What is mail merge in excel

Here are some tips to prepare your Excel spreadsheet for a mail merge. Make sure:

• Column names in your spreadsheet match the field names you want to insert in your mail merge. For example, to address readers by their first name in your document, you’ll need separate columns for first and last names.

• All data to be merged is present in the first sheet of your spreadsheet.

• Data entries with percentages, currencies, and postal codes are correctly formatted in the spreadsheet so that Word can properly read their values.

• The Excel spreadsheet to be used in the mail merge is stored on your local machine.

• Changes or additions to your spreadsheet are completed before it’s connected to your mail merge document in Word.

Here are some tips to prepare your Excel spreadsheet for a mail merge. Make sure:

• Column names in your spreadsheet match the field names you want to insert in your mail merge. For example, to address readers by their first name in your document, you’ll need separate columns for first and last names.

• All data to be merged is present in the first sheet of your spreadsheet.

• Data entries with percentages, currencies, and postal codes are correctly formatted in the spreadsheet so that Word can properly read their values.

• The Excel spreadsheet to be used in the mail merge is stored on your local machine.

• Changes or additions to your spreadsheet are completed before it’s connected to your mail merge document in Word.

For more information, see Prepare your Excel data source for mail merge in Word.

Mail Merge is a handy feature that incorporates data from both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel and allows you to create multiple documents at once, such as letters, saving you the time and effort of retyping the same letter over and over.

What is mail merge with example?

Mail merge is a word processing procedure which enables you to combine a document with a data file, for example a list of names and addresses, so that copies of the document are different for each person it is sent to. [computing] He sent every member of staff a mail merge letter wishing them a merry Christmas.

What is mail merge and its steps?

Mail merging means to plug data from an address table into form letters, e-mail messages, envelopes, address labels, or a directory (a list or catalog, for example). To start a mail merge, choose Tools | Letters and Mailings | Mail Merge Wizard to open the Mail Merge task pane.

What is mail merge and why do we use it?

Mail merge lets you create a batch of documents that are personalized for each recipient. For example, a form letter might be personalized to address each recipient by name. A data source, like a list, spreadsheet, or database, is associated with the document.

What is mail merge simple definition?

A mail merge is a method of taking data from a database, spreadsheet, or other form of structured data, and inserting it into documents such as letters, mailing labels, and name tags.You can also print a set of mailing labels or envelopes by doing a mail merge.

How do I create a mail merge from Excel?

You can insert one or more mail merge fields that pull the information from your spreadsheet into your document.

1. Go to Mailings > Insert Merge Field.
2. Add the field you want.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 as needed.
4. Choose File > Save.

How do I create a mail merge document?

Set up and Choose Document Type

1. Click the Mailings tab.
2. Click the Start Mail Merge button.
3. Select Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard. The Mail Merge pane appears on the right, ready to walk you through the mail merge.
4. Select a type of document to create.
5. Click Next: Starting document.

The Mail Merge feature of Microsoft Word is a great way to produce a large number of personalized letters or labels in a short amount of time. The process can seem daunting to a beginner, but if you break it down into a series of steps, is very easy to manage.

What are the types of mail merge?

The four types of mail merge main documents are letters, envelops, mailing labels and catalogue.

What is mail merge PPT?

MAIL MERGE • is a useful tool that allows you to produce multiple letters, labels, envelopes, name tags, and more using information stored in a list, database, or spreadsheet. • The linking of the data source to the document is done through merged fields.

What are the advantages of mail merge?

Advantages. One standard letter can be written and sent to all customers without having to manually add each name and address. The letter can be personalised – it looks as though the letter has been written to the individual person. It’s a very fast way to produce hundreds of personalised letters.

How do you do a mail merge in Excel without word?

Re: Using mail merge in excel without word

1. Create a mapping between the source data and the destination (template) cells.
2. Select the rows in the source to merge.
3. In each iteration, copy every source cell to the mapped destination cell, then save the template as it’s own XLS file and publish it to PDF.

What is data source in mail merge?

The mail merge process involves taking information from one document, known as the data source, combining with another document known as the main document. The data source is a document, spreadsheet or database that contains personalized information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers.

How do I mail merge from Excel to Word labels?

With your address list set up in an Excel spreadsheet, Outlook Contacts, or a new list you created, you can use mail merge in Word to create mailing labels. Go to Mailings > Start Mail Merge > Labels. In the Label Options dialog box, choose your label supplier in the Label vendors list.

What are the three basic steps of mail merge?

There are three documents that are involved in the mail merge process: the main document, the data source, and the merged document.

