Mail merge word steps

Here are the steps to perform a mail merge in Microsoft Word:

Step 1: Prepare your data

• Create a database or spreadsheet containing the information you want to use for the mail merge. This can be a table in a database, an Excel spreadsheet, or a CSV file.
• Make sure the data is organized in a way that makes sense for your mail merge. For example, if you're sending a letter to customers, you might have columns for name, address, and order information.

Step 2: Create a new document in Word

• Open Microsoft Word and create a new document.
• Set the document layout to the format you want to use for your mail merge. For example, if you're sending a letter, you might want to use a business letter format.

Step 3: Set up the mail merge

• Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon at the top of the screen.
• Click on "Select Recipients" and choose "Use an Existing List" from the drop-down menu.
• Browse to the location of your data file and select it.
• Click "OK" to import the data into Word.

Step 4: Create a merge field

• In your document, type the text you want to appear in the merged document. For example, if you're sending a letter, you might type "Dear [Name]".
• Highlight the text you just typed.
• Go to the "Mailings" tab and click on "Insert Merge Field" from the "Write & Insert Fields" group.
• Choose the field you want to insert from the drop-down menu. For example, if you want to insert the customer's name, choose "Name".

Step 5: Repeat step 4 for each merge field

• Continue inserting merge fields for each piece of information you want to include in your document. For example, you might insert fields for address, order information, and so on.

Step 6: Preview the merge

• Go to the "Mailings" tab and click on "Preview Results" from the "Finish & Merge" group.
• Word will display a preview of what the merged document will look like.

Step 7: Merge the documents

• Go to the "Mailings" tab and click on "Finish & Merge" from the "Finish & Merge" group.
• Choose "Edit Individual Documents" from the drop-down menu.
• Word will create a new document for each record in your data file, inserting the merge fields as needed.

Step 8: Save and print the merged documents

• Save each merged document to a file or print it directly.
• You can also save the merged documents to a PDF file or send them via email.

That's it! With these steps, you should be able to perform a mail merge in Microsoft Word.