How to use Mail Merge, by Education with Mr Hambury on YouTube. 5 min 16 s.
- Video length
- 5 min 16 s
- Time to do it
- 15 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Open Word and type the letter or document that stays the same for everyone. Leave blank space where each person's details should go.
Click the Mailings tab, then Start Mail Merge and choose Letters. Pick Envelopes or Labels instead if that is what you are printing.
Click Select Recipients and choose Use an Existing List. Find your Excel or CSV file, pick the sheet, and tick First row of data contains column headers.
No list yet? Choose Type a New List, click Customize Columns to add fields like First Name and Address, then type each record and save the list.
Put your cursor where a name or address belongs, click Insert Merge Field and choose the column. Add spaces, commas and line breaks between fields.
Use Address Block or Greeting Line for standard address and salutation layouts, or Rules like If...Then...Else for conditional wording.
Click Preview Results and use the arrows to step through records. Check spacing and punctuation, then fix the main document if something looks wrong.
Open Edit Recipient List to untick people you do not want, or to sort and filter the list before you merge.
Click Finish and Merge, then Print Documents to print, or Edit Individual Documents to save one file holding every letter.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep the header row in your spreadsheet and give each column a short, unique name with no blank rows underneath.
Save the main document before merging so you can reuse it next time with a different list.
Preview a few records, not just the first, because blank cells in the list often leave gaps in the letter.
Long numbers and dates can arrive in odd formats, and fixing the format in the spreadsheet is usually quicker than changing Word.
Questions
Can I use an Excel spreadsheet as the data source?
Yes. Save it with a header row, close it if Word asks, then choose it under Select Recipients and Use an Existing List.
Why are my merge fields empty?
The column names in your list may not match the fields you inserted, or the cell is blank. Check the header names and preview several records.
Can I email the letters instead of printing them?
Yes. Under Finish and Merge choose Send Email Messages, then pick the column that holds the email addresses.
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.
