1. Mail Merge a letter for Integration Office 2016
© EIT, Author Gay Robertson, 2016

2. What is mail merge?
Mail merge is when you use a special document created in Word which contains field codes. The field codes ‘join up’ with a data source in eg Access, to produce a combined output
The document in Word eg a form letter, is customized for each client.  For example, instead of "Dear Customer,"; you can have "Dear John or Dear Mr Smith,".  The name comes from your database or data file.

3. A form letter might look like this …
When merged with a data source the data would appear from the database …

4. These are the individual field codes …
They match “field names” in the data source

5. The data source (which is called the Mail Merge Recipients) contains the data that is “merged” into the Word document where the codes appear

6. how to do it ...

7. Mail merge a word document with Access table or query to make a letter
Be in your source Word document (this can be a blank document or a document that already has text in it)
Click on
Choose

8. Click on choose
Navigate to YOUR folder containing the existing list click on the database/workbook/word table you are going to use as your data source
Choose the table or query you are going to use as your data source eg

9. Click on
This is the list of recipients (or who the letter is going to) Click on OK to close the list of recipients

10. Click on group choose
This will appear

11. This will appear in your letter if you used an Address Block or if you used individual field codes

12. Go to group, click on the same data will appear whether you
Used an address block or
Inserted individual field codes
Click on again to go back to codes

13. Click on
Check the format of the greeting line eg if a comma is included you should change to “none” for a professional business layout of a letter change by clicking on “down arrow”

14. This will appear in your letter
Click on to see the data Use to move through records
Click on again to go back to codes

15. Insert individual merge fields
click in text where the data is required
Click on
Merge fields will appear. Click Field required
Merge field will appear in the document. Preview to see data.

16. How do you merge the letters and get printouts?
Move along the Mail Merge toolbar and look at the options to Merge the form letter with the data source

17. Merge to a new document
First option is to merge to a new document (this means that you can check the layout of each form letter and edit if necessary)

18. Which records to merge …
Choose to merge all the records (that means all the names on the Mail Merge Recipient list will have a letter printed just for them!)

19. Merge to the printer
Second option is to merge straight to the printer (this means that you cannot check the layout of each form letter and edit if necessary – so be sure it is correct before you print!)

20. End show