Mail Merge in Word 2003

Mail Merge in Word 2003

Mail merge in Word 2003

Mail merge involvesinserting data from a data source (usually held in a spreadsheet or a database) into a standard document (usually a letter or similar).

It is often necessary to import data from a text file into a spreadsheet before the merge process can start. (A video tutorial of this importing process can be found here:

Once the data souce has been prepared, the merging can begin:

  1. Select Tools | Letters & Mailings
  1. Select Show Mail merge toolbar
  1. Tools | Letters & Mailings | Mail merge … (wizard appears)
  1. Select Letters (it may already be selected)
  1. Click on Starting document (at bottom of wizard)
  1. Select either: Start from existing document OR Use the current document (if already open)
  1. Click on Next: Select recipients
  1. Click on Browse… (to select your data source file)
  1. If your data source is a spreadsheet, then you may need to select the worksheet containing the data (probably Sheet1$ unless you’ve renamed it)
  1. Select the intended recipients of the letter (or, in many cases, leave them all selected)

Inserting the merge fields

  1. Click on Next: Write your letter
  1. Place the text cursor at the position that you wish to insert the first piece of merged data (e.g. Title)
  1. Click on More items…
  1. Select the merge field that you want to insert (e.g. Title) and click on Insert
  1. This will place the merge field at the cursor position (e.g. <Title>)
  1. Repeat until all the merge fields are inserted
  1. Close down the wizard
  1. Click on the <ABC> button on the Mail Merge toolbar (this will replace all of the merge fields with the corresponding merge data (e.g. <Title> could become Mr.)

Selecting recipients

Sometimes the letters may only need to be sent to certain people in the data source.

This can be achieved in 2 ways - manually or automatically:

Manual

  1. Click on the Mail Merge recipients button on the Mail Merge toolbar and just place a tick next to the people that you want to send the letter to.

Automatic

  1. Click on the Mail Merge recipients button on the Mail Merge toolbar
  1. Click on one of the filter arrows at the top of a data columnand either:
  1. select the criteria for the selected recipients from the drop-down list (multiple criteria can be selected by clicking on the filter arrows at the top of each data column)

OR

  1. select Advanced from the drop-down list and then set up the criteria required by selecting the relevant fields and entering the data value and conditions (e.g. Resort equal to Spain)

Personalising using If …. Then …. Else

Sometimes, to personalise the letter even further, it is useful to add text if a particular piece of data in the data source is equal to a certain value (e.g. the Gender column contains Male) - and add a different sentence if the data is not equal to that value (i.e if the recipient is NOT Male)

This can be achieved by inserting a Word Field:

  1. Click on the Insert Word field button on the Mail Merge toolbar
  1. Select the If … Then … Else option from the list
  1. In the dialog box, select the field name from the drop-down box
  1. In the drop down belowComparison, selectEqual to(or whichever condition you need)
  1. In the Insert this text: box enter the text to insert into the letter if the condition is met
  1. In the Otherwise insert this text:box enter the text to insert into the letter if the condition is not met

Extra:

  1. If there are a choice of conditions which could determine the personalised text, then multiple If … Then … Else fields can be used in combination (one after the other). In this case it is important to leave the Insert this text: box empty. Hint:pressing Alt + F9 will toggle the Word field code on & off for any further editing that may be necessary.
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