Mail merge in word into separate documents

The classic mail merge!

In Microsoft Word, you can use the mail merge feature to create separate documents for each recipient in a list. Here's a step-by-step guide:

Prerequisites:

1. You have a list of recipients in a spreadsheet or a database (e.g., Excel, Access, or a CSV file).
2. You have a Word document with a template that you want to use for the mail merge.

Step 1: Prepare your data source

1. Open your spreadsheet or database and create a new sheet or table with the following columns:
   • Name (or any other field you want to use for personalization)
   • Address (if you want to include the recipient's address in the document)
   • Any other fields you want to use for personalization (e.g., phone number, email, etc.)
2. Make sure the data is organized and formatted correctly.

Step 2: Create a new Word document

1. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
2. Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon.
3. Click on "Select Recipients" and then "Use an Existing List" to select your data source (e.g., Excel file, Access database, etc.).

Step 3: Set up the mail merge

1. In the "Mailings" tab, click on "Write & Insert Fields" to open the "Insert Merge Field" dialog box.
2. Select the field you want to use for personalization (e.g., "Name").
3. Click "Insert" to insert the field into your document.
4. Repeat this process for each field you want to use for personalization.

Step 4: Merge the documents

1. Go to the "Mailings" tab and click on "Preview Results" to see a preview of the merged documents.
2. Click on "Finish & Merge" to start the mail merge process.
3. Choose "Edit Individual Documents" to create separate documents for each recipient.
4. Word will create a new document for each recipient, using the data from your data source to fill in the fields.

Tips and Variations:

• You can use different templates for each recipient by creating multiple Word documents with different templates and then merging them using the same data source.
• You can also use conditional formatting to change the appearance of the document based on specific conditions (e.g., if the recipient is a VIP, you can use a different font or color).
• If you have a large number of recipients, you can use the "Merge to PDF" option to create a single PDF file with all the merged documents.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to create separate documents for each recipient using the mail merge feature in Microsoft Word.