Chapter 12: Work with Mass Mailing Tools

Why do the work yourself? You can use Word’s mass mailing tools to create and mail form letters.

Create Letters to Mass Mail

Using a form letter and a mailing list, you can quickly and easily create a mass mailing that merges the addresses from the mailing list into the form letter.

Typically, the only information that changes in the form letter is the addressee information. You can create the mailing list as you create the mass mailing, or you can use a mailing list that exists in another Word document or an Excel file.

1. Open a Word or an Excel file that you want to use as a mailing list.

   This example uses an Excel file.

   

2. Open the Word document that you want to use as the form letter.

   Note 

   The letter should not contain any information that will change from letter to letter, such as the inside address.

3. Click Tools.

4. Click Letters and Mailings.

5. Click Mail Merge.

   

   The Mail Merge task pane appears.

6. Click the Letters option ( changes to

7. Click the Use the current document option ().

8. Click the Next: Select recipients link.

   

What should I do if I do not have an Excel file containing a mailing list?

Do not worry. Word enables you to use an existing file containing a mailing list as a convenience to you. If you do not have a file containing a mailing list, you will have the opportunity to create a mailing list as you walk through the mail merge process.

What format must a mailing list file I create in Excel follow?

Each row – called a record – must contain all the information about a single letter recipient. Each column – called a field – must contain a single piece of information such as the recipient’s first name. If you do not have a first name for one recipient, leave that cell blank. Column names should contain no spaces.

For the mailing list, you can use an existing mailing list stored in either a Word or an Excel document.

This section uses a mailing list stored in Excel.

10. Click the Use an existing list option (

    The Select Data Source dialog box appears.

11. Click the Look in to navigate to the folder containing the mailing list.

    

    When you select an Excel file, the Confirm Data Source dialog box appears.

12. Click MS Excel Worksheets via DDE (*.xls).

13. Click OK.

    

    After a pause, while Word links with Excel, the Microsoft Excel dialog box appears.

    Note 

    During the pause, watch the status bar in Word to view the actions happening to link the files.

14. Click OK.

    

    Note 

    If the Excel notebook contains multiple sheets, you can select a specific sheet in the Microsoft Excel dialog box.

If I do not have a mailing list in another file, how do I create one?

To create a mailing list, follow these steps:

1. In step 9, click the Type a new list option ( changes to

   Your mail list is created.

You can select specific recipients from the mailing list to receive the form letter, and you use a merge field to specify the place in your document where the recipient’s address should appear.

• After another short pause, while Excel and Word complete the link, the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears.

  A check mark () appears beside each person’s name, identifying the recipients of the form letter.

18. Click beside any addressee to whom you do not want to mail a form letter ( changes to ).

19. Click OK.

    

    The name of the file containing the mailing list appears here.

    

20. Click the location where you want the inside address to appear in the form letter.

21. Click the Address block link.

    

    The Insert Address Block dialog box appears.

22. Click a format for each recipient’s name.

    

How do I know that Word will assign the correct fields in my mailing list file to the recipient’s address information?

To make sure that Word assigns the correct fields, follow these steps:

1. After you complete step 23, click Match Fields.

   The Match Fields dialog box appears.

2. Beside each required field, click the

   Word matches your fields.

You can use a merge field to provide a greeting line in your letter and you can preview the merged letter results.

• A merge field representing the address block in the letter appears.

  Note 

  When you complete the merge, Word replaces the merge field with name and address information from your address file.

25. Click in the location where you want the greeting to appear.

26. Click the Greeting line link.

    

    The Greeting Line dialog box appears.

27. Click the A preview of the greeting appears here.

    You also can specify a greeting for addresses that do not conform to the typical layout of names and addresses.

28. Click OK.

    

    Note 

    When you complete the merge, Word replaces the merge field with greeting information.

29. Click the Save icon (

    Word displays a preview of the merged letter, using the unchanging content of the letter and information from the address file.

    

Can I add other changing information to a form letter?

Yes, as long as your mailing list contains fields – column headings – for the other changing information you want to include.

1. Position the insertion point in the letter where a field should appear.

2. Click the More Items link.

3. From the Insert Merge Field window that appears, click the field you want to insert.

4. Click Insert.

   

   Word inserts a merge field for the field you selected.

After you finish adding merge fields, you can select specific recipients or simply create one letter for each person in the mailing list file.

• Word is ready to combine the form letter information with the mailing list file information.

32. Click the Edit individual letters link.

    

    The Merge to New Document dialog box appears.

33. Click an option to identify the recipients of the letter ( changes to ).

    The All option creates a letter for all entries on the mailing list; the Current record option creates only one letter for the recipient whose letter you are previewing; the From option creates letters for recipients you specify.

    

    If you selected From in step 33, click here to type the first and last record numbers for the people to whom you want to send the letter.

34. Click OK.

    

    

Must I create a separate document containing the individual letters to print them?

No. You can print them from the Complete the merge pane of the Mail Merge task pane. In step 32, click Print instead of Edit individual letters.

How do I know what numbers to supply if I click From in the Merge to New Document dialog box?

If you used an Excel file, you can open the file in Read-Only mode and identify the first and last row numbers. If you created the list during the merge process, you can use the Preview your letters pane and click