How to use mail merge excel to excel
Mail merge is a powerful feature in Microsoft Excel that allows you to combine data from two or more worksheets or workbooks into a single output. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use mail merge in Excel to merge data from two Excel files:
Prerequisites:
- Two Excel files with data you want to merge:
Source.xlsx
andTarget.xlsx
. - Both files should have a common field (e.g.,
ID
) that you can use to match records.
Step 1: Prepare the data
- Open both Excel files (
Source.xlsx
andTarget.xlsx
) and ensure they have the same structure (same columns, same data types). - Identify the common field (e.g.,
ID
) that you'll use to match records.
Step 2: Create a new workbook
- Open a new Excel workbook (
MailMerge.xlsx
) where you'll perform the mail merge. - Create a new worksheet in the
MailMerge.xlsx
workbook.
Step 3: Set up the mail merge
- In the new worksheet, go to the
Data
tab and click onFrom Other Sources
>From Microsoft Query
. - In the
Query Wizard
, selectExcel Files
as the data source and choose theSource.xlsx
file. - Select the worksheet that contains the data you want to merge (e.g.,
Sheet1
). - Click
Finish
to create a query.
Step 4: Define the merge
- In the
Mail Merge
dialog box, select theTarget.xlsx
file as the destination. - Choose the worksheet that contains the data you want to merge into (e.g.,
Sheet1
). - Select the common field (e.g.,
ID
) as the merge key. - Click
OK
to start the merge process.
Step 5: Map the fields
- In the
Map Fields
dialog box, map the fields from theSource.xlsx
file to the corresponding fields in theTarget.xlsx
file. - For example, if you want to merge the
Name
field fromSource.xlsx
into theName
field inTarget.xlsx
, select theName
field inSource.xlsx
and drag it to theName
field inTarget.xlsx
.
Step 6: Perform the merge
- Click
OK
to perform the mail merge. - Excel will merge the data from the
Source.xlsx
file into theTarget.xlsx
file based on the common field (e.g.,ID
).
Step 7: Review and refine the results
- Review the merged data to ensure it's accurate and complete.
- Refine the results as needed by editing the merged data or re-running the mail merge with different settings.
Tips and Variations:
- You can use mail merge to merge data from multiple sources, not just two files.
- You can use different merge types, such as
Append
(adds new records to the target file) orUpdate
(updates existing records in the target file). - You can use formulas and functions in the mail merge process to perform calculations or transformations on the data.
By following these steps, you can use mail merge in Excel to combine data from two or more Excel files and create a new output that meets your specific needs.