How to set up mail merge in word from excel
Mail merge is a powerful feature in Microsoft Word that allows you to combine data from an Excel spreadsheet with a Word document template to create personalized documents, such as letters, labels, or reports. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to set up a mail merge in Word from Excel:
Prerequisites:
- You have Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel installed on your computer.
- You have a Word document template (.docx) and an Excel spreadsheet (.xlsx) ready to use.
Step 1: Prepare your Excel spreadsheet
- Open your Excel spreadsheet and make sure it contains the data you want to use for the mail merge.
- Select the entire data range (e.g., A1:E100) and go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon.
- Click on "From Text" and then "Text to Columns" to separate the data into individual columns.
- Make sure the data is organized in a table format with headers in the first row.
Step 2: Create a new Word document
- Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
- Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon and click on "Start Mail Merge" > "Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard".
- In the Mail Merge Wizard, select "Write & Insert Fields" and then "Use an Existing List" > "Excel Spreadsheet".
Step 3: Connect to your Excel spreadsheet
- In the "Select Table" dialog box, browse to the location of your Excel spreadsheet and select it.
- Choose the worksheet and range of cells that contains the data you want to use for the mail merge.
- Click "OK" to connect to the Excel spreadsheet.
Step 4: Map the fields
- In the "Select Fields" dialog box, select the fields you want to use for the mail merge.
- Map the fields to the corresponding columns in your Excel spreadsheet.
- Click "OK" to close the dialog box.
Step 5: Insert the merge fields
- In your Word document, place your cursor where you want to insert the merge field.
- Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon and click on "Insert Merge Field".
- Select the field you want to insert from the drop-down list.
- Repeat this process for each field you want to insert.
Step 6: Preview and merge
- Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon and click on "Preview Results" to see how the mail merge will look.
- Make any necessary adjustments to the layout or formatting.
- Click on "Finish & Merge" to merge the data with the Word document template.
- Choose the output format (e.g., PDF, Word document, or email).
That's it! With these steps, you should be able to set up a mail merge in Word from Excel.