Attaching Specific Files to Mail-Merge E-Mail Messages

Don can do a mail merge to create individualized e-mail messages. What he hasn't been able to figure out is how to specify that each message created by the merge should have a different file attachment. He wonders if there is a way in the merge to specify the name of a file that should be attached to the message that is created by the merge.

Unfortunately, Word does not include this capability and it never has. You can see Microsoft's official pronouncements on this in this FAQ about mail merge:

https://go.tips.net/mmfaq

Granted, this FAQ is about older versions of Word (Word 2003 through Word 2010), but the answers to questions 15 and 16—which deal specially with Don's question—are still applicable in the latest versions of Word.

One possible workaround to the lack of capability is to not actually include an attachment, but instead proved a pointer to a unique document, stored in a cloud source. For instance, you might consider putting the attachments in a OneDrive or Dropbox location and adding the URL to that location to your merge data. Then, when you create the e-mail messages you can include the individualized URLs in the messages. When the recipient receives the message, they can click on the URL to access the file you would have otherwise attached to the e-mail.

If you absolutely want to add attachments, then the best solution is to use the Merge Tools add-in created by Doug Robbins. How to use this tool (which is really handy) is discussed in this video by Microsoft employee Kevin Stratvert:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj_s3cdfVDY

The video is about 15 minutes long, and it is quite helpful on explaining how to use the Merge Tools add-in to do something that Word was never intended to do in the first place.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (9580) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Word in Microsoft 365, and 2021.