How to do an email mail merge outloook
The classic email mail merge!
In Outlook, you can perform a mail merge using the "Rules" feature and a little bit of creativity. Here's a step-by-step guide:
Prerequisites:
- You have a list of contacts or recipients in a CSV file or an Excel spreadsheet.
- You have a template email in Outlook that you want to send to each recipient.
Step 1: Prepare your data
- Open your CSV file or Excel spreadsheet and make sure it has the following columns:
- Email address (or a unique identifier for each recipient)
- First name
- Last name
- Any other fields you want to use in your email template (e.g., company name, job title, etc.)
- Save your file as a CSV file (e.g., "recipients.csv").
Step 2: Create a new rule in Outlook
- Open Outlook and go to the "Home" tab in the ribbon.
- Click on the "Rules" button in the "Move" group.
- Click on "Manage Rules & Alerts" and then "New Rule".
- Select "Start from a blank rule" and click "Next".
- Choose "Check messages when they arrive" and click "Next".
- Click "specified words in the subject or body" and then "specified words" in the next window.
- Click "OK" to create the rule.
Step 3: Set up the rule
- In the "Rules and Alerts" window, click on the "Conditions" tab.
- Click on "Advanced" and then "Field" in the "Edit Rule" window.
- Select "Recipient" and then "contains" in the next window.
- Click "Browse" and select your CSV file (e.g., "recipients.csv").
- Choose the "Email address" column and click "OK".
- Click "OK" to close the "Edit Rule" window.
Step 4: Create the email template
- Open a new email in Outlook and create a template with placeholders for the recipient's information (e.g., {{First Name}}, {{Last Name}}, etc.).
- Save the email as a draft.
Step 5: Set up the action
- In the "Rules and Alerts" window, click on the "Actions" tab.
- Click on "Move to" and then "specified folder" in the "Edit Rule" window.
- Select the folder where you want to save the merged emails (e.g., "Sent Items").
- Click "OK" to close the "Edit Rule" window.
Step 6: Run the rule
- Go back to the "Rules and Alerts" window and click "Apply" to run the rule.
- Outlook will read the CSV file and merge the email template with the recipient's information.
- The merged emails will be saved in the specified folder.
Tips and Variations:
- You can use other conditions, such as "contains" or "matches", to filter the recipients based on specific criteria.
- You can use multiple CSV files or spreadsheets by separating them with commas or semicolons.
- You can use Outlook's built-in "Mail Merge" feature by going to "File" > "Print" > "Mail Merge" and following the prompts.
- You can also use third-party add-ins, such as Mail Merge for Outlook or AutoEmailer, to simplify the process.