WORD 2011 MAIL MERGE MANAGER

WORD 2011 MAIL MERGE MANAGER Last Edited: 2012-10-02 1

Understand Mail Merge... 4 Create Personalized Letters... 5 Create a Simple Letter for Mail Merge... 5 Choose or Create a Data Source... 8 Merge Information from a New Data Source... 9 Open Data Source to Merge... 14 Use Mail Merge Manager with Excel Table... 14 Use Mail Merge Manager with CSV File... 16 Merge Data Source from Office Address Book... 17 Merge Data Source from Apple Address Book... 18 Insert Placeholders into the Main Document... 19 Filter Recipients... 20 Filter Recipients from a Data Source... 20 Filter Recipients from Outlook... 23 Preview Merge Results... 25 Search for a Specific Record... 26 Complete the Merge and Print... 27 Create Other Types of Merged Documents... 29 Create Personalized Email Messages... 29 Create Envelopes... 34 Last Edited: 2012-10-02 2

Create Labels... 40 Create a Directory... 45 Present the Records in a Table... 46 Insert Heading Row for the Directory... 47 Merge the Directory... 48 Troubleshoot Issues in the Mail Merge Process... 49 Errors Occurring in the Primary Document... 49 Errors Occurring in the Data Sources... 49 Last Edited: 2012-10-02 3

Understand Mail Merge The Mail Merge tool in Microsoft 2011 takes different sources and combines them to make multiple versions of a single document. Mail Merge requires two sources. The first is the document in Microsoft Word, such as a letter, which contains the information that will be the same for each version, as well as the instructions of where to place the variable data. The second file is the data source that contains the variable information to be inserted into the first Word document. Main document: A Word document that contains the body of the form letter, or the formatting for mailing labels or envelops. This information appears on each form letter, label, or envelope. Data source: The information that Word merges into the main document. The data source can be a Word document, Excel sheet, Office Address Book, a table made in Word, or FileMaker Pro database. Merged document: The document that contains the combined information from the main document and the data source. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 4

Create Personalized Letters Create a Simple Letter for Mail Merge Open a new Microsoft Word Document Type the letter you want to send recipients Go through the letter an determine what parts of the letter will stay the same for all recipients and what parts are variable depending on the recipient It may help you to use Highlight Tool to highlight those areas Last Edited: 2012-10-02 5

When you have finished writing the letter you want to send, go to the Tools menu and click on Mail Merge Manager The Mail Merge Manager will open To turn the letter into the main document that you will merge the variable information into, do the following: Under step 1. Select Document Type > click on Create New > select Form Letters Last Edited: 2012-10-02 6

This document will now become the main document for a form letter. Each time you open this document the Mail Merge Manager will open automatically To revert the document to a normal document do the following: Under step 1. Select Document Type > click on Create New > select Restore to Normal Word Document It is a good idea to save this document with a new name that reminds you that it is a mail merge letter, such as adding the word merge in the front of the name Last Edited: 2012-10-02 7

Choose or Create a Data Source Word Mail Merge uses two files: (1) a primary document such as a Word letter, and (2) a secondary data source which is a structured data source used to merge into the variable portions in the primary document With Word Mail Merge, you can choose data from a wide range of data sources such as: New Data Source Create a new list form mail merge data source in Microsoft Word that will be stored as a file on your computer Open Data Source Excel Access CSV files Other databases like SQL Server and Oracle Office Address Book Any Contacts folder, including public folders Apple Address Book Any contacts in your address book FileMaker Pro Any database made using FileMaker Pro After you select the data source for the primary document, you need to save the primary document again in order to save the connection to your data source file Even though the data source you choose might have more records than you want to use in any specific mail merge, you can sort and filter to use some or all of the records in your Word mail merge after deciding what type of data source you want to use and connect to your primary document Last Edited: 2012-10-02 8

Merge Information from a New Data Source If you do not have the information you want to merge in any digital format, choose New Data Source. This option will be most likely used if you have the information on paper and if you will never edit the information or use it for any other purpose. Data you enter this way will be saved, however, it won t be as easy to update as other data sources In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 2. Select Recipients List > click Get List > select New Data Source The Create Data Source window will open Last Edited: 2012-10-02 9

If you do not see a field that you want to insert data for you can enter it here. For example, if your letter is to a customer congratulating them for buying <<Product Name>>, you can create that field Below Placeholder List you can type in the name of the placeholder you want to create Click the Add Placeholder button below, to add it to the list To change the order of the placeholder, select it and click on the arrows to move it up or down. Click OK when you are sure that all the placeholders you need have been created Last Edited: 2012-10-02 10

