Mail Merges and How to Use Them

 

You can use mail merge to streamline the process for sending bulk emails, letters, labels, and envelopes.

We will walk through an example using mail merge for envelopes.

PART 1 - MAIN DOCUMENT

Step 1: In a blank Word document, from the Mailings tab, Start Mail Merge group, Start Mail Merge button, click Envelopes.

Step 2: From the Envelope Options window, select your envelope preferences, then click OK.

(The document will be converted to a blank envelope in landscape orientation for the display.)

Step 3: Save the document.

PART 2 - DATA SOURCE FILE

Step 1: Open the main document that you saved in the previous step. (Click Yes in the popup window if necessary.)

Step 2: From the Mailings tab, Start Mail Merge group, click the Select Recipients button, Type a New List.

Step 3: Type the information for each recipient in each of the desired fields, pressing TAB to move from one field to another. Click New Entry to begin on the next recipient. When all information has been added, click OK.  Name the file and save it.

PART 3 - PLACEHOLDERS

Step 1: Open the main document and click Yes in the popup window (if necessary).

Step 2: Click on the point of the document where the Address Block field will be inserted (the highlighted section from the image above in PART 1, Step 2).

Step 3: From the Mailings tab, Write & Insert Fields group, click the Address Block button.

Step 4: From the Insert Address Block dialog box, review your choices, make any changes necessary, and click OK.

Step 5: From the Mailings tab, Write & Insert Fields group, click the Highlight Merge Field button. Your <<Address Block>> merge field placeholder should appear in the preselected area of your envelope.

PART 4 - MERGE

Step 1: From the Mailings tab, Write & Insert Fields group. click Highlight Merge Fields to highlight the merge fields clearly.

Step 2: Make any necessary spacing adjustments.

Step 3: From the Mailings tab, Preview Results group, click Preview Results.

Step 4: Click the Next Record and Previous Record buttons to review your finalized merge documents.

Step 5: Click Preview Results from the Mailings tab, Preview Results group to view the placeholders in the main document again.

Step 6: When your merge results are as you want them to be, click Finish & Merge, Edit Individual Documents, All, OK from the Mailings tab, Finish group.

Step 7: Save the file of the merged results.

How to Insert a Text Box

 When creating certain Word documents, such as flyers or newsletters, the option to insert a textbox is very helpful. When you do this, not only can you customize the text and the boxed area to your liking, but you can also position it on the page however you choose.

To insert a text box, click the Insert tab, then Text Box.

You'll see the options below:

To draw a text box, you can draw it to the size you want. Once you type your message into the text box, you can further customize using the options in the Shape Format tab:

Using Templates in Word

Using templates in Word can be very useful. If, for example, you need to send a reminder to multiple staff members at work every three months to reset their password, using a template would be a great option. The main body of the text would be the same every time, and you would only need to change staff names and perhaps dates. Using a template with the unchanging information will save time and prevent you from typing the message in its entirety every time you need to send out the memo.

For the above example, you can use a memo template. You can see this example displayed below, and you can see the highlighted areas are the only ones you would need to change for each memo.

While this is just one example of a template, there are many to choose from in Word. Simply click on the File tab, and the templates will display at the top of the screen.