Special Edition Using Microsoft® Office XP

Using Mail Merge to Personalize Form Letters

By far the most common mail merge scenario involves a form letter, a database, and a printer. You have a database of names and addresses, most likely in an Outlook Contacts list, but possibly in the form of an Access database, Excel list, or simple tab-delimited format. And you have a form letter (or at least an idea of what you want to write). That's all you need: In Word-speak, you have a data source and a main merge document. The rest is just juggling.

The general procedure goes like this (you'll get additional details and important suggestions for each of these steps in the rest of this chapter):

1. Bring up the Mail Merge Wizard by choosing Tools, Letters and Mailings, Mail Merge Wizard. In the wizard's ...