Buzz
Mail Merge is a valuable feature provided by Microsoft, saving you a significant amount of time when used correctly. Instead of writing a separate page for each recipient, simply compose a fixed template along with the recipient list and utilize the Mail Merge feature.
This article guides you through the process of performing Mail Merge in Word 2016, with Word 2007, 2010, 2013 following similar procedures.
Step 1: Open the Word document you want to perform Mail Merge on. On the interface, select the Mailings -> Start Mail Merge -> Step-by-Step Mail Merge Wizard tab to open the Mail Merge steps.
Step 2: Choose the formatting style for your Word document. For example, since we're creating INVITATIONS, select Letters, then click Next: Starting document.
Step 3: Here, select the document to start merging letters. If you've already opened the Word document you want to merge, choose Use the current document, then click Next: Select recipients.
Step 4: In this step, you need to add a list of names or addresses for Word to automatically insert information into the INVITATION. If you don't have one, choose Type a new list to create a new one. If you already have a list in an Excel file:
Choose Use an existing list, then click Browse to locate that file (which is the Excel file in this case).
In the Select Data Source window, navigate to the list file and click Open.
Choose the sheet containing the address list and click OK.
In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog, by default, all recipients are selected. If you wish to exclude anyone, deselect their name before clicking OK after making your selections.
Click Next: Write your letter to proceed to the next step.
Step 5: To make it easier to understand, perform the following steps: place the cursor where you want to insert information, then choose Mailings -> Insert Merge Field -> select the appropriate field. For example, at the line Dear (Mr./Ms.), choose the field Full_Name, at the line Birth Year, choose the field Birth_Year, and at the address line, choose the field Permanent_Address.
Alternatively, you can directly select fields from the Mail Merge window on the right. After adding all fields, click Next: Preview your letters to proceed to the preview step.
Step 6: To ensure that the information appears correctly in each letter, click the next and previous buttons below to preview each letter (each letter corresponds to one person, one address). After verifying and editing the content accurately, click Next: Complete the merge.
Note: You can also preview letters in the Preview Results section under the Mailings tab.
Step 7: If you want to print the letters, select Print and configure the printing settings. If not, close the Mail Merge window.
So now you've merged letters, merged documents (Mail Merge) in Word 2016. From now on, if you need to write invitations, send letters... to multiple recipients, just perform the mail merge as described above. You'll save time compared to writing each letter to each recipient individually. Best of luck!
