Microsoft Word XP

Mail Merge: Creating an Email Merge

Mail Merge to email combines the personalization of form letters with the easy delivery of email. For example, advisors may send a personalized email to all of their advisees containing information regarding the date of their last visit. This email merge will only work on those computers set up with Microsoft Outlook.

These instructions assume that you have an understanding of the Word Mail Merge process. If you need more information, refer to The Mail Merge Wizard: An Overview.

The starting document contains the text for the email message with field references to the data document.

NOTE: If your starting document includes active hyperlinks and you want them to remain active in the email message, you should type the complete URL rather than link representative text (e.g., http://www.uwec.edu rather than UW-Eau Claire.) This will ensure that, regardless of the email format, the link will be preserved once the starting document is merged to email.

Open a blank Word document
From the Tools menu, select Letters and Mailings » Mail Merge Wizard...
The Mail Merge task pane appears.
From the Select document type section, select E-mail messages
At the bottom of the task pane, click NEXT: STARTING DOCUMENT
From the Select starting document section, select Use the current document
At the bottom of the task pane, click NEXT: SELECT RECIPIENTS
From the Select recipients section, select Use an existing list
From the Use an existing list section, click BROWSE...
The Select Data Source dialog box appears.
Locate and select the file you will use for your list
Click OPEN
The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box appears.
Select which recipients you want to include in your mail merge
NOTE: To edit the recipients' information, refer to Working with the Recipients List.
Click OK
At the bottom of the task pane, click NEXT: WRITE YOUR E-MAIL MESSAGE
If you have not already done so, type your message and insert the variable fields
When finished, click NEXT: PREVIEW YOUR E-MAIL MESSAGES
A preview of your first recipient appears.
NOTE: For more information on editing the recipients' information, refer to Working with the Recipients List.
HINT: To remove a recipient from the mail merge, from the Make changes section, click EXCLUDE THIS RECIPIENT
Click NEXT: COMPLETE THE MERGE
From the Merge section, click ELECTRONIC MAIL...
The Merge to E-mail dialog box appears.

From the To pull-down list, select the field with the email address
In the Subject line text box, type a subject line
From the Mail format pull-down list, select the desired format for your message
RECOMMENDED: To avoid being alerted on every record regarding an Outlook security measure, select HTML.
In the Send records section, select which records you want to include: All, Current Record, or to select only certain records, type in the appropriate values in the From and To text boxes
Click OK
The records will now be sent to your Outlook email recipients.