Use mail merge to personalize letters

Sending large numbers of party invitations has never been easier!

If you’ve ever had to send out invitations for a large event, you know how long the process can take. Mail merge removes the labor of personalizing and printing one-off documents and hand-addressing envelopes. Mail merge is perfect for:

• Newsletters
• Party and wedding invitations
• Holiday cards
• Volunteer and non-profit functions
• New business announcements
• Address and shipping labels

Learn more about making your own greeting cards and printing fun labels!

Work as a family to create fun, personalized newsletters.

There are many reasons to use mail merge, which is a free function found in Microsoft Word:

• Save time: No need to personalize each piece individually. Just plug in the information and you’re ready to go!
• Save money: Print at home rather than using a costly printing and mailing house.
• Personalize letters: Have a family newsletter coming up? Want to announce a birth, wedding, or graduation? Make recipients feel like you are writing just for them.
  Learn more about creating a family newsletter.
• Make big mailings go fast: Large mailings can be done in the time it takes to set up your document, merge the information, and press print!

Step 5 and 6: Select Letters as your document type, the click Next: Starting Document.

Here, we’ll show you how to merge contact information into a letter, using Microsoft Word 2010. Steps will be similar in other versions of Microsoft Word. For more information and troubleshooting tips you can go to the Microsoft Word Create and print letters online instruction manual.

1. In Microsoft Word, open the document you want to merge.
2. Select the Mailings tab near the top of the screen.
3. Select Start Mail Merge.
4. For easier merging, select Step by Step Mail Merge Wizard. A new window will open on the right side of the screen.
5. Select the document type: Letters
6. Click Next: Starting document.
7. Select your starting document from the following options:
• Use current document
• Start from a template
• Start from existing document

If you are merging to the document that is open, select Use current document. Click Next: Select recipients.

Read on to select your contact list.

Find your contact list in the Select Data Source dialog box

To select your contact list, under “Select your recipients” choose from:

• Use an existing list
• Select from Outlook contacts
• Type new list

If you have your contacts in Microsoft Excel or Access, select Use an existing list and click Browse.You will now locate your file in the Select Data Source dialog box. Click Next: Write your letter.

TIP: As above, to use contacts from your Outlook address book, select that option. If you don’t have one, select Type new list to open a form that allows you to type out your contact list, which you can save for later.

Read on to merge your letter.

Choose Address Block to insert your contact’s entire address into your letter.

To add contact information to your labels, position your cursor where you want the info to be placed. Then choose:

• Address block to input the entire address
• Greeting line to add a greeting line or prefix to your labels
• Electronic postage (use only if you are adding postage to envelopes or postcards)
• More items if you would like to input specific merge fields from your contact list

TIP: To add a first name to your greeting line, position your cursor after your greeting, click More items, and double-click the “First Name” field. Check to ensure there isn’t an extra space before or after your merged field.

Read on to merge and print your letter.

Make sure to preview your letter before printing.

1. You can now preview a sample of your merged letter. Make sure that all address fields are properly ordered and there are no large spaces after merged information. Once you have reviewed your merged letter, click Next: Complete the merge.
2. You can now choose to Print your letters or Edit individual letters. If you click Print, choose whether you want to print all your letters, just the one on the screen, or a selection. Click Ok

Check the font style and size of the merged information to ensure it matches the rest of the document.

Saving names and addresses in Microsoft Excel makes merging information easy. And, after making a list once, all you’ll need to do is add to it! Here are some other handy tips:

• Labeling your information by data set (First Name, Last Name, Address, City, etc.) makes it easier to plug it into your labels.
• You may need to change the font style and size of the merged information.
• Remember to position your paper properly in your printer. You may want to print a test document first to make sure everything is lined up correctly.
• Mail merge fields in your main document are surrounded by chevrons (« »). The chevrons won’t show up in the final merged documents. They just help you distinguish the fields in the main document from the regular text.