How to do mail merge in gmail with excel

Mail merge in Gmail with Excel! That's a great question!

Unfortunately, Gmail doesn't have a built-in mail merge feature like Microsoft Outlook does. However, you can still achieve mail merge functionality using a combination of Google Sheets, Google Forms, and Gmail's scripting capabilities. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you do a mail merge in Gmail with Excel:

Prerequisites:

1. You have a Google Sheets document with your data (e.g., names, emails, and messages).
2. You have a Gmail account.
3. You have basic knowledge of Google Sheets and Gmail scripting.

Step 1: Prepare your data in Google Sheets

1. Create a new Google Sheet or open an existing one with your data.
2. Make sure your data is organized in a table format with columns for the recipient's name, email, and message (or any other relevant information).
3. Format your data as needed (e.g., add headers, adjust column widths).

Step 2: Create a Google Form

1. Go to Google Forms and create a new form.
2. Add a question for each column in your Google Sheet (e.g., "Name", "Email", "Message").
3. Set the question type to "Short answer" or "Paragraph" depending on the type of data you're collecting.
4. Save the form.

Step 3: Connect Google Forms to Google Sheets

1. Go to your Google Sheet and click on "Tools" > "Script editor".
2. In the script editor, delete any existing code and paste the following script:

   function doGet(e) {
   var form = e.parameter.form;
   var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getActiveSheet();
   var data = sheet.getDataRange().getValues();
   var formResponses = e.parameter.response;
   var response = JSON.parse(formResponses);
   var row = [];
   for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i++) {
    row.push(data[i][0]); // Assuming the first column is the recipient's name
   }
   sheet.getRange(1, 1, row.length, 1).setValues(row);
   return ContentService.createTextOutput("Form submitted successfully!");
   }

3. Save the script.

Step 4: Set up Gmail's scripting

1. Go to your Gmail account and click on the gear icon > "See all settings".
2. Click on the "Filters and Blocked Addresses" tab.
3. Click on "Create a new filter".
4. In the "From" field, enter @script.google.com.
5. Click "Create filter".
6. In the "Apply the label" dropdown, select "New label" and give it a name (e.g., "Mail Merge").
7. Click "Create".

Step 5: Run the mail merge

1. Go back to your Google Sheet and click on "Tools" > "Script editor".
2. In the script editor, click on the "Run" button or press Ctrl+Enter.
3. The script will create a new row in your Google Sheet for each form submission.
4. In your Gmail account, go to the "Mail Merge" label and you should see a new email draft for each recipient.

Tips and Variations:

• To customize the email template, you can use Gmail's scripting capabilities to insert dynamic values from your Google Sheet.
• You can also use Google Apps Script's MailApp service to send the emails programmatically.
• If you have a large number of recipients, you may want to consider using a third-party service like Mailchimp or Constant Contact for more advanced mail merge features.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to do a mail merge in Gmail with Excel using Google Sheets and Google Forms.