What are the 4 steps in creating a simple mail merge?

1. Mail merge is a tool which allows you to create form letters, mailing labels and envelopes by linking a main document to a data source.
2. 1) Open Word and create a new blank document.
3. 1) Click Letters for the document type.
4. Step 3 – Select Recipients.
5. Step 4 – Write Your Letter.
6. Step 5 – Preview Your Letters.

What is mail merge class 10 Example?

Answer: The term mail merge is a method of taking data from a database, spreadsheet, or other form of structured data, and inserting it into documents such as letters, mailing labels, and name tags.

What is placeholder in mail merge?

Placeholders are like mail merge fields that define where you want a value that will be defined later. You will want to use placeholders for signer names for example.They will be replaced with the correct value when the email is sent out.

How many steps does it take to do a mail merge?

There are six steps in the mail merge wizard:

1. Select the document type.
2. Start the document.
3. Select recipients.
4. Write your letter.
5. Preview your letters.
6. Complete the merge.

What is the 2 components of mail merge?

Mail merge is a method of building personalized letters or emails with a bit of automation. It requires two components – a template of a letter or an email with specific placeholders in the body. And a spreadsheet with a set of data that should replace placeholders for each individual recipient.

Can you mail merge with PowerPoint?

PowerPoint is a perfect tool for mail-merging reports.PowerPoint is the best and cheapest way to do your mail-merged individual reports, but only in combination with our DataPoint add-on. This plugin allows you to connect your PowerPoint shapes like text boxes, charts, images and tables directly to your data sources.

Asked by: Richie Schoen

Score: 4.7/5
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Mail Merge is a handy feature that incorporates data from both Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel and allows you to create multiple documents at once, such as letters, saving you the time and effort of retyping the same letter over and over.

What is mail merge explain?

A mail merge is a method of taking data from a database, spreadsheet, or other form of structured data, and inserting it into documents such as letters, mailing labels, and name tags. … You can also print a set of mailing labels or envelopes by doing a mail merge.

What is mail merge and its steps?

The mail merging process generally requires the following steps:

What is mail merge give an example?

Mail merge is a word processing procedure which enables you to combine a document with a data file, for example a list of names and addresses, so that copies of the document are different for each person it is sent to. [computing] He sent every member of staff a mail merge letter wishing them a merry Christmas.

How does mail merge work in MS Excel?

NOTE: A mail merge can just as easily be an email merge. Add a column to your excel spreadsheet that contains the email address to send each merged letter to. Under ‘Finish and Merge’, select ‘Send Email Messages’ and for the TO specify the column name that contains the email address and specify the SUBJECT to use.

28 related questions found

The purpose of Microsoft Word’s Mail Merge feature is to reproduce a document, envelope, email, or label which contains a combination of static (i.e., same every time) and dynamic content.

In the case of a form letter or mass email, the static content would be all the information that is the same for each recipient, such as announcements, agendas, news stories, etc.  The dynamic content would be data that is unique to the reader, like their name, address, medical information, or purchase history.

By placing the static information in Word, then storing the dynamic content in an Excel table, we can strategically place connectors throughout the Word document that will extract from the Excel table, one row at a time, information to complete the Word document.

Each iteration through the Excel table will produce a separate and unique version of the Word document.

The results of the Mail Merge can be sent to a printer, generated as PDF files, or automatically sent out as email messages through your default email application.

Let’s look at a practical example.

Setting Up the Mail Merge Documents

We begin with a Word document that was written as if it were to only go to a single recipient.

Think of it as a template by which all other like documents are to be based.

Several pieces of information in the Word document need to be changed for each recipient.

The elements that need to change from recipient to recipient are stored in a table in an Excel file.

The table contains all the dynamic information used by the Word document, but it can also contain other information not accessed by Mail Merge.  The Excel table can contain unneeded information; it won’t upset Mail Mere in the slightest.

The Excel table can also contain calculations.  NOTE: The formatting of dates and calculation results do not carry forward to the Word document.  I have a couple of options for you later that will address that issue and make the formatting of the data perfect.

Starting the Mail Merge Process

In the template Word document, start the Mail Merge feature by clicking the Mailings tab/ribbon and locate the button group labeled “Start Mail Merge”.

Selecting the “Start Mail Merge” button displays a list of Mail Merge output options:

• Letters
• E-mail Messages
• Envelopes
• Labels
• Directory

You can even take advantage of the Mail Merge Wizard that will walk you through the most common steps when setting up and producing Mail Merge content.

For this example, we will work with our open template file by selecting “Normal Word Document”.

