Word: Mail Merge in Depth

Course details

Discover how to use the popular mail merge feature to quickly build customized emails, labels, letters, and other documents. In this course, Jess Stratton shows you everything you need to know to use Mail Merge effectively with ease. Jess starts by demonstrating how to set up your data file, either by creating one from scratch or by connecting to files in Excel, Outlook, and Access. Then, she shows how to build your template, including how to use the If…Then…Else function. Along the way, you’ll also learn how to perform advanced mail merges and troubleshoot common problems.

Note: This course was recorded in Microsoft 365, but users of standalone versions of Office, such as Office 2019 or later, will find plenty of relevant content.

Learning objectives
Describe the process of using Mail Merge with Outlook contacts.
Demonstrate how to connect to merging data from an Excel spreadsheet.
Identify where to insert address blocks, greetings, and other fields in a mail merge.
Explain the importance of previewing merge results before sending communications.
Cite the two most common rules for customized merges in Word.

Concepts

Introduction

Create custom documents quickly with Mail Merge

Set Up Documents and Data Sources

Start a simple mail merge document
Choose a data source
Use mail merge with Outlook contacts
Create a new data source for mail merge
Merge with an Access table or query
Merge with Excel data

Insert Fields and Merge

Insert address blocks, greeting lines, and merge fields
Preview the merge
Complete the merge
Troubleshoot mail merge
Apply numeric and date formats in Word

Email Merge

Create personalized email messages
Go offline to merge email messages

Create Envelopes, Labels, and Directories

Create envelopes
Create labels
Create a directory

Use Rules and Other Advanced Features

Prompt for input with FILLIN
Use an IF-THEN-ELSE rule for intelligent merging

Conclusion

Where to learn more about Word