To do a mail merge from Excel to Word, follow these key steps:
1. Prepare Your Excel Spreadsheet
- Organize your data with clear column headers in the first row (e.g., First Name, Last Name, Address, Email).
- Each row should represent one recipient.
- Format any numbers with leading zeros as text to preserve them (e.g., zip codes).
- Save and close the Excel file before starting the merge
2. Create or Open Your Word Document
- Open Microsoft Word and create a new document or open an existing letter template.
- Go to the Mailings tab on the ribbon
3. Start the Mail Merge
- Click Start Mail Merge in the Mailings tab.
- Choose the type of document you want to create (e.g., Letters, Email Messages, Labels)
4. Connect the Excel Data Source
- Click Select Recipients > Use an Existing List.
- Browse to your Excel file, select it, and click Open.
- If prompted, select the correct worksheet within the Excel file and click OK
5. Insert Merge Fields
- Place your cursor in the Word document where you want personalized data.
- Click Insert Merge Field and choose the fields (columns) from your Excel sheet, such as First Name, Last Name, etc.
- Repeat for all fields you want to insert
6. Preview the Merge
- Click Preview Results on the Mailings tab to see how the merged data looks.
- Use the arrows to scroll through different records
7. Complete the Merge
- Click Finish & Merge.
- Choose to:
- Edit Individual Documents to generate a new document with all merged letters.
- Print Documents directly.
- Send Email Messages if doing an email merge
Additional Tips
- Make sure your Excel file is closed before connecting it to Word.
- You can filter or sort recipients via Edit Recipient List before merging.
- Save your Word mail merge document for reuse with updated Excel data later
This process efficiently combines your Excel data with a Word template to create personalized letters, emails, labels, or envelopes for mass mailings
