If you have many repetitive letters, emails, or labels to make, you can use the Mail Merge function to dramatically speed up the process.
Recipients List
The first step is to use Excel to create your recipient list. An existing spreadsheet that contains some irrelevant information will work; you do not need to use every column in the sheet. Make sure this spreadsheet is saved to your computer in your Documents folder, and close Excel when the list is ready.
Name Tags/Labels
In this example, we're using shipping labels to create name tags for students to wear at an event. These name tags contain the student's first and last names, program, and their home district.
Selecting a Label Template
- Open Microsoft Word and select the Mailings tab.
- Click Start Mail Merge, and select Labels.
- Use the Label Options dialog to select the appropriate labels. Word contains thousands of templates, so you will probably not need to download anything from the label vendor.
- Click the blue Layout tab on the far right and click View Gridlines to see the label boundaries.
Selecting Recipients
- In the Mailings tab, click Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List.
- Open the Excel file with your recipient information. Make sure to check the box if the first row of data contains column headers (our example file needs this box checked).
- Click OK.
Insert Merge Fields
- In the mailings tab, click Insert Merge Field. Here you will see all the column labels from your recipients list.
- For this example, we're going to use the First_Name, Last_Name, Program, and Home_District fields.
- The formatting of the merge fields can be adjusted after they are inserted. For this example, we've added a space between the first and last names, and place the Program and Home_District fields on their own lines.
- Click Preview Results to see your progress so far.
Adjust Formatting
Click the Home tab to adjust the formatting. We're going to change the text alignment, font size, and add some extra text to the label. You can insert images such as logos and clip art in this step.
Export Results
- Go back to the Mailings tab and click Update Labels. Your data should populate the remaining labels.
- Click Finish & Merge, then Edit Individual documents, then OK. This will open your labels in a new Word document. You can print them from here or make minor changes as needed. Note that a change made on a single label here will not carry over to the rest of your labels.
Emails
In this example, we'll use Excel and Word to fill details into a form letter and then email the resulting letters to the appropriate recipients. In this example we'll use the same recipients list from earlier.
Start Email Mail Merge
- Go to the Mailings tab, click Start Mail Merge, then E-mail Messages.
- Click Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List.
- Open the Excel file with your recipient information. Make sure to check the box if the first row of data contains column headers (our example file needs this box checked).
- Click OK.
Insert Merge Fields
Use the Insert Merge Field button to add recipient information to the message. Click Preview Results to check your progress.
Send Emails
- Click Finish & Merge, then Send Email Messages.
- Use the To dropdown menu to select which column contains email addresses.
- Enter a subject line.
- Click OK. This sends all emails immediately.