A Save As window will open, prompting you to select the name and location where you want to save the data that you enter as a.docx file. Click Save when you are done The Data Form will open The placeholders will be listed, you can scroll down to view them all Last Edited: 2012-10-02 11

Next to each placeholder enter the information If you do not have information for one of the placeholders, leave it empty When you have finished filling out the information for the first record click Add New to move on to the next entry If you no longer need a record, click Delete to remove it If you entered the wrong information and want to clear the form for that record, click Restore to clear all placeholders If you want to search for a specific record click Find Below Find what:, type in what you are searching for Below In field: select what placeholder you want to search Last Edited: 2012-10-02 12

At the bottom you can see what record number you are viewing, and you can use the arrows to move between records When you are finished, you can click View Source to see the information in the Word document that it will be saved in. When you have entered all your records click OK to close the Data Form The data will now be accessible for merging Last Edited: 2012-10-02 13

Open Data Source to Merge Use Mail Merge Manager with Excel Table In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 2. Select Recipients List > click Get List >select Open Data Source In the Open window, select the Excel file that contains the data you want to merge, click Open Last Edited: 2012-10-02 14

A window will pop-up warning you that you may be at risk for opening a malicious file, unless you know the source. Click OK The next window asks you what part of the Excel document you want to use Under Open Document in Workbook: you can select what sheets in the document you want to use Below Cell Range: you can type in the specific cell range of an area, if you only want to use that data Click OK Last Edited: 2012-10-02 15

The headings in the Excel table will become the placeholders The data will now be accessible for merging Use Mail Merge Manager with CSV File In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 2. Select Recipients List > click Get List > select Open Data Source In the Open window, select the CSV file that contains the data you want to merge, click Open Last Edited: 2012-10-02 16

The File Conversion window will open, click OK The data will now be accessible for merging Merge Data Source from Office Address Book This option is very useful when you have you contacts in Microsoft Outlook, which are normally kept up to date In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 2. Select Recipients List > click Get List >select Office Address Book Last Edited: 2012-10-02 17

The first time you add a placeholder into your main document, the Invalid Merge Field window may open telling you that the merge field does not exist in the data source. Mail Merge will automatically guess at what placeholders from Outlook will match with the placeholders in Mail Merge Click Ok and the Outlook placeholders will change to valid placeholders in the Mail Merge The data will now be accessible for merging Merge Data Source from Apple Address Book This is an alternative option if you are using your Apple Address Book to insert data, instead of Outlook In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 2. Select Recipients List > click Get List > select Apple Address Book Last Edited: 2012-10-02 18

The first time you add a placeholder into your main document, a window may open telling you that the merge field does not exist in the data source. Mail Merge will automatically guess at what placeholders from Outlook will match with the placeholders in Mail Merge Click Ok and the Outlook placeholders will change to valid placeholders in the Mail Merge The data will now be accessible for merging Insert Placeholders into the Main Document Once you have the data source connected to the main document, you need to insert the placeholders so that Mail Merge will know what data to insert and where In the Mail Merge Manager, under step 3. Insert Placeholders, make sure the Contacts tab is open Last Edited: 2012-10-02 19

Click on the placeholder you want to insert into your letter and drag it to the desired location Check to make sure the formatting and spacing is correct Filter Recipients If you only want to send the letter to some of the recipients from your data list, you can filter what recipients Mail Merge will merge into the letter. This is especially useful if you have connected to an address book such as Outlook and you don t want to create a letter for all of your contacts Filter Recipients from a Data Source In the Mail Merge Manager > go to step 4. Filter Recipients > click on Options Last Edited: 2012-10-02 20

The Query Options window will open Click in the Filter Records tab if you want to filer the records to only use specific records Below Field: select what field you want to filter by from the dropdown list Last Edited: 2012-10-02 21

Below Comparison: select what comparison factor you want to use Below Compare to: type in what you want to compare to For example: If you want to search for only people in the marketing department then you would select Department under Field, Equal to under Comparison, and then under Compare to you would type Marketing Click on the Sort tab if you want to sort the records in a particular order Last Edited: 2012-10-02 22

Under Sort by: select what placeholder you want to sort by from the dropdown list Next to that select if you want it to be sorted in Ascending or Descending order For example: if you wanted to sort your records alphabetically, under Sort by you would select LastName and then you would select Descending Click Ok when you are done Filter Recipients from Outlook In the Mail Merge Manager > go to step 4. Filter Recipients > click on Options The Query Options window will open Last Edited: 2012-10-02 23

