The following instructions show how to mail merge using Word and Excel 2003.
These instructions can be helpful to merge data from an Excel spreadsheet into pretty much any document; they are however even more useful for merging names and addresses into any of our integrated labels.
1: Use Excel to create a list of names and addresses that looks something like this:
Make sure you use the first row for column headings; create as many columns as you think you’ll need.
Optional:
The Zookeeper really likes www.fakenamegenerator.com when he wants test names and addresses; it saves him having to make them up for himself! Be warned, a little technical know how is needed, so if you’re happier typing in the names for your test, just copy the ones above.
2: Save your Excel file with a name you can remember: namesandaddresses.xls or similar will be fine.
3: Close your excel workbook. N.B. this is important later and the Zookeeper almost always forgets!
4: Download and open one of our label templates and follow the instructions to clear out our sample text and images. Once you’ve done that you should have something that looks like this:
5: From the menu bar select ‘Tools’ then ‘Letters and Mailing’ then ‘Mail Merge’
6: Make sure ‘Letters’ is selected and click ‘Next: Starting document’. (Don’t use the ‘Labels’ option because that’s for getting data to repeat many times on the same page).
7: Make sure ‘Use the current document’ is selected and click ‘Next: Select recipients’
8: Make sure ‘Use an existing list’ is selected and click ‘Browse’
9: In the ‘Select Data Source’ dialog box browse to and select the Excel file you saved in Step 2. Click the ‘Open’ button.
10: In the ‘Select Table’ dialog box let it use the default table (usually your filename with a $ at the end), make sure ‘First row of data contains column header’ is ticked and click ‘OK’.
11: In the ‘Mail Merge Recipients’ dialog box just click ‘OK’. N.B. if your original data file has too many columns or there are some names you would like to omit, you can do this here. However for this example to keep things simple, as I’ve just mentioned, “just click ‘OK’.”
12: Back in the main Word screen click ‘Next: Write your letter’
13: Layout your invoice as you want it (sorry that’s outside the scope of these mail merge instructions’ – although our post on ‘What does my Invoice Need to Show’ may help).
14:Once you’re ready to start including names and addresses click on the first blank line in the label text box and select ‘More Items’.
15: Once the ‘Insert Merge Field’ dialog box is open, there are a couple of ways to proceed. The way the Zookeeper prefers is select each field required one by one and click ‘Insert’ after each one. This will build up a long list of Field Names on your label (<<Title>><<FirstName>> etc). Once you’ve inserted all the fields click ‘Close’.
16: We now need to split our list of fields onto separate lines. Click between the ending >> of the first field and the starting << of the second field and press ‘Enter’. This will move everything from there on down to a new line. Continue field by field until each field is on a separate line. N.B. Between <<FirstName>> and <<Surname>> just press ‘Space’ rather than ‘Enter’!
Once you’ve finished you should have changed from the layout on the left to the layout on the right.
Optional:
You can use each field multiple times, so you can include a name or the address elsewhere within the document if you want. Simply repeat steps 15 and 16 as required wherever you would like additional fields. In addition to this if you have included price data in your spreadsheet as additional columns these can be dropped into your invoice as well.
17: Click on ‘Preview your letters’
18: In the preview section you can check the layout is as you expected and page back and forth between letters using the << and >> buttons. If everything isn’t quite perfect click ‘Previous: Write your letter’ and go back to step 15 to tidy things up.
19: Once you’re happy everything looks good click ‘Next: Complete the merge’.
20: You can now select either ‘Edit individual letters’ which will merge your names and addresses into one long new Word document or ‘Print’ which will send the merged document directly to your printer. You will be presented with either a ‘Merge to Printer’ or ‘Merge to New Document’ dialog box. Make sure ‘All’ is selected and click ‘OK’.
Your mail merged document should now either be printing or available to edit depending on whether you selected ‘Print’ or ‘Edit individual letters’.
