How to mail merge multiple rows into one document

Mail merging is a powerful feature in Microsoft Word that allows you to combine data from an external source, such as an Excel spreadsheet or a database, with a Word document template to create multiple customized documents. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to mail merge multiple rows into one document:

Prerequisites:

1. You have a Word document template with placeholders for the data you want to merge.
2. You have a data source (e.g., an Excel spreadsheet or a database) with multiple rows of data.
3. You have Microsoft Word 2010 or later version installed on your computer.

Step 1: Prepare your data source

1. Open your data source (e.g., Excel spreadsheet) and select the entire data range (e.g., A1:E10).
2. Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon and click on "From Table" or "From Range" to create a table from your data.
3. Make sure the table has a header row with column names (e.g., "Name", "Address", "Phone Number").

Step 2: Create a new Word document

1. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
2. Type in your template text, using placeholders for the data you want to merge (e.g., [Name], [Address], [Phone Number]).

Step 3: Set up the mail merge

1. Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon.
2. Click on "Select Recipients" and then "Use an Existing List" to select your data source (e.g., Excel spreadsheet).
3. Choose the table or range you created in Step 1.
4. Click "OK" to set up the mail merge.

Step 4: Merge the data

1. Click on "Finish & Merge" in the "Mailings" tab.
2. Choose "Edit Individual Documents" to merge the data into individual documents.
3. Word will create a new document for each row in your data source, replacing the placeholders with the actual data.

Tips and Variations:

• To merge multiple rows into one document, you can use the "Grouping" feature in Word. Select the rows you want to group together, go to the "Mailings" tab, and click on "Grouping" > "Group Rows".
• To merge data from multiple data sources, you can use the "Combine" feature in Word. Select the data sources, go to the "Mailings" tab, and click on "Combine" > "Combine Data Sources".
• To customize the merge process, you can use Word's "Merge Fields" feature. Right-click on a placeholder and select "Insert Merge Field" to insert a field that will be replaced with the actual data.

By following these steps, you should be able to mail merge multiple rows into one document using Microsoft Word.