Microsoft 365: Word Intermediate (2023): Mail Merge

Name: Microsoft 365: Word Intermediate (2023): Mail Merge
Author: Catherine Smith

Learn to execute a Mail Merge in Microsoft 365 Word

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 5 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Catherine Smith, and in these lessons, I will be explaining the purpose of the Mailmerge feature. We will learn to define and access a data source and create a form letter to be merged with a data source. We will also learn to create mailing labels. Let's begin by discussing the purpose of a Mailmerge and also just explore how it works. What you see on your screen are a few things I'd like to point out. Number one, you'll notice I am in the desktop app version of Word. The desktop app version contains the tab which you see on the ribbon called Mailings with all the features and capabilities needed to execute a merge. The word online version or word for the web does not contain this tab nor does it contain the Mailmerge feature, so in order to do a merge to perform a merge, you're going to need to jump in to the desktop app. Now let's explore what you see within your screen. I have a letter. The letter is a generic sample letter from a fictitious company thanking their supporters, for their support, their past support, and asking them to support their new campaign. Within the letter, I see a code called Address Block and a code where the salutation would typically be. If I move this dialog box over slightly, you'll also see another code in the second paragraph of the letter called Contributions. Now the window that I have open and I'm sliding around the screen is a listing of names and addresses. This is called my data source. My data source could contain a dozen or so names and addresses, which is the case in my sample scenario, or my data source could contain as many as a thousand names and addresses. What the Mailmerge will actually do is take the names and addresses and place the information onto the letter so that the number of letters which would be produced with a line with the number of names and addresses within the data source. So let's execute this merge just to see the finished product. I have my form letter constructed. I just identified the data source. So now I'm going to finish and execute the merge. I'll merge with all the records in my data source again, it could be many records. Just like that, I have a personalized letter for each individual within my data source. You'll notice the name and address, salutation, and even the donation amount is being pulled from the information in the data source. So in order to work with the Mailmerge feature, you will be creating a data source, you will be creating a form letter with those field placeholders, and then you will execute the merge. So there are basically three pieces to a Mailmerge. Number one is the data source. Number two is the letter label envelope, whichever document you will be merging with. And then the final product is the merged document. Stay tuned for the next lesson where I will be showing you how to define and access a data source for the purpose of including in a merge. Thanks for watching.

Intermediate Provider : Catherine Smith 5 Lessons · 33m in English

Course Description

Mass mailings are common within an organization or business, and the efficiency available in Word’s mail merge will make the task easy to accomplish. A mail merge gives you the ability to create personalized letters to be sent to a group of recipients without the manual process of creating a separate letter for each company or individual. We’ll begin by creating a data source, then we’ll cover creating a letter, label, envelope, or other document type and show how these are merged into a third and final document. We will go over all the different types of data that can be used, as well as some of the practical applications of mail merge.

In this series of lessons, we’ll introduce the Mail Merge feature in Microsoft Word. You’ll learn to link a basic form letter to a data source and place merge fields within the letter. Once the data source and the letter are complete, we’ll preview the merge, check for errors, then execute it.

What You'll Learn

Understand the purpose of a mail merge and how it creates personalized letters for a group of recipients without manually creating a separate letter for each
Define and access data sources in Word Desktop for use in a mail merge
Create a form letter and place merge fields within it
Identify the different mail merge elements and the types of documents that can be produced, such as letters, labels, and envelopes
Preview the merge, check for errors, then execute it
Create mailing labels in Word Desktop

Key Takeaways

A mail merge lets you create personalized letters for a group of recipients without the manual process of creating a separate letter for each company or individual.
The process involves creating a data source, then creating a letter, label, envelope, or other document type, which are merged into a final document.
You link a basic form letter to a data source and place merge fields within the letter.
Once the data source and letter are complete, you preview the merge, check for errors, then execute it.
The course covers the different types of data that can be used as well as practical applications of mail merge.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You'll learn the purpose of a mail merge, how to identify the mail merge elements, and how to preview then execute the merge. The lessons cover working with mail merge, defining and accessing data sources, creating a form letter, executing a mail merge, and creating mailing labels in Word Desktop.

What is a mail merge used for?

A mail merge gives you the ability to create personalized letters to be sent to a group of recipients without the manual process of creating a separate letter for each company or individual, making mass mailings easier to accomplish.

What types of documents can I create with mail merge?

You can create a letter, label, envelope, or other document type, which is then merged into a final document. The course also includes a lesson on creating mailing labels in Word Desktop.

What skills does this course cover?

This course covers Microsoft Office, Microsoft Word, Word Processing, Mailmerge, and Merging Data.

Which version of Word does this course use?

This course covers Mail Merge in Microsoft 365 Word (2023 Intermediate), working in Word Desktop.