the table. Make sure to format the columns correctly (e.g., text, date, etc.).

Step 2: Create a Word document template

1. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
2. Type in the main content of your letter or document, using placeholders for the recipient information (e.g., [First Name], [Last Name], etc.).
3. Use the "Insert" menu to insert a "Mail Merge" field, which will be replaced with the actual recipient information during the merge process.

Step 3: Set up the mail merge

1. Go to the "Mailings" tab in Word.
2. Click on "Select Recipients" and then "Use an Existing List".
3. Browse to your Excel spreadsheet and select it.
4. Click "OK" to confirm the selection.

Step 4: Map the fields

1. In the "Mailings" tab, click on "Match Fields" to map the fields in your Excel spreadsheet to the placeholders in your Word document.
2. Match the fields by selecting the corresponding columns in the Excel spreadsheet and the placeholders in the Word document.

Step 5: Preview and print the merged documents

1. Click on "Preview Results" to see a preview of the merged documents.
2. Review the merged documents to ensure that the information is correct and formatted as expected.
3. Once you're satisfied, click on "Print" to print the merged documents.

Tips and Variations:

• You can also use the "Merge to PDF" option to save the merged documents as PDF files.
• To send the merged documents via email, you can use the "Send to Mail Recipient" option.
• You can also use other data sources, such as Access databases or text files, for the mail merge.
• To automate the mail merge process, you can use VBA macros or third-party add-ins.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to perform a mail merge with Microsoft Word and Excel.