Computer Operation Level 3 (NSDA) Demonstration Job 1 | MS Word CV Mail Merge Tutorial Step by Step, by Skill Support on YouTube. 33 min 42 s.
- Video length
- 33 min 42 s
- Time to do it
- 25 minutes
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Steps
- 10
What you need
Steps
Open Word and type your CV layout on one page: name, contact line, profile, education, experience and references. Leave the personal details as plain placeholder text for now.
Save the file as CV template.docx. Keep it in the same folder where you will save the Excel list so both files stay together.
Open Excel and put one field per column in row 1: Name, Address, Phone, Email, JobTitle, Company, StartDate, EndDate. Fill one row for each person.
Save the sheet as CV data.xlsx and close it. Make sure every column has a header and no row is blank, or Word will skip that record.
Go back to Word, click the Mailings tab, then Start Mail Merge and choose Letters. This switches the document into merge mode.
Click Select Recipients, then Use an Existing List, browse to CV data.xlsx and pick the sheet. Tick the records you want if the box appears.
Delete a placeholder such as the name, click Insert Merge Field and choose Name. Repeat for each field so every placeholder is replaced by a merge field.
Click Preview Results and use the arrows to step through the records. Check that each CV shows the right person and that nothing overlaps the page margin.
Click Finish and Merge, then Edit Individual Documents and choose All. Word creates a new document with one CV per page.
Save the merged file with a new name, then print it or export it to PDF with File, Save As and PDF. Your original template stays unchanged.
Tips and common mistakes
Format the phone and date columns as text in Excel so Word does not drop leading zeros.
If a field shows «Field» instead of a name, click Select Recipients and reconnect the Excel file.
Keep the CV to one page by trimming the profile to three lines and listing only recent jobs.
Save the template before merging, so you can reuse it for the next batch of applications.
Questions
Can I use a Word table instead of Excel for the data?
Yes. Choose Use an Existing List and pick a Word file that has a table with a header row. Excel is easier to update for larger lists.
Why do all my CVs show the same person?
You are probably still in preview on the first record. Click Finish and Merge, Edit Individual Documents and select All to create every copy.
How do I add a photo to each CV?
Mail merge cannot insert different photos automatically in Word. Insert the picture field manually, or paste each photo after merging.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
