Mail-Merge in Excel is a simple yet spectacular method used by analysts to write similar emails to hundreds or thousands of recipients without a hassle or even a single error. Mail-Merge in Excel is so proficient that it could even create an envelope (cover letter) for all your mails using the same approach.
This tutorial on Mail-Merge in excel is dedicated to helping you learn the approach and try mailing multiple recipients within a couple of minutes with ease.
What Is Mail-Merge in Excel?
Mail Merge in Excel is a built-in feature of Microsoft Excel to integrate with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Outlook, and other similar applications that allow the user to send multiple emails simultaneously with simple steps costing a couple of minutes.
In general, a user is sending one single mail to several recipients. The mail context will remain the same, while the recipient details will be updated dynamically using a source that stores the recipients' details. In this case, Microsoft Excel.
So far, you have got an overview of the process of Mail-Merge in Excel. Now, you will gear up and learn to implement mail-merge practically to have a better learning experience.
How to Implement Mail-Merge in Excel?
To implement mail merge in Excel, you must follow a few simple steps as described below.
Step 1: Write a Draft Mail That You Wish to Send to Multiple Recipients.
In this scenario, you have an imaginary IT firm named smart solutions PVT LTD hiring IT professionals. So, here you will use this imaginary scenario as your problem statement and write a mail draft based on the interview call letter. The image below depicts the scenario.
Step 2: Create an Excel Sheet With All the Details.
After you filter out the eligible candidates, the next step is to store their information in the form of an Excel sheet. The details can include the following format.
- First Name
- Last Name
- Full Name
- House no / APT no / Door no
- Street
- State
- Pincode
The image below explains the step in a much granular way.
Step 3: Get back to Word.
Now that the candidate details are sorted and saved. The next step is to have the mails sent to the respective candidates with their respective names and address details in the mail. To do so, you need to head back to Microsoft Word, and on the toolbar, you need to select the "Mailings" option.
In the "Mailings" option, you have to select the option of reading "Use an Existing List," as shown in the image below.
Now, Microsoft Word will open a new window, where you can navigate to the location where the Microsoft Excel sheet storing the candidate details is located, as shown below.
Select the File, and then click OK. The following window will pop up on the screen. Select the sheet name available on the screen and click on OK.
Step 4: Encoding/ Replacing the Details With Mail Merge Features.
In the toolbar, select "Mailings." Next, a ribbon will appear on the screen under "Mailings." Inside the ribbon, select the "Write and Insert Fields" group. Here, you can find the options to replace Highlight Merge Field, Address Block, Greetings, and Insert Merge Field.
As shown in the image below, you must select the candidate address section on the mail written on MS Word and select the" Address Block" option from the group.
As you can see, the window will show the recipient's name and state on the preview screen. Now, you do have street and house numbers on the list. To include the missing details, click on the "Match Fields" option. This pops another window on the screen, and you can include the missing details according to your requirement, as shown below.
In the next section, you can see the greetings part of the mail. Here, the recipient is addressed with Mr/Ms or Dear or Sir/Ma'am. You can do it by selecting the first line of the candidate's greetings line and choosing the "Greeting Line" option from the group. As a result, you get a new window on the screen, where you get a variety of options to choose from. A preview of the same is displayed below.
Step 5: Send Out the Mails or Print Individual Copies.
After you finish all the formatting, you can choose the "Preview Results" option, as shown below. This will show you the preview of individual letters.
Once you are happy with the results, you can finally choose the "Finish and Merge" option, as shown below.
The "Finish and Merge" option allows you to do the following operations as described below.
- Edit Individual Documents
- Print Documents
- Send Email Messages
Edit Individual Documents
You can edit individual documents if you intend to.
Print Documents
Print option will redirect you to the printing window, where you can choose to print out hard copies of your documents and have them sent to the recipients, as shown below.
Send Email Messages
Sending out an email proves to be a feasible option. Here, you will be redirected to a window that automatically reads the email section in the Excel sheet and helps you with all available email IDs on the list, as shown below.
Now, with that, you have come to an end of the Mail-Merge in Excel article.
Wrapping Up
Excel Budget Template can be your next step in learning Excel. Budget Templates in Excel can be handy when managing your budget regardless of the budget's purpose. In real-time, you can find a large number of applications based on Excel Budget Templates.
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