How to Master Mail Merge in MS Word (Advanced Users Guide)

Do you need to send out a lot of documents to different recipients? You can customize the name and address information in MS Word.

microsoft word template — Microsoft Word letterhead template from Envato Elements

Learn how to do a Mail Merge in Word in this step-by-step tutorial. We'll also explain why you'd want to use Mail Merge from Word, and what kind of projects would use Word Mail Merge. Ready? Let's dig in.

Jump to content in this section:

What Is Mail Merge in Word?
Examples of When to Use Mail Merge in Word
How To Do a Mail Merge in Word (Set Up)
How To Do a Mail Merge in Word (Finish & Merge)
Take Your Microsoft Word Projects Further With Envato Elements
Want to Learn More About Microsoft Word?

What Is Mail Merge in Word?

When using Microsoft Word, Mail Merge can be used to easily create custom documents that all use the same source. It's a feature that merges a template with data to generate multiple, customized documents.

If you need to generate a large number of documents with customized information for different recipients, Mail Merge would be a huge time saver. For example, if you have a single letter template that needs to go out to many different recipients, Mail Merge would be a great answer.

ms word template — Microsoft Word template from Envato Elements

Here are some of the benefits of using Mail Merge from Word:

You can save a lot of time when it comes to creating personalized documents. Using Mail Merge, Word automates the process for you.
Because this process is completely automated, it also reduces the risk of errors. If you know your source list is correct and accurate, you're good to go.
Using Mail Merge in Word also helps ensure consistency across your documents too. You'll know exactly where and how the data will be included, without doing so by hand.

So, if you're debating if Mail Merge in Word is right for your project, consider the functionality. Will you have multiple recipients to consider? Or maybe you have some other type of variable data that would take quite a bit of time to manually input. In these cases, Mail Merge in Word could be a great solution.

Examples of When to Use Mail Merge in Word

So, why would you want to use Mail Merge in Word anyway? Here are some examples of why this feature is such a great one to rely on:

Envelopes and Labels can be easily customized with Mail Merge, using a contact list, rather than going in and typing out each name and address by hand.
Invoices and Bills often require specific customer information. Again, with Mail Merge, you can add this content easily, quickly, and accurately.
Personalized letters would require individual customization. For example, maybe you have an employee welcome letter. Using Mail Merge, you can customize this letter for each employee.
Training Materials, Cover Letters, and Much More! There are many different ways you could use Mail Merge, as it's such a useful feature.

invoice template — Microsoft Word Invoice template from Envato Elements

How To Do a Mail Merge in Word (Set Up)

So, let's walk through how to mail merge in Word. First, something to keep in mind. Mail Merge from Word essentially has two parts: your recipient list and your main document that has your merge fields. Let's simplify this concept first.

The first piece of this equation is your main document. This will act as a template of sorts. For example, in this demonstration, we'll use this professional letterhead template from Envato Elements.

letterhead template — Professional letterhead design template from Envato Elements

When looking at a letter like this one, you'll notice that certain pieces will always be recipient specific. In the case of this letterhead, the following content would almost always be customized:

The "TO" information, including First Name and Last Name, Title, Address.
The Introduction to the letterhead (i.e. Dear Mr. James)

And that's where the second piece of our puzzle comes in: the data in our recipient list. This is where we would have all of that dynamic data that we could easily insert via Mail Merge.

Now that we've observed these two parts, let's walk through using them together.

Step 1

First begin in Microsoft Word. I have my letterhead document open (again, I'm using this letterhead template from Envato Elements). You could use any document of your choice—including a new one. The goal here is to have your completed, default document that you intend to insert data into.

Step 2

Next, let's go to the Mailings tab, in the top Ribbon. With the Mailings tab active, select Select Recipients.

We'll select Create a New List for this demonstration.

Step 3

Now, Microsoft Word gives us the option to select our Fields. This would be any data that you would want inserted into your document. There are many common fields here in the defaults, like FirstName and LastName.

Add or remove any of these fields using the - or + icons.

But for this demonstration, the default values are just fine. Click Create to continue.

Step 4

Next, Microsoft Word will ask us to save our new list as a Word document. Give your list a relevant name, and then click Save.

Step 5

Then, Word will ask us to begin editing our list entries. This would be the data that we'll eventually merge with our document.

Step 6

So, for this demonstration, let's add some test information. You could add any data here that you prefer. Fill out each field. If you leave a field blank, that's okay—it just won't house any information that'll be filled in.

Step 7

To add a new data entry, click on the plus sign towards the bottom of this panel, as highlighted below. You'll notice that the entry number has also changed to "2", as this will be our second entry in our list.

