37. Use the Mail Merge Wizard  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 1 Create a New Document 3 Open an Existing Document
 SEE ALSO 5 Edit Text
Writer provides a Mail Merge Wizard you can use to create form letters or email messages addressed to many recipients. If you want to send a mass mailing yet want each letter to be personalized with the recipient's name , address, or other information, you'll appreciate the speed and simplicity of mail merge . The Mail Merge Wizard involves several steps, which vary depending on whether you have already created a starting document or a set of Address data to use for this mailing.  KEY TERMS Mail merge The process of merging a text document with address or other information to create personalized mass mailing. Starting document A document containing text that will stay the same in each letter in the mail merge. Address list A data source, such as an address book or list you create in the Mail Merge Wizard, that contains addresses and other information that changes for each recipient in the mail merge.
| 1. | Request the Mail Merge Wizard You can start the Mail Merge Wizard either before or after creating the document you plan to personalize. If you have created a letter you want to use as the form letter in a mail merge, open that document. Then choose Tools, Mail Merge Wizard . The first page of the Mail Merge Wizard opens. The list on the left side of the dialog box helps you navigate through each step in the process. 37. Use the Mail Merge Wizard  | | 2. | Select a Starting Document and Document Type Enable the Use the current document option if you have already opened the document you want to use as the basis for your letter. Enable the Create a new document if you want to type the text for this letter in a blank document now. If you choose the Start from an existing document or Start from a template option, you can use a Browse button to navigate to the location of the document or template you want to use. Click the Next button to move to the next page in the Wizard, where you indicate the type of document to create. You'll typically use the Mail Merge Wizard to create a form letter, although you can also create a mass email message. When you have specified either Letter or E-mail message , click the Next button. TIP Use the Back and Next buttons at any time to move through the pages in the Mail Merge Wizard dialog box. | | 3. | Select the Address List to Use Use the numbered steps in this page of the Wizard to specify an existing address list or to enter the names and addresses you want to use in the mail merge. You can use an existing database you created in Base, your address book file from Thunderbird, Mozilla, or Netscape, a Windows system address book (such as Microsoft Outlook Express), or any external database. TIP You may want to create your address book in Base rather than typing the data in the Mail Merge Wizard. See 135 Create a Database for more information. | | 4. | Customize the Salutations
Complete the options in this page of the Wizard to personalize the salutations included in each letter. If you don't like a salutation, change it by clicking the New button. For example, if you want all letters addressed to female recipients to show Ms. instead of Mrs. in the salutation line, click the New button and then define a new salutation in the Customize Salutation dialog box.
| | 5. | Complete the Text Document
Continue working through each page in the Wizard to prepare your document for the mail merge. You can adjust the layout of the text document, edit the text, and further personalize each proposed document in the mass mailing.
| | 6. | Output the Mail Merge
In the last page of the Mail Merge Wizard, you can choose to save, print or email the document.
If you choose to save the document, you must decide exactly what you want to save. You can choose the Save starting document option to save only the starting document. You can choose the Saved merged document to save either one large document containing every personalized letter or individual files for each personalized letter.
If you choose Print merged document , you can print any or all of your letters immediately.
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