Next to List mail merge recipients by: select one of the following from the dropdown list Categories in the box below you can select what categories you want to merge Complete record in the box below you can select what individual contacts you would like to use Click OK when you are done Last Edited: 2012-10-02 24

Preview Merge Results In the Mail Merge Manager > go to step 5. Preview Results > click on the View Merged Data button The placeholder names will be replaced with the data Click on the left and right arrows to preview the different records. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 25

Search for a Specific Record With the preview on, in the Mail Merge Manager, go to step 2. Select Recipients List > click on the Find Record button In the Find in Field window that opens, under In the field: select what field you want to search in from the drop down list Under Find what: type your search query. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 26

The record that matches your query will appear in the main document Complete the Merge and Print After you have previewed your document for any errors, the next step will be finishing the merge and combining the letter with the records to create the personalized letter. There are two options used for completing the merge In the Mail Merge Manager go to step 6. Complete Merge and click on either: Merge to Printer button merges directly to the printer. This option is useful if you don t need to keep a copy of your merged file Merge to New Document button merges to a file that can be examined and printed at a later time. This option is useful if you need to keep a copy of your merged file as Word will complete the merge and create a single file with each of the individuals listed one after the other. By doing this, you also have the ability to choose which records will be printed Last Edited: 2012-10-02 27

If you choose Print Documents option, the Merge to Printer dialog box will appear, allowing you to set the desired print settings NOTE: You need to have the printer setup as well as all the formatting of the document completed before you click OK in the dialog box to the merge process. Whenever this process is started, these records will automatically merge, and cannot be stopped to make changes. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 28

Create Other Types of Merged Documents Create Personalized Email Messages Start out by typing up the email message you want to send In the Mail Merge Manager under step 1. Select Document Type, click Create New >select Form Letters, this will turn your document into the main document for the Mail Merge Save the document as a merge document Under step 2. Select Recipients List select what data source you want to connect to (see Choose or Create a Data Source for more information) Note: In order to send this message as an email the data source must contain email addresses for each of the records Last Edited: 2012-10-02 29

For step 3. Insert Placeholders, insert any placeholders for the variable data in your email by dragging the placeholder to its location on the email Under step 5 Preview Results click the View Merged Data button to preview the emails with the data inserted Make sure all the formatting and spacing is correct Last Edited: 2012-10-02 30

Before you merge the data, open Outlook On the menu bar go to Outlook > click on Work Offline The emails will be merged to your Outbox but will not be sent, this way you can preview and make sure the emails are correct and that they are being sent to the correct people Finally, back in Word, for step 6. Complete Merge click on the Generate e-mail messages button The Mail Recipient window will open: Next to To: select what placeholder contains the email addresses Last Edited: 2012-10-02 31

Next to Subject: type the subject of the email Next to Send As: select how the email will be sent When you are done click Mail Merge To Outbox In Outlook open your Outbox Last Edited: 2012-10-02 32

Preview the email messages to make sure they are correct and the addresses of the recipients are correct On the menu bar go to Outlook > click on Work Offline again to go back online The emails will be sent to all recipients Last Edited: 2012-10-02 33

Create Envelopes Open a blank Word document In the Mail Merge Manager > under step 1. Select document Type > click Create New > select Envelopes This will open the Envelope window: Under delivery address click on Position Last Edited: 2012-10-02 34

In the window that opens you can change the positioning of the address block Click Ok when you are done Back in the Envelope window, under Return address: Check the box next to Use my address if you want to use your address for the return label Check the box next to Omit if you do not want to include a return address Click on Position to change the position of the return address Last Edited: 2012-10-02 35

Click on Page Setup to set the envelope size Last Edited: 2012-10-02 36

Click on Custom to choose the Feed Method When you are done click OK NOTE: If you insert a mailing address in the Delivery address box, Word will only generate that one envelope. However, if you want to merge the formatting with a list of recipients, leave this box empty. The document will format to the size and shape of an envelope Last Edited: 2012-10-02 37

Under step 2. Select Recipients List select what data source you want to connect to (see Choose or Create a Data Source for more information) There is a box in the document that says Drag fields into this box or type text. Under step 3 insert Placeholders, drag the placeholders for the address into the box NOTE: make sure to insert spaces between any placeholders on the same line For step 5 Preview Results, click the View Merged Data button to preview the addresses, making sure all the formatting and spacing is correct Last Edited: 2012-10-02 38

