Creating a mail merge letter

You can turn a document into a mail merge letter simply by adding the appropriate fields. Typically these are address and name fields from a database table. The process is the same whether the document is new or the text has already been entered.

The first field you insert establishes a connection with a table within a database, as follows:

  1. Position the cursor where you want the field to appear - for example, at the top of the document if you're starting the address block.

  2. Select the Mail Merge Field command from the Insert menu.

  3. In the File Name box, enter the name of the database - or use the browse button image\browse.gif to find and enter it.

  4. Select the table you want from the Data Source drop-down list.

  5. Select the field you want to insert from the Data Item drop-down list.

  6. Click on the OK button. 

The mail merge field will be inserted into your document and a series of toolbars will be turned on. These allow you to browse, edit, filter and sort your data. See Controlling mail merge for more details.

Now insert an additional field for each of the other address lines and for the salutation and name, as follows:

  1. Position the cursor where you want the next field to go.

  2. Select the field you want in the field list from the query toolbar (see Controlling mail merge).

  3. Click the Insert Field button image\insfield.gif.

  4. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for the rest of the fields.

As an alternative to steps 7 and 8, you can use the Mail Merge Field from the Insert menu.

Note that you are free to include a field more than once. For example, the first line of an address block may contain fields for title, first name and surname and you may want to start your letter with "Dear Mr Jones". Just insert the title and surname fields a second time.

See also:

Browsing through the merge data

Viewing and printing merge letters