Step 8

Continue filling in your information in this way. Note, below, that you can toggle between entries using the arrows at the bottom of the panel.

Step 9

If you've got a lot of data to include, doing it this way might not be very practical. Click on View Source, and we can view our external data list.

Step 10

And here's what our data source looks like. This is that new list we saved earlier as its own document—and look, all of the data we input is here.

The nice thing about this is, we can also input our content here, in this separate file. This can be a little more user-friendly if you're working with a lot of information.

Step 11

So, for example, I went ahead and added some more entries here into my list, for more recipients. You'll want to make sure you follow the table format that Microsoft Word created here. Once you're happy with your additions, make sure to Save your document.

Step 12

Let's go back to our main document now. We can check our recipient list by going to Edit Recipient list, up in the Mailings tab.

Step 13

This is a quick and easy way to make sure your data was saved correctly, in your other document. Plus, you can go in and make quick revisions here too! Just click OK when you're done viewing or editing your data.

Step 14

So, now that we've got our data set up, how do we use it?

Let's zoom in on our letterhead.

A great example here would be the introduction to the letter, where it reads "Dear Mr. James". We'd want this content to be dynamic and reflect everyone on our list.

To get started, let's click on Insert Merge Field.

Step 15

We can choose from all the different fields we filled out in our data, like Title, FirstName, and more. Now it's a matter of choosing which fields we would like to include in this space.

Step 16

Here's an example of the opening to our letter with the merge fields inserted. This document will have the Title, FirstName, and LastName at the start of every letter.

Step 17

But that doesn't feel very organic, does it? Thankfully, Microsoft Word lets us easily preview what we've created. Click on Preview Results and we can get a truer end result look at what we've created.

Take a look, I see my first data merge here as an example.

Step 18

Repeat this process to add as many merge fields as your document requires. In this example, I added recipient information in all the appropriate places in my letterhead template.

This is what it looks like with the preview off. It's nice to work this way, because you can clearly see where the template data will be placed.

How To Do a Mail Merge in Word (Finish & Merge)

Step 1

Now, we're ready to go! We've walked through how Mail Merge in Word works and how to set it up. Now, it's time to put it to use and generate our merged letters.

To begin, go to Finish and Merge, in the Mailings tab.

Step 2

You get several options here for outputting your merged work.

Edit Individual Documents will give you a preview of your output with your Merged Mail data.
Print Documents will send this job to your printer. This is ideal if you want to print out physical copies of your work. You can also print to PDF, if you have Adobe Acrobat installed.
Merge to Email will take this to your synced email software.

Let's choose Edit Individual Documents in this demonstration, as it gives us extra control over our work.

Step 3

Once you've selected Edit Individual Documents, Microsoft Word opens up a new document with your newly merged content. You can page through it all in one, convenient place—and you can make individual edits if you need to. So, for example, if one recipient needs something completely unique, you can add that in before you print.

Note that this is a completed document and not your template. So, if you want to create a new Mail Merge in Word, you'd need to go back to your original file.

Step 4

And there you've got it! You can print copies via your printer, export as PDF, or any other way you'd prefer to share and print your work. You can always go back and edit your list of contacts and do another mail merge in the future if you need to.

Here's a look at one of my Merged Mail documents that I exported to PDF, for easy digital distribution.

Take Your Microsoft Word Projects Further With Envato Elements

Looking for extra help? Whether you're building out business communications, invoices, or cover letters, Envato Elements has you covered. One low fee gets you unlimited access to thousands of professionally designed Microsoft Word documents.

Explore Envato Elements

Here's just a few of the ways Envato Elements can help you finish your next project quicker and easier:

Need an invoice? Download an invoice template on Envato Elements. Set up Mail Merge in Word and you've ready to share with your clients.
Working on a cover letter for your job search? Use a template with Mail Merge and easily fill out employer information with just a few clicks.
Creating labels to mail out to a group? Download a template from Envato Elements, use mail merge, and you're ready to print.

And Envato Elements also has fonts, illustrations, stock photos, and much more. All of this content is included for one low price, and it's such an amazing resource for creative professionals.

Plus, Elements now includes AI-assisted search. So, you'll find what you're looking for even more quickly.

Check out Envato Elements today.

Want to Learn More About Microsoft Word?

If you're looking to learn more about Microsoft Word, you should check out the wealth of free tutorials right here on Envato Tuts+. Here are some awesome tutorials to get you started, right now.

Now You Know How to Use Mail Merge in Word!

Now that you know how to Mail Merge in Word, you'll be able to add all kinds of list data to your MS Word documents. Use it for mailing lists, invoices, letterheads, and much more. And don't forget to check out Envato Elements for the best Word document templates.