Creating a mail merge

Defining the main document

To use a new document as the main document, use the shortcut key [Ctrl] N.

To use a predefined template or one of your custom templates as the main document, click the File tab, then click New and choose the template you want; for more details, please refer to the heading Creating a document from a template in the Documents chapter.

If you want to use an existing document, open that document. It can be an ordinary document or a main document created during a previous mail merge.

Click the Mailings tab.

Go to the Start Mail Merge group and click the button of the same name. Click either Letters or E-mail Messages, according to the type of main document you are using.

With the E-mail Messages option, you can send custom e-mails to recipients in your address list. To use this function, Outlook 2016 must be installed on your PC.

Linking a data file to the main document

In the Mailings tab, go to the Start Mail Merge group, press the Select Recipients button and select one of the following options:

Type a New List: to enter the contents of a new recipients list (cf. the heading Creating a list of data further on in this chapter).

Use an Existing List: opens the Select Data Source dialogue box from which you can select a file or database containing the list of recipients. If the selected list is not what you were looking for, simply select a different list by clicking the same option again.

If your selected list of data is an Excel workbook (.xls) or an Access database (.accdb), Word opens a dialogue ...