Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Beginning a Mail Merge.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 10, 2023)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021
Word includes a very powerful mail merge feature. In order to take advantage of this feature, you need to create a main document. This document is the "template" or "boilerplate" for your finished document. It includes everything Word needs to create the finished document, including placeholders for the data that Word extracts from a data file.
A mail merge document is not complete, however, until you have also specified a data file that you want to associate with the main document. To create your main mail merge document and attach a data source to it, follow these steps:
At this point, you are ready to modify or type your main document. You will include merge fields in the document that indicate where you want the data from your data file to appear.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (5965) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Beginning a Mail Merge.
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