Advanced Word Processing Skills: Mail Merge

Introduction

     One of the important reasons in using computers per se is its ability to do recurring tasks automatically. But this ability has to be honed by learning the characteristics and features of the software you use with your computer. After all, no matter how good or advance your computer and software may be, it can only be as good as the person using it.

TWO COMPONENTS OF MAIL MERGE

Form Document (Main Document)

    The first component of our mail merged document is the form document. It is generally the document that contains the main body of the message we want to convey or send. The main body of the message is the part of the form document that remains the same no matter whom you send it to from among your list.
  This This document contains text and graphics (a logo or an image, for example) that are identical for each copy of the merged document. An example of identical content is the body of a letter.
  

Recipient List or Data File

     

    The second component of our mail merged document is the list or data file. This is where the individual information or data that needs to be plugged in (merged) to the form document is placed and maintained. One of the best things about the mail merge feature is that it allows data file to be created from within the Microsoft Word application itself, or it gets data from a file created in Microsoft Excel or other data formats.

   This document contains the data that is used to fill in information in your main document. For example, your mailing list or recipients contains the names, addresses etc. to be added in the address block and greeting line of your letters.

How to use Mail Merge in Microsoft Word