Postal service merge is a Microsoft Give-and-take feature that helps you streamline creating personalized letters, labels, envelopes, emails, and a directory. Since post merge is not among the most ordinarily used MS Word features, some users might not know how to practice a postal service merge in Word to create letters, labels, and envelopes.

If you're trying to salvage time spent on manually personalizing each letter of the alphabet, characterization, or other documents, post merge can come in handy. Fifty-fifty if y'all've never tried to create a mail merge letter, the procedure is pretty straightforward, and we walk you through each pace below.

How to Create Mail service Merge Letters

Microsoft Word has a wizard that walks you through creating mail merge letters. The wizard will ask for the alphabetic character y'all'd similar to use and the recipients of the letter along the way, so make certain y'all have a listing of recipients ready to insert. If you don't, no biggie, you can always add a list of recipients manually.

  1. Open a Word document and type out your message. Go out out the personalized elements (for instance, title, proper noun, city, etc.). For at present, you lot could just get out a blank space for where you desire to insert these elements, like so:
  1. When your template is ready, select Mailings > Offset Postal service Merge > Step-by-Pace Mail Merge Wizard from the height ribbon.
  1. A new pane will appear along the right border of your MS Give-and-take window. This is the wizard that will walk you through the process. Equally a first step, you'll demand to select the type of document you're working on. Select Letters and choose Next: Starting document.
  1. You'll need to choose the document you want to use for post merge in the next.
    If you've already typed in some content for your letter, select Apply the current certificate.
    If you want to apply a ready-to-employ template, select Start from a template. When you've chosen a starting document, click on Select recipients.
  1. The next stride is to select recipients. Assuming you have an Excel canvas populated with the recipient data, you tin can import the data past selecting the Use an existing file selection and selecting Scan from the subsequent section.

Navigate to the canvass containing the list of recipients using the explorer, select the canvass and select Open.

When yous select the sheet, you'll see the Select Table window. Select the relevant table(s). Be certain to cheque the box abreast the text First row of data contains cavalcade headers if that's true for your data, and select OK.

Next, you'll run across the list of recipients that Word will apply in your merge. If everything looks proficient, select OK.

When you've added the Excel canvas, select Adjacent: Write your letter.

  1. Yous're now prepare to add together placeholders in your letter of the alphabet. Bring your cursor to where y'all want to add the placeholder and select More items from the mail merge pane.

The Insert Merge Field dialog box will open from where you tin can select the relevant placeholder and select Insert to add together it to your alphabetic character.

  1. When you've inserted all merge fields, select Next: Preview your letters.

This volition show yous a preview of all letters generated with mail merge. Yous can utilise arrow buttons in the mail merge pane to switch the preview of letters.

  1. Select Next: Consummate the merge. In the subsequent step, select either Print (if you want to print all letters) or Edit individual messages > All (if you're going to merge the letters into a single document).

How to Create Mail Merge Labels

It's always a skillful idea to compile your mailing list tidily in an Excel sheet so yous don't feel dizzy when you demand someone'due south mailing details. However, if you desire to print the labels, your Excel sheet compilation won't cut information technology. Instead, you'll need to create post merge labels on MS Give-and-take.

  1. If you lot already have an Excel sheet with mailing details, you lot tin skip over to the next pace. If not, organize your mailing list on an Excel canvass. Add together some headers (First Proper name, Last Proper name, Address, etc.) and get your list sorted.
  2. Switch over to MS Word. Utilize the wizard for creating labels. Open up a blank document and select Mailings > Select Post Merge > Stride-past-Step Mail service Merge Magician.
  1. Select Labels and then Next: Starting certificate.
  1. On the next screen, select Change document layout. Next, select Characterization options to set your product number and label brand.

Once y'all select OK, you'll encounter the labels outlined on your document. If y'all don't, go to Table Blueprint > Borders and select View Gridlines.

  1. Go back to the Mailings tab in MS Word and select Select Recipients > Use an Existing List.

Navigate to the Excel file containing the mail list. Select the file and select Open.

  1. You'll meet the Select Tabular array window. If you lot have multiple sheets in your workbook, you'll meet more than one particular here. Select the one that contains your mailing list. Check the box besides the text First row of data contains column headers, and select OK.
  1. MS Give-and-take imports the mailing listing. Select Address Cake. Look at the preview on the right.

If information technology doesn't look like how you want it, select Friction match Fields. Make sure that all details represent to an appropriate header from your worksheet and select OK.

Look at the preview again. If it looks adept, select OK.

  1. You'll now run across <<AddressBlock>> in the label. Get to Mailings > Update Labels to add <<AddressBlock>> to all labels.
  1. The labels are now prepare to exist merged. Go to Mailings > Terminate & Merge > Edit Individual Documents.

You'll see a small window pop upwards. Select All and then OK.

  1. Y'all'll at present run into all your labels merged.

How to Create Post Merge Envelopes

Creating mail merge envelopes is by and large the aforementioned as that for labels, but with a few tweaks.

Again, click on Mailings > Starting time Mail Merge > Pace-by-Stride Mail Merge Wizard, but this time, select Envelopes and so select Next: Starting document from the bottom.

  1. Y'all'll be asked to select a starting document. Select Envelope options to select envelope size and position of the delivery/return address (refer to next step), and select Side by side: Select recipients.
  1. When yous select Envelope options, you lot'll encounter a minor window pop up. Select your preferred envelope size and select the font and the placement for commitment and return address.
  1. The adjacent step in the sorcerer is to select recipients. Select Use an existing list (assuming you already have an Excel sheet containing the recipient information), and select Browse to wait for the file. Select the relevant file and click on Adjacent: Arrange your envelope.
  1. On your adjacent screen, select Address cake, look at the preview to ensure it looks like you want information technology to, and select OK.

You lot'll now see <<AddressBlock>> appear on the envelope.

  1. Select Next: Preview your envelopes. You'll encounter the same preview y'all saw in the previous footstep only on your document. You tin can utilize the arrow buttons in the wizard pane to switch betwixt envelopes.

Your envelopes are now set to be merged. Select Next: Complete the merge.

  1. On the following screen, you lot'll see an option to Edit individual envelopes. Select it, select All to merge all records, and select OK.

You lot'll now see all envelopes merged into a unmarried document.

Bulk Printing and Emails Fabricated Piece of cake

Using post merge can save you a ton of time you'd otherwise spend customizing your letters, labels, or envelopes. That's not all you can do with MS Discussion, though. You can also create greeting cards, booklets, and index cards.

Mail service merge has been around for a while, just if yous're looking to brand your processes efficient, Microsoft Office 2019 introduced some neat features you may want to await at.