When you are finished go to step 6. Complete Merge and click on either: Merge to Printer button merges directly to the printer. This option works if you have a printer with an envelope feed Merge to New Document button merges to a file that can be examined and printed at a later time. This option is useful you do not have a printer with an envelope feed and you need to print the envelopes one at a time as you manually feed them into the printer If you choose Print Documents option, the Merge to Printer dialog box will appear, allowing you to set the desired print settings Last Edited: 2012-10-02 39

Create Labels Open a blank Word document In the Mail Merge Manager, under step 1. Select document Type > click Create New > select Labels The Label Options window will open Under Printer information, select what type of printer you will be using Next to Label products: select the company that made the label you are going to use Below Product number: select what specific label product you are using NOTE: it is much easier to make sure the label you are going to buy is on one of these lists before you buy it. Otherwise you are going to have to create your own New Label template, which may not be as accurate Last Edited: 2012-10-02 40

Click OK when you have selected the label you are going to use A template for each of the labels on the sheet will be inserted into the document. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 41

Under step 2. Select Recipients List select what data source you want to connect to (see Choose or Create a Data Source for more information) Under step 2. Select Recipients List click on the Add or remove placeholders on labels. button In the Edit Labels window that opens, do the following: Click on the Insert Merge Field dropdown Click on the placeholder that you want to insert It will be inserted in the box below Insert all the placeholders you need and format the spacing in the box When you are done, click OK Last Edited: 2012-10-02 42

The fields will be inserted into the labels For step 5 Preview Results, click the View Merged Data button to preview the addresses, making sure all the formatting is correct NOTE: depending on what type of formatting the label has, you may see a blank space for a placeholder that has no information. When you actually merge the labels and the data source the spacing will be corrected. If you change any of the formatting in one of the labels, such as line spacing, click on the Fill in the items to complete your document button under step 2, to update all labels to match the one you edited. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 43

When you are finished go to step 6. Complete Merge and click on either: Merge to Printer button merges directly to the printer. Merge to New Document button merges to a file that can be examined and printed at a later time. If you choose Print Documents option, the Merge to Printer dialog box will appear, allowing you to set the desired print settings Last Edited: 2012-10-02 44

Create a Directory You can use the Directory Merge feature to create a directory of names and addresses, a parts catalog or an inventory sheet and so on. This feature allows you to take any information out of a data source and put it in Microsoft Word. Open a blank Word document In the Mail Merge Manager, under step 1. Select document Type > click Create New > select Catalog Under step 2. Select Recipients List select what data source you want to connect to (see Choose or Create a Data Source for more information) Last Edited: 2012-10-02 45

Present the Records in a Table Click on the Tables tab > go to Table Options group > click New > choose the size of the sixe of the table (1 row x n columns) Under step 3. Insert Placeholders, select the placeholders you want to insert for the table and drag them into the cells Last Edited: 2012-10-02 46

Go to step 5. Preview Results and click on the View Merged Data button to preview what one record will look like Insert Heading Row for the Directory Double click on the top or bottom of the page to open the Header Click on the Tables tab > go to Table Options group > click New > choose the size of the table (1 row x n columns) Last Edited: 2012-10-02 47

Adjust the size of the column to match with the table below Enter the heading text in the cells > apply any formatting to the header if desired > click on the Close X button to close the header Merge the Directory In the Mail Merge Manager under step 6. Complete Merge, click on Merge to New Document button The new document will open with all the records generated in the directory table Last Edited: 2012-10-02 48

Troubleshoot Issues in the Mail Merge Process Even though the Mail Merge appears to be relatively straightforward from the end user s point of view, this process can be quite complex from a technical analysis. When you perform a Mail Merge procedure, Word will request and use data files from other applications to create completely new documents. Therefore, it s useful to understand some issues as well as fix some of the most common issues that occur during the Mail Merge process. Errors Occurring in the Primary Document Because Word requires a lot of resources to access the possible hundreds or thousands of data records for the merge, it s recommended that you quit any unnecessary applications running at the same time during this process. By doing this, it will help to fix any issues when working with large data sources. During the preview of merge results, make sure to proof the primary document, because these settings and formatting will apply to all the records generated in the completion step It s necessary to pay attention to the punctuation near the placeholders in the primary letter because Word Grammar Check will almost never catch it. Therefore, visually checking punctuation in these areas makes sure that the punctuation is correct. For a professional letter, it s important to standardize the font size and font face in the entire of the document. However, if there is any different formatting occurring in the merged records for the variable text, you can should format the field codes in the primary document rather than deal with records in the data source Errors Occurring in the Data Sources The error that most frequently occurs in regards to the data sources happens when a record has incomplete information or incorrect information. Therefore, you need to correct those incorrect or incomplete records within their source. Last Edited: 2012-10-02 49