Selecting the Excel File with Dynamic Data

The next step is to point to the source of the dynamic data.  By clicking the “Select Recipients” button we can pull information from the Contacts feature of Outlook, create a new list of dynamic data directly in Word, or what is the most common option, selecting content from an Excel table.

Browse out to the location of your Excel file and select the file.  Click Open when ready to read the contents of the Excel file.

A dialog box will appear requesting two pieces of information about the data:

1. Which sheet in the Excel file contains the table of information?
2. Does the table of information have an existing header row?

If you have a column header in the table, those heading labels will appear as field name selections in an upcoming step.  It is highly recommended that if you do not have an existing column header in the data, take a moment to create one.  The alternative will be to work with generically named field names that are difficult to understand.

Once you have clicked OK, you can begin setting up the links between the Word document and the Excel table of data.

Inserting Excel Fields into the Word Document

Once we have selected the table of data, many of the options in the “Write & Insert Fields” button group have become available for use.

Next, we will select an element of the Word document that is currently static and replace it with a field from the Excel table.  This provides a pointer to the column in the table that holds the information currently being represented in the Word document.

Erase the current static version of the data, then click Mailings (tab) -> Write & Insert Fields (group) -> Insert Merge Field.

This displays a list of all the column headings from the Excel table.  For this instance, we will select the field entry for “Invoice Number”.

We now see a dynamic placeholder that will connect this part of the Word document to the single column in the Excel table.

We will repeat this process for the remaining fields we wish to be dynamic.

Preview the Output Results

We can “step” through the list of entries from the Excel table, swapping field data in the Word document to see a rendition of each iteration of the results.

This is accomplished by enabling the data preview (Mailings -> Preview Results).

To step through the various table entries from the Excel file, click the “Next Record” and “Previous Record” buttons.

Number and Date Formatting Issues

One of the weaknesses of the Mail Merge feature is that it does not carry forward from the Excel table any of the date or number formatting.

We have two ways to address this issue:

• Add formatting codes to the Word field.
• Create a formatted version of the data in the Excel table.

Adding Field Codes in Word

Underneath each of the Mail Merge field links are a series of codes that tell Word what to display in that location.

To display the codes for a specific field, right-click the field and select “Toggle Field Codes”.

We can add a small bit of code to tell Word to apply a number style, like a Currency Style from Excel, to the linked data.

Just before the closing curly brace, add the following text:

# $,0.00

The updated merge field code appears as follows.

{ MERGEFIELD Amount_Line_1 # $,0.00 }

To display the original data (hiding the field codes), right-click the field code and select “Toggle Field Codes”.

Repeat this process for each of the fields you wish to have a Currency Style applied.

You will likely need to toggle the “Preview Results” feature twice to see the results of your efforts.

NOTE: To display ALL the field codes in a single step, select the entire document (CTRL-A) and then press the ALT-F9 key combination.

NOTE: The # tells Mail Merge that you are applying formatting codes to numbers.  If you want to apply formatting codes to dates, you can use the @ code as shown in the following example.

{ MERGEFIELD Date @ “dddd, MMMM d, yyyy” }

yields

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Creating Formatting Versions of Data in Excel

If diving into the Mail Merge formatting codes is a bit intimidating, an alternate approach is to create a “helper column” in the data source with formulas that point to the cells containing typed values or calculation results and applies formatting via a function called TEXT.

For example, if column A has a list of “Sales”, we can create a “helper column” in column B that takes the values in column A and applies formatting via the TEXT function.

=TEXT(A1, “$#,##0.00”)

If we use the “helper column” in the Word document instead of the original “Sales” column, the formatting will be carried forward.

You can use the same example from the previous section for dealing with the formatting of dates.

Sorting and Filtering the Source Data

If you have connected to a data source that is in an undesirable order or contains records you do not wish to use in the final merge operation, you can easily arrive at the perfect list by using the Sort and Filter controls in Mail Merge.

To access these features, click the Mailings (tab) -> Start mail Merge (group) -> Edit Recipient List button.

Sort Controls

The Sort controls allow you to select up to three levels of sorting based on the data source fields as well as the ascending/descending direction of each sort.

Filter Controls

The Filter controls allow you to reduce the data set by applying tests to various fields.  If the data passes the various tests, the record is included in the final merge operation.

You can also simply brute force remove items from the merge operation by unchecking the record from the summary list.

Performing the Merge Operation

To blend the records of data in the Excel file with the Word document, we begin by selecting Mailings (tab) -> Finish (group) -> Finish & Merge.

