Word 2007 Instructions: The Mail Merge Tool in Microsoft Word automatically creates unique, multiple versions of a customized "form letter." You will create a form letter using your letterhead, envelope using the envelope created earlier, and mailing labels for your customers. When you have completed this activity you will turn in four separate activities listed below. You will need to zip all four activities to one zip file: • • • • Mail Merge Form Letter Mail Merge Envelopes Mail Merge Labels Access Database of Your Customers
You use mail merge when you want to create a set of documents, such as a form letter that is sent to many customers. Each letter has the same kind of information, yet the content is unique. For example, in letters to your customers, each letter can be personalized to address each customer by name. The unique information in each letter comes from entries in a data source. Mail Merge Form Letter Mail Merge Envelopes Mail Merge Labels Access Database of Your Customers
Mail Merge Form Letter: Create a form letter informing your customers on a upcoming event, special private sale, or some kind of promotion you want your customers to be informed about. In Microsoft Word, open your letterhead document. On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click Start Mail Merge then select Letters.
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Create Recipient List: With the mailing tab still selected click Select Recipients then selects Type New List.
This opens the New Address List dialog box. You will type in five customer names. You can make these names and addresses up. You will need to include the following information: o o o o o o o o Title (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr.) First Name Last Name Address Line 1 City State Zip Code E-mail Address To begin a new name click the New Entry button at the bottom left hand side of the New Address List.
Click OK when you have entered all five of your customer name, addresses, and e-mail addresses. You will be prompted to save your customer database. Make sure that your student folder is the Save in list and give a unique name.
Insert Date & Time: Now that all the recipients are created you will need to type out the form letter. The first thing you will insert is the date. With the Insert tab selected click on Date & Time.
At the Date & Time dialog box choose the first date format and put a check in the Update Automatically.
Include Address Block: Next you will enter the addresses of the people you entered into your database. Double space down then click Address block and <<Address Block>> should appear two lines under the date.
The address block dialog block will appear. Accept the defaults by clicking OK.
Your word document should now look like this:
Include a Greeting Line: Double space down and click Greeting line located on the Mailing tab section.
This opens the Insert Greeting Line dialog box. Choose the format you want your greeting to be in.
<<GreetingLine>> should now be displayed on your page.
Insert Recipients First Name and Last Name: You need to include the recipients first and last name somewhere in your letter to make it sound like you personally wrote him/her that letter. You will start the letter off with the recipient’s name. Double space down and with the Mailing tab selected click Insert Merge Field and select First Name, hit the space bar, then select last name. <<First Name>> <<Last Name>> should appear where you want the name to appear.
Your word document should now look like the graphic below:
Include an E-Mail Merge Field: You also need to include somewhere in you document a place to place the person's e-mail address. To include this in the letter click Insert Merge Field, then e-mail and <<Email_Address>> should appear. The letter below is what I typed to give you an example. Yours should be different.
Preview Your Letters: To preview your letters, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results then click the arrow keys to view all five of your documents.
Save your mail merge letters and continue on to the mail merge envelope activity. Mail Merge Envelopes: Open your customized envelope you created with your return address and clipart image. Save it with the name Envelope Mail Merge.
Connect the Envelopes to Your Address List: On the Mailings tab, in the Select Recipients group, Use Existing List..
Navigate to your student folder and select the access database you created when you were constructing your form letter.
After you connect your envelopes to your address list, you are ready to add placeholders that indicate where the addresses will appear on each envelope. This will be the address block merge field. Click where you want to place the Address Block which will be at the center of your envelope. With the Mailing tab selected click Address Block.
Click OK at the Address Block dialog box to accept the default. Your envelope should now look like this:
Preview Your Envelope: To preview your envelopes, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results then click the arrow keys to view all five of your documents.
Save your mail merge envelope and continue on to the mail merge label activity. Mail Merge Labels: Start a new blank document and name it Mail Merge Labels. With the Mailing Tab selected clicks Start Mail Merge then select Labels.
At the Labels Options dialog box change Label information to Avery US Letter and choose 8160. I obtained this information from the Avery Label package. Depending on what labels you purchase will depend on the vender and the product number.
Click OK to set the label options. Connect the Labels to Your Address List: On the Mailings tab, in the Select Recipients group, Use Existing List..
Navigate to your student folder and select the access database you created when you were constructing your form letter.
Your document should now look like this. Notice that the first label holds no information. That will be our next step:
Insert a Picture/ClipArt: With your cursor in the first cell with the Insert tab selected click Picture or Clipart and find the picture/clipart you want to use on your label. Click on it to place it in the first cell:
Notice that the picture is too large. With your left mouse button depressed click on one of the selection handles and size it to fit the cell. Remember you will be adding your customers address data to the cell. Position the Picture/ClipArt: With the picture still selected click the Format tab and then Position and position your picture in the cell where you want it.
Add Merge Address Data: Place your cursor to the right of the Picture/ClipArt. With the Mailing tab selected select Address Block.
Click OK to accept the default settings at the Address Block dialog box. FYI:You can preview your recipients at this dialog box. Your document should now look like this:
With the Mailing tab selected click Update Labels to add the Picture/ClipArt to all your labels.
Your labels should now look like this:
Preview Labels: To see how your labels will work, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results.
Your labels should now look like this. Your labels should include five different names.
