Mail merge is one of the powerful feature available in Microsoft Word. Using mail merge you can numerous things such as creating personalized documents, letters, emails, labels and envelops. You don't have to prepare these one by one. Instead you can do it in few clicks as a batch. Imagine you want to send the same letter to few people and want to make it customize for each separately, such as you want to change the salutation, name, address and maybe the department. This can be easily achieve using mail merge.
4 Key Features of Mail Merge
Personalization: Without sending abstract letter to everyone, you can customize a letter or document for the specific person.
Data Integration: You can easily import relevant data from different sources such as excel sheets, access databases and outlook contacts. So you don't have to manually prepare the same data again for mail merge.
Efficiency: Creating each letter manually takes lot of time. And when creating manually there is a tendency to make errors such as forgetting to customize one or two fields in a letter. Mail merge automate the process, making it less probability to have errors and save huge amount of time.
Versatility: When you learn the basics of Mail merge, you'll start to see vast amount of possibilities and scenarios you can apply mail merge. It will be not just limited to create letters, instead you can use that to create certificates, class report cards and much more.
6 Step process of Mail Merge
Step 1 : Start with a Main Document
Open a new or existing document in MS Word. This document will serve as your template, containing the text that will remain the same in each merged document.
Step 2 : Choose the Type of Document
Go to the "Mailings" tab and select "Start Mail Merge." Choose the type of document you want to create, such as letters, emails, envelopes, or labels.
Step 3 : Select Recipients
Click on "Select Recipients" and choose where your recipient data will come from. You can use an existing Excel spreadsheet, Outlook contacts, or even create a new list directly in Word.
Step 4 : Insert Merge Fields
Place your cursor in the document where you want personalized information to appear. Click on "Insert Merge Field" and choose the appropriate field (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Address).
Step 5 : Preview the Merge
Use the "Preview Results" button to see how your document will look with the actual data. This step helps ensure everything is properly aligned and looks as expected.
Step 6 : Complete the Merge
Once you’re satisfied, click on "Finish & Merge" and choose whether to print the documents, send them via email, or save them for later use.