Exploring New Mail Merge Features

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The new mail merge features in Word 2002 make it easier than ever for you to create and modify merge documents. You can easily create the documents you want and attach the data sources you want to use. After that, printing or e-mailing is easy. The new features mail merge offers include these:

• The new Mail Merge makes all the mail merge tools available in a dockable toolbar you can place alongside your work area. This makes it easy for you to add, move to, highlight, and modify merge fields. You display the Mail Merge toolbar by choosing View, Toolbars, Mail Merge. Table 35-1 provides descriptions of each of the buttons on the Mail Merge toolbar.
• The Mail Merge Wizard appears in the task pane on the right side of the work area and leads you through all the steps in creating personalized letters, e-mail messages, envelopes, labels, and directories. You can begin by creating your own document, using an existing one, or starting with a Word template.
• Additionally, the Mail Merge Wizard gives you the ability to choose from a variety of data sources, including an existing data list, a prepared database, a Word data source you create yourself, or your Outlook Contacts list.
• In Word 2002, address lists, which were formerly called catalogs, are now known as directories. You can create a directory to make a list of all data items included in the data source file you select. This means, for example, that instead of paging one by one through all the form letters you intend to send, you can create a listing of all recipients to save along with your mailing.

Table 35-1. Mail Merge Tools

Button	Name	Description
	Main Document setup	Enables you to choose the type of merge document you want to create
	Open Data Source	Displays the Select Data Source dialog box so that you can choose your source file
	Mail Merge Recipients	Displays the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, enabling you to select and deselect recipients in your list
	Insert Address Block	Displays the Insert Address Block dialog box so that you can choose the data and the format you want used for address data
	Insert Greeting Line	Displays the Greeting Line dialog box so that you can choose the greeting content and format
	Insert Merge Fields	Shows the Insert Merge Field dialog box so that you can choose and insert the merge fields you want to use
	Insert Word Field	Displays a drop-down menu so that you can choose Word data fields for inclusion in the form document
	Show Fields/Values	After you run the merge, you can view the contents of the merge by clicking Show Values. To toggle the display to show fields, click Show Fields.
	Highlight Merge Fields	Highlights the merged fields in the selected document
	Match Fields	Enables you to match the fields in the mail merge operation to the fields in your database
	Propagate Labels	Changes the direction of the labels in the merge operation
	First Record	Displays the first merged record
	Previous Record	Displays the previous merge record
	Go To Record	Allows you to move to a specific merged record
	Next Record	Moves to the next merged record
	Last Record	Displays the last merged record in the file
	Find Entry	Enables you to locate a specific entry
	Error Check Merge	Lets you test the merge for errors before you run the merge operation
	Merge To Document	Merges the source and document file and places the results in the document
	Merge To Printer	Merges the source and document file and sends the results to the printer
	Merge To E-mail	Merges the source and document file and sends the results via e-mail
	Merge To Fax	Merges the source and document file and sends the results via fax