I see that my zip code does not display on the same line. You can now edit the text by selecting all the text and with the Home tab selected try different font face and size. You can also play around with line spacing. When you have the labels the way you want them save the document. This is how my labels look after playing around with different formats:
Access Database of Your Customers: The last thing you will need to include is the access database that was generated when you created your form letter. You will be including the file that looks like this:
The following files need to be in your zip folder: • • • • Mail Merge Form Letter Mail Merge Envelopes Mail Merge Labels Access Database of Your Customers
Word 2003 Instructions: Mail MergeVideo The Mail Merge Tool in Microsoft Word automatically creates unique, multiple versions of a customized "form letter." You will create a form letter using your letterhead, envelope using the envelope created earlier, and mailing labels for your customers. Mail Merged Form Letters Mail Merged Envelopes Mail Merged Labels Mail Merged Form Letters Word creates a Mail Merge by inserting information from a data document (Word or Excel format) into another text document which contains the "form letter" information. A Mail Merge uses two documents: a MAIN document and a DATA SOURCE document. • The MAIN document is the "form letter"-- it contains all the text, formatting, punctuation, styles, etc. that you want to have identical in each letter. It also contains special FIELD NAMES (or "field variables") which indicate where the data from the DATA SOURCE is to be inserted. The FIELD NAME is a placeholder which contains the name of the FIELD surrounded by << and >> symbols, called delimiters. The DATA SOURCE document contains all the specific records of the generic FIELD NAMES that will make up the unique documents (for example: names, addresses, departments). This information replaces the FIELD NAMES when the merge is finally completed.
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Uses the Mail Merge Wizard to create DATA SOURCE and MAIN documents, and to generate the Mail Merge. You will first create the data source for the form letter. The data will be the name of the five customers you will be sending the form letter to. • • In Microsoft Word, open your letterhead document. Click OK. Click Tools>Letters and Mailing>Mail Merge Wizard.
Step 1-Click Next: Starting Document.
Step 2-Use the current document. Click Next: Select recipients.
Step 3-Select Type a new list, then click Create to create a new recipient list. Enter the name of your first recipient. Make sure you include an e-mail address. Click next to enter the next recipient and continue until you have five different people. I want the address to reflect a diverse geographic range. Use a major search engine to find addresses and zip codes. Click close to save your New Address List.
At the Save Address List box, type in a name for your database in the File Name text box. Click Save to save the database.
Your box should contain five names where mine only reflects two. To add or edit names, click the Edit button. Click OK to close the Mail Merge Recipients box.
Click next to type your letter. The first thing you will insert is the date. Click Insert>Date and Time and select the format for the date. Next you will enter the addresses of the people you entered into your database. Double space down then click Address block and <<Address Block>> should appear two lines under the date. Double space down and click Greeting line and choose the format you want your greeting to be in. <<Greeting Line>> should now be displayed on your page. You need to include the recipients first and last name somewhere in your letter to make it sound like you personally wrote him/her that letter. When you are where you want the first and last name to appear, click more items and select First Name, hit the space bar, then click last name. <<First Name>> <<Last Name>> should appear where you want the name to appear. You also need to include somewhere in you document a place to place the person's e-mail address. To include this in the letter click more items, then e-mail and <<Email Address>> should appear.
The letter below is what I typed to give you an example. Yours should be different. <<Address Block>> <<Greeting Line>>
<<First_Name>> <<Last_Name>>, you are cordially invited to our fall closeout sale at Olives are Us on January 25th to celebrate our ten year anniversary. Door prizes will be given throughout the day and the first fifty people will be given a $25.00 gift certificate. We are looking forward to seeing you. Food and drinks will be served along with a live band. So come on down to look over this blowout event. In order to keep you updated on upcoming events, we want to make sure the we have your correct e-mail address. The e-mail we have listed for you is <<Email_Address>>. If this is incorrect please e-mail us with the correct one. Hope to see you there. Best wishes for the new year,
Janann Nicholson CEO Olives are Us Click Next: Preview your letters. Click the << and >> arrows to scroll preview your letters. There should be five form letters generated. If all your letters do not show, click the Edit recipient list and make sure that a check mark is by all the names. Click the Next: Complete the merge button. You
will not print out the merged letters at this point so you need to save them to your folder by clicking File>Save as, and name it merged letters.
Mail Merge Envelope • • • • • • Open the Envelope document. Save it with the name Envelope Setup. Click Tools>Letters and Mailing>Mail Merge Wizard. Follow the same instructions that were given above but select the Use an existing list radio button. Click Next: Write your letter. Click in the envelop where the senders address would appear and click Address block. You should have an envelope similar to the one below:
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Click next to preview your envelops. Make sure you check to see if all five of your recipients are included. Save these envelopes as Merged Envelopes.
Mail Merged Labels At a clear document screen, create mailing labels for Avery 5163 (check with your teacher on which labels she has) shipping labels using the records in the Customer data source document by completing the following steps: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Click Tools>Letters and Mailing>Mail Merge Wizard. Select the Label radio button then click next: Starting document. Click Label Options and find a label that is 2" X 4". Click OK to close the Label Options dialog box. Click Next: Select recipients. Make sure the Use an existing list radio button is selected. Click the Browse button and find your recipient list. Find the recipients database. Make sure that all the names have check marks beside them. Click OK to close the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box. Click Next: Arrange your labels. Your cursor should appear where your first label will appear. Click Address Block. Set the format for the address. Click OK to close the Address Block dialog box. Click Update all labels. Click Next: Preview your labels. All your recipients should be shown on the page. Scroll through your recipients to see if all five are shown. Click Next: Complete the merge. Save the labels at this time. You will print them at a later time.
Headers and footers are areas in the top, bottom, and side margins of each page in a document.