Merging and Printing a Series of Documents

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 30, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


Richard has multiple Word mail merge documents