The following files are available for download:
Several people have submitted proposals for sessions at a fictional bicycle advocacy conference. We will create letters to let each person know their proposal was received and is being reviewed.
We will use Microsoft Word's mail merge features to add the recipient's address to the letter.
To create the letters, we will use a Microsoft Word document that contains a letterhead. Because we will want to use this letterhead for later projects, we will open and then save the document with a new name.
NOTE: We will use "MM" at the end of the file name to give us a clue that the file is indeed a mail merge document and will have a connection to a data source.
Navigate to the correct drive, Double-click Letterhead.docx
Click File, Click Save As
Click the current name
Conference-submission-MM Enter key
Now that the document has been named and saved, we can start the mail merge. We will be working with the Mailings tab on the Microsoft Word ribbon.
NOTE: One way to create a mail merge document is to use the Mail Merge Step-by-Step wizard. While it does work, the interface is not as intuitive as using the buttons on the ribbon.
To move to the Mailings tab, on the ribbon,
Click the Mailings tab
Click 
, Click Letters
Now that our document is ready, we can begin to select our data source. This source contains the information we want to use to create our letters: the recipient's name, affiliation, address, and proposal title.
Microsoft Word gives us three options for the data source: use an existing list, type a new list, or choose from Outlook contacts. (Microsoft Word for Mac also includes Apple Contacts and FileMaker Pro.) Our list of potential conference presenters is in an Excel workbook named Applicants.xlsx.
Click 
, Click Use an Existing List...
Navigate to the folder containing the exercise files, Double-click Applicants.xlsx
In Microsoft Word, the Select Table dialog box opens:
This dialog box allows us to choose a specific worksheet within the Applicants workbook. And gives us the opportunity to remove the "First row of data contains column headers" option. There is only one worksheet listed, Applicants$. It is selected by default.
Click Applicants
Click 
Click 
, Click Use an Existing List...
Navigate to the folder containing the exercise files, Double-click Applicants.xlsx
In Microsoft Word for Mac, a warning appears:
This dialog box informs us that the Excel file we are accessing could be a security risk. We know that this file is safe so we will choose to open it.
Click 
In Microsoft Word for Mac, you may see another dialog box:
Apps that require passwords will ask for permission to retrieve the password from Keychain Access. If you previously entered your password and opted to Always Allow access, you will not see this dialog box. The password required in this dialog box is the same password used to log in to the Mac.
your password, Click 
In Microsoft Word for Mac, the Open Workbook dialog box opens:
In this dialog box, we can choose a specific worksheet within the Applicants workbook. There is only one worksheet available, Applicants. We will use this workbook as our data source.
Click 
There is no obvious change to our document, but the source file is now ready to be merged with our letters.
Now that our document and our data source are connected, we can begin inserting the merge fields. We will begin by creating an inside address for our letter. The inside address should be in the upper left corner of the document below the letterhead. We need to correctly place the cursor in the blank document.
Click under the letterhead image at the left margin
Click 
, Click First_Name
Spacebar
Click , Click Last_Name
With the recipient's name inserted, we need to move to the next line of the address. If we simply press the Enter key, there will be too much space between the lines. To keep the address single-spaced, we can insert a soft return. This is accomplished by pressing the Enter key + Shift key.
Enter key + Shift key
Click , Click Affiliation
Enter key + Shift key
Click , Click Street
Enter key + Shift key
Now that the first three lines are complete, let's add the remaining fields to the address. Because the city, state, and zip code fields are all on the same line, we will need to add spaces and a comma between the merge fields.
Click , Click City
, Spacebar key
Click , Click State
Spacebar key
Click , Click Zip
The merge fields for the inside address look like this:
The next part of the letter is the greeting line. Microsoft Word for Windows has a built-in tool that makes it simple to insert this text. Before we begin, we need to place the cursor below the inside address.
Enter key
Click 
The Insert Greeting Line dialog box opens:
In this dialog box, we can modify the format of a greeting and see a preview of what the greeting line will look like. By default, Word starts the greeting with the word "Dear" followed by the recipient's first name, last name, and a comma.
The Greeting line for invalid recipient names drop-down shows us what would happen if one or more of our recipients' records did not have first or last names. Luckily, our database is thorough, so we won't need to worry about this. However, to prevent gendered presumptions for possible future entries, let's change this option to None.
Click the Greeting line for invalid recipient names drop-down, Click (none)
Click
The merge fields in the document now look like this:
The next part of the letter is the greeting line. Microsoft Word for Mac does not have a built-in Greeting Line tool. We will have to create the greeting by inserting merge fields.
Enter key
We want the greeting line to be a standard, "Dear First_Name Last_Name,". We will begin by typing the greeting. We will then use the merge fields to insert the first and last names.
Dear Spacebar
Click 
, Click First_Name
Spacebar
Click , Click Last_Name
Comma key
The merge fields now look like this:
Before we continue working on the letter, let's take a moment to preview what we've done up to this point. By previewing the inside address and greeting line, we can find, and fix, errors in spacing and punctuation that we may have missed when looking at the merge fields.
Click 
The document changes and now shows us the address and greeting line for our first recipient, Diane Dell.
We can use the Preview Results tools to move through the other letters, find a specific recipient, or check for errors.
Click 
Click several times
Click
Now that the inside address and greeting line are correct, we can begin adding content to our letter. We want to let people know that their proposal was received and will be reviewed. This content will be a combination of text we type manually and a merge field from the source document.
Click in the line beneath the greeting line
Thank you for your proposed conference topic,
Click , Click Proposal
. We are reviewing all submissions and will notify you soon about our selections for this year's conference.
Enter key Sincerely, Enter keyYour Name
Click
Click several times
The letter looks like this:
At this point, the letters look complete. However, we are still previewing the finished document. We have not completed the merge. When the mail merge is complete, we will have individual letters for each recipient.
There are several choices for how to complete the merge. We can choose to edit the individual documents. Doing this will produce a Word document that will have a letter for each recipient. We could choose to print the documents which will send the documents directly to the printer. Or we can email the documents. Let's choose to edit the individual documents.
Click 
, Click Edit Individual Documents...
The Merge to New Document dialog box opens:
This dialog box gives us the options to merge all of the records, the current records, or other specific records.
Click
A new Microsoft Word document named Letters1 opens. This document contains twenty letters, one for each of our recipients. At this point, we could edit individual letters, print the letters, or simply save the document to return to at a later time.
Control key + s
submissions.docx
Navigate to the correct folder, Click 
Control key + w
Control key + s
The merged letters have been saved.
