Mail merge in excel to excel spreadsheet
Mail merge in Excel!
Mail merge is a powerful feature in Excel that allows you to combine data from two or more sources, such as a database or a spreadsheet, with a template document, such as a Word document or an Excel spreadsheet, to create multiple output documents. In this case, you want to perform a mail merge from one Excel spreadsheet to another. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this:
Prerequisites:
- Two Excel spreadsheets:
Source.xlsx
(contains the data you want to merge) andTarget.xlsx
(the template spreadsheet where you want to merge the data). - Both spreadsheets should have a common field (e.g., a unique identifier, like an employee ID) that will be used to match the data.
Step-by-Step Instructions:
- Prepare the Source Spreadsheet:
- Open
Source.xlsx
and make sure it's organized in a way that allows you to easily identify the data you want to merge. - Ensure that the data is in a table format, with each row representing a single record and each column representing a field (e.g., name, email, phone number).
- Open
- Prepare the Target Spreadsheet:
- Open
Target.xlsx
and create a new sheet (e.g., "Merged Data"). - Set up the sheet with the same column structure as the Source spreadsheet, but leave the cells blank.
- Open
- Create a Mail Merge Template:
- In the Target spreadsheet, select the entire range of cells where you want to merge the data (e.g., A1:E100).
- Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon and click on "From Other Sources" > "From Microsoft Query".
- In the "Create a query" dialog box, select "Excel Files" as the data source and choose
Source.xlsx
as the file. - Click "OK" to create the query.
- Set up the Mail Merge:
- In the "Query" dialog box, select the table from
Source.xlsx
that contains the data you want to merge. - In the "Join" tab, select the common field (e.g., employee ID) to match the data between the two spreadsheets.
- Click "OK" to set up the mail merge.
- In the "Query" dialog box, select the table from
- Run the Mail Merge:
- Go back to the Target spreadsheet and select the range of cells where you want to merge the data (e.g., A1:E100).
- Go to the "Data" tab in the ribbon and click on "Mailings" > "Merge" > "Merge & Send".
- In the "Merge" dialog box, select the query you created in step 4 and click "OK".
- Review and Save the Results:
- The mail merge will create a new sheet in the Target spreadsheet with the merged data.
- Review the results to ensure that the data is accurate and complete.
- Save the Target spreadsheet with the merged data.
That's it! You have successfully performed a mail merge from one Excel spreadsheet to another.
Tips and Variations:
- You can use multiple tables from the Source spreadsheet by creating multiple queries and joining them using the common field.
- You can also use formulas and formatting to customize the output in the Target spreadsheet.
- If you need to perform a mail merge with a large dataset, consider using Excel's built-in "Power Query" feature, which can handle larger datasets more efficiently.