We have three options:

• Edit the individual documents; useful to perform individualization to certain instances that are not achievable through standard Mail Merge means (ex: add a personal message to a special client.)
• Print each document. This allows you to save the processed Excel entries as a single, process file that can be printed at a later date to any printer needed or even saved as a PDF file.  NOTE: Do not use the traditional PRINT system in Word.  You will only receive a single document of the first record in the Excel data set.
• Send each instance of the document to an email recipient vis your default email application.

In our example, we will send each instance of the document to the recipient’s email address.

Selecting “Send Email Messages…” opens the following dialog box.

Notice how the Mail Merge feature has determined that a field Excel file contains email address information.  This information will be used by the TO: field in the email distribution process.

We can also supply the following information and content customizations:

• Provide a subject line that will be applied to each outgoing email message.
• Define the format of the email message. This can be Text (for older systems), HTML (the most common selection), and Attachment.  This attaches the Word document to the email message, requiring the viewer to open the document in a word processor application.
• Process and send all the Excel table entries, only the currently viewed instance, or a numeric range of instances.

Below is a segment of the processed and sent message to a single recipient.

If we were to have selected the “Attachment” option, the email message would appear as follows.

Mail merge is not an MS Excel feature, actually. It is a feature of MS Word, which is available inside the Mailing tab in Microsoft Word. However, MS Excel also helps MS Word to perform mail merge. Mail merge is an interesting feature that allows to incorporates the data from both Excel and Word and creates multiple documents at once, such as — letter.

For example, you can write a letter and create a mail merge to print it with 10 different salutations like Dear Krish, Dear Joe, Dear Mack, etc. These names are stored in an Excel sheet. This way, it saves the time of users to retype and recreate the multiple documents with minimal difference.

In this chapter, we will discuss how mail merge works by pairing both Excel and Word applications to create multiple documents.

What is mail merge?

Mail merge is the quickest way to customize the document, like email and newsletters. It allows the users to create the personalized documents that will automatically vary recipient-by-recipient. It saves the effort to create a personalized document for multiple recipients at once. For example, invitation letter.

Mail merge works with Excel spreadsheet to create multiple personalized documents. This Excel spreadsheet contains such information, names, email address, address, etc.

Placeholder

Mail merge has fields, which are known as placeholders. These placeholders are placed in Word files, whose respective values are picked from the defined Excel spreadsheet. For example, <<first name>>, <<email>>, etc. Thus, the column names in that Excel spreadsheet must be the same as the field names.

Placeholders are also called merge fields. These merge fields fetch the value of the respective fields from the Excel spreadsheet linked with your current word file.

Need of mail merge

Here is an example —

You want to send the birthday invitation to your friends and relatives. However, the invitation message will be the same, but you want each email to include a salutation with their names and a greeting line.

If you create it manually for each person individually, it will take a lot of time and effort to create separate emails. Thus, the mail merge will help you to create an email or letter by paring Word and Excel spreadsheet and make the task done.

Mail merge with Excel

Although you can perform mail merging only with MS Word. But when it needs to create multiple documents of the same type, we will suggest you to use an Excel spreadsheet.

• It will save time and reduce the hectic of users by creating multiple documents in one go.
• It reduces the effort of users to retype the data and create each document separately.
• Data for mail merge is stored inside the Excel spreadsheet, such as — names, addresses, etc.
• You can use the mail merge feature of Word to create any type of documents, such as — Invoices, Inventories, letters, labels, catalogues, envelopes, etc.
• Mail merge seems complex, but it not that tough. We will make it easy for you by explaining it step by step.

Step to mail merge

Mail merge requires the following important steps:

1. Create an Excel spreadsheet and prepare data
2. Start creating a mail merge in MS Word
3. Connect the Excel file to Word file
4. Insert merge fields to your document
5. Save your created mail merge

Essential point to know

You should know the following things while preparing mail merge:

1. Column names of your Excel spreadsheet must be the same as field names you want to insert in the mail merge.
2. All the data you want to insert in a mail merge should be present in the first sheet of your Excel spreadsheet.
3. Your Excel file must be saved on your local machine to incorporate the data from it.
4. Data with percentage, currency, and postal code should be formatted properly so that MS Word can read them properly.
5. If you want to make any changes to your Excel sheet, it must be done before the mail merge.
6. If you have added a zip code column in Excel, you have to change it to postal code instead of pin code or zip code.

Example

Using an example, we will show a detailed method to create a mail merge. In this example, we will create a letter through mail merge. Follow the steps for it:

Create and prepare an Excel sheet

Step 1: The first thing is to create an Excel spreadsheet along with the header. We have created this one.

Well organize the data into your Excel sheet and save the file at a particular location.

