Ms word mail merge from excel

The classic combination!

Mail merge is a powerful feature in Microsoft Word that allows you to combine data from an external source, such as an Excel spreadsheet, with a Word document template to create multiple, customized documents. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to perform a mail merge from Excel to Word:

Prerequisites:

1. You have an Excel spreadsheet with the data you want to merge.
2. You have a Word document template with placeholders for the data.
3. You have Microsoft Word and Excel installed on your computer.

Step 1: Prepare your Excel data

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet and select the data you want to merge.
2. Make sure the data is organized in a table format with headers in the first row.
3. Save your Excel file as a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file. This will allow Word to easily read the data.

Step 2: Create a Word document template

1. Open Microsoft Word and create a new document or open an existing one.
2. Design your document template with placeholders for the data. Use the "Insert" menu to insert fields, such as "First Name" or "Last Name".
3. Save your Word document as a template (.dotx or.dotm file).

Step 3: Set up the mail merge

1. Open your Word document template.
2. Go to the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon.
3. Click on "Select Recipients" and then "Use an Existing List".
4. Browse to the location of your CSV file and select it.
5. Click "Open" to import the data into Word.

Step 4: Map the fields

1. In the "Mailings" tab, click on "Match Fields" to map the fields in your Excel data to the placeholders in your Word document template.
2. Select the fields in your Excel data and match them to the corresponding placeholders in your Word document template.

Step 5: Merge the data

1. Click on "Finish & Merge" in the "Mailings" tab.
2. Choose "Edit Individual Documents" to merge the data and create a new document for each record.
3. Word will create a new document for each record, filling in the placeholders with the corresponding data from your Excel spreadsheet.

Tips and Variations:

• You can also use other data sources, such as Access databases or SQL queries, as long as they can be exported to a CSV file.
• To merge data from multiple Excel files, you can concatenate them into a single CSV file before performing the mail merge.
• You can also use Word's built-in "Data Sources" feature to connect to an Excel spreadsheet directly, without needing to export the data to a CSV file.

By following these steps, you can easily perform a mail merge from Excel to Word and create customized documents with ease!