Mail Merge Wizard
When I first started to use Mail Merge I used what was called the Mail Merge Helper within Microsoft Word. It looked easy, 1, 2 ,3 but in reality you did step 1 then step 2, back to step 1 and then on to step3. When the Mail Merge Wizard came out I was sceptical, but gave it a go.
It was so much easier. Each step is in a logical order, but if you need to you can still return to a previous step. All the features that were there before, such as creating a mail merge from Outlook contacts (as long as you are using the same version of Outlook as Word), spreadsheets or other Word documents. There is an added feature of being able to tick beside the contacts you would like to merge to.
Most people use Mail Merge to create letters, but you can do so much more, envelopes and labels , as well as emails and directory. A directory used to be called a catalogue. Great for creating lists of things, I used to use it to create a telephone list, you have all the numbers in your Outlook contacts but want a list beside your phone, use the directory.
Emails has also been an option that has been available for many versions. You want to send an email to 20 customers but make it look like you wrote each one out for them, this is the option. Use the fields of first name and surname or any other field that is populated within the data source.
You can still use conditional statements within the merge document for example if the address is blank then you can insert text instead to request the person give you their address for your records.
One of the steps is to preview, rather then just being a button on the toolbar, you can now also choose to exclude a contact while previewing. Once previewed you can then merge to a document, email or straight to the printer.
The old features are all still available but most are easier to access and using the Mail Merge Wizard is useful if you don’t mail merge often, it will ensure that you do not miss any steps.
Word 2003 Mail Merge Crib Sheet
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15 Responses to Mail Merge Wizard
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Mail Merge?
*Aiiiie! Runs away screaming!*
And then there are the PR pitches I receive every day by email. At least once a week I will get one entitled (literally):
Dear ,
Yeah right, no I’m not going to pay attention to the rest of the letter with that lack of attention to detail, delete, delete, delete.
Totally hate doing mail merge… has anyone ever got through 3 in a row without screwing them up? The stuff of nightmares >.<
Twitter: maverickny
I often get
Dear M,
I should point out that the only person on earth who calls me M sleeps with me. So correspondence from anyone else in that format is truly disturbing!!
Mail Merge?
*Aiiiie! Runs away screaming!*
And then there are the PR pitches I receive every day by email. At least once a week I will get one entitled (literally):
Dear ,
Yeah right, no I’m not going to pay attention to the rest of the letter with that lack of attention to detail, delete, delete, delete.
Totally hate doing mail merge… has anyone ever got through 3 in a row without screwing them up? The stuff of nightmares >.<
Twitter: maverickny
I often get
Dear M,
I should point out that the only person on earth who calls me M sleeps with me. So correspondence from anyone else in that format is truly disturbing!!
I should point out that the only person on earth who calls me M sleeps with me. So correspondence from anyone else in that format is truly disturbing!!
I often get
Dear M,
Mail Merge?
*Aiiiie! Runs away screaming!*
And then there are the PR pitches I receive every day by email. At least once a week I will get one entitled (literally):
Dear ,
Yeah right, no I’m not going to pay attention to the rest of the letter with that lack of attention to detail, delete, delete, delete.
Totally hate doing mail merge… has anyone ever got through 3 in a row without screwing them up? The stuff of nightmares >.<
Twitter: maverickny
Soooo irritating, isn’t it? And all it needs is the data to be in the correct place – you’ve probably heard of “rubbish in, rubbish out”?
For example, when the magic of the software puts the master document (letter/email, etc) with the data, to produce the resulting personalised documents, it’s no use the postcode being in the column of the first name; it’s all the first names which should be in that column!
These people need an understanding trainer!!
Soooo irritating, isn’t it? And all it needs is the data to be in the correct place – you’ve probably heard of “rubbish in, rubbish out”?
For example, when the magic of the software puts the master document (letter/email, etc) with the data, to produce the resulting personalised documents, it’s no use the postcode being in the column of the first name; it’s all the first names which should be in that column!
These people need an understanding trainer!!
Soooo irritating, isn’t it? And all it needs is the data to be in the correct place – you’ve probably heard of “rubbish in, rubbish out”?
For example, when the magic of the software puts the master document (letter/email, etc) with the data, to produce the resulting personalised documents, it’s no use the postcode being in the column of the first name; it’s all the first names which should be in that column!
These people need an understanding trainer!!
It’s a shame that mail merge is abused by people who don’t really know how to use it, because in its rightful place it has some good uses.
Twitter: nikkipilkington
It’s a shame that mail merge is abused by people who don’t really know how to use it, because in its rightful place it has some good uses.
Twitter: nikkipilkington
It’s a shame that mail merge is abused by people who don’t really know how to use it, because in its rightful place it has some good uses.
Twitter: nikkipilkington