How to mail merge recipients from excel

Answer

A mail merge is a process that allows sending personalized documents, emails, or letters to multiple recipients by linking an Excel spreadsheet with Word or another email system.

What is required for a mail merge?

A mail merge requires two main components:

1. Data Source: An Excel file containing the list of recipients. Each column represents a data field, such as First Name, Last Name, Email, Address, etc. Each row represents one recipient.

2. Main Document: A Word document, email template, or letter where placeholders will be replaced with actual data from Excel.

How to prepare Excel for mail merge

1. Open your Excel spreadsheet.

2. Ensure the first row contains headers like First Name, Last Name, Email, Address.

3. Each recipient should be in a separate row.

4. Avoid blank rows or merged cells in the data table.

5. Save the Excel file in .xlsx format.

Steps to perform a mail merge in Word using Excel

1. Open Word.

2. Click Mailings in the top menu.

3. Click Start Mail Merge, then select the type of document (e.g., Letters, E-Mail Messages, Envelopes, Labels).

4. Click Select Recipients, then choose Use an Existing List.

5. Browse to your Excel file, select it, and click Open.

6. Choose the correct worksheet if your Excel file contains multiple sheets.

7. Place your cursor in the document where you want personalized information to appear.

8. Click Insert Merge Field and select the field name from Excel (e.g., First_Name, Last_Name).

9. Repeat step 8 for all fields needed.

10. Click Preview Results to see how each recipient’s information will appear.

11. Click Finish & Merge, then choose Edit Individual Documents to review or Send Email Messages to email directly.

Tips for Mail Merge

• Ensure all Excel columns have consistent and clear headers.

• Remove any special characters that may break the merge.

• Test the merge with 2–3 rows before running the full list.

• Save both Word and Excel files in a location with no access restrictions.

• If sending emails, verify that your email client is configured correctly.

Differences between Windows and Mac

• On Windows, Word provides full mail merge features, including email merge.

• On Mac, some older Word versions may not support email merge directly; it allows letters and labels but may require exporting to a different format for emails.

Example

Suppose your Excel sheet looks like this:

In Word, you insert <<First Name>> and <<Address>> in the template. After merging, each document will be personalized:

• John will see “Dear John, your address is 123 Main St.”

• Mary will see “Dear Mary, your address is 456 Oak Ave.”

This method ensures efficient communication to multiple recipients without manually editing each document.

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