Also, remember the points we discussed above while performing a mail merge.

Start creating mail merge

Step 2: Open MS Word and create a new file.

Step 3: Inside the Mailing tab, click on the Start Mail Merge dropdown list and choose the Step-by-step merge wizard.

Step 4: On the right side of your panel, a small window will appear where choose a document. For example, mark the Letter radio button and click Next Starting document.

It will provide step-by-step guidance for creating a mail merge for the selected document. However, we have also defined the steps for it.

Step 5: The next step is to choose the starting document. Thus, select the Use the current document and move to the next step by clicking the Next Recipient at the bottom.

Step 6: Now, leave the Use an Existing List option as selected and click on the Browse to use the name and address from the Excel file.

Connect Excel file with Word file

Step 7: Go to the location where you saved the Excel file (prepared for mail merge) and when you find your file, select it and click the Open button.

Note: You cannot make changes to your Excel file this time (while creating mail merge).

Step 8: A new wizard will open that will ask you to select a table. If your Excel spreadsheet has only one table, click OK.

Insert merge fields to your document

Step 9: A list of all Excel data will be opened here containing the recipient list. You can also leave off certain names from here if you want to. Otherwise, click OK.

The table will be closed, and you will again off to the right panel of your Word file.

Step 10: Here, you see the title of your Excel spreadsheet is added here (in Currently, your recipients selected from:).

Move to the next step by clicking the Step: Write your letter from the bottom of the panel and complete the remaining steps.

Write letter and add salutations and greeting lines

Now, it’s time to write a letter and insert salutations and greeting lines to your invitation letter.

Step 11: In the right panel, you will see different options, using which you can insert formatted addresses, salutations, electronic postage, and more items here. So, start adding the recipient information from your spreadsheet to here in the letter.

Step 12: Firstly, click the Address block link; a wizard will open where choose the recipient name’s format how you want to display it on the invitation letter and click OK.

Step 13: As it is an invitation card, so if you do not want to add the address, unmark the Insert postal address checkbox and click OK.

Tip: If you have defined any field name with another name in the Excel spreadsheet, which is not available here, click the Match Fields button. For example, postal code as zip code.

Step 14: Now, take the cursor to the next line, click the Greeting Line to add salutation or greeting line to invitation with name. For example, Dear XYZ.

Step 15: Define the salutation here and close the panel by clicking the OK button. You can also provide a greeting line and given a proper salutation in your letter.

Step 16: See that address block and greeting line is added. Now, complete the letter.

Step 17: The letter will look something like as showing below:

Next, go to the next step Preview your letter.

Step 17: You can preview each letter and check details are correct and organized inside it, which is populated from the Excel spreadsheet. It contains the Previous and Next buttons over here.

«Placeholders are automatically replaced with their respective data.»

If everything is alright and all information is correct, click on the Complete the Merge to finish the merge process.

Step 18: Now, click on the Print option here.

Step 19: It will ask you to the print current record or print all the letters from your database. Choose accordingly and click OK in the end.

Step 20: It will create a pdf of all your invitations. Nothing to do here, just click OK.

Step 21: Now, save the copy of the output in default pdf format on your local device. Provide a name and save them on a location.

A pdf copy of all invitations is saved to your selected location on your computer.

Email Invitations

Instead of printing and saving the document to your local device, you can directly mail it to the persons.

Step 22: For this, inside the Mailing tab, go to the Finish & Merge and click on the Send Email Messages to email the invitations.

Step 23: Choose the Email field of your spreadsheet inside To field.

Provide a subject line for the email.

Keep the Send Record to All and then press OK.

It will redirect you to user Gmail id on the browser where send the prepared invitations to all.

Tip: It is good to look over the letter by yourself to check typos, formatting, and everything is fine.

Now, this task has been completely done.

How to insert merge fields separately

You can also insert the individual merge fields (placeholders) to your document separately. This can be needed when you want to place only a single field somewhere in between the document. It will help you.

You can add the placeholder (merge fields) from the Insert merge field dropdown list options under the Mailing tab. This list will contain the column headers of your Excel spreadsheet. Choose one and add a placeholder here. For example, firstname.

Steps to insert merge fields

We will show you this for the birthday invitation letter just the way we have done it above.

Step 1: Take control where you want to add your first placeholder. Then, inside the Mailing tab, click on the Insert Merge Field dropdown list.

Step 2: A placeholder named First name will be added to your Word file like this one. This way, prepare the invitation letter by putting placeholders at the right place.

Similarly, add the placeholder to this file wherever you want. For example, see the invitation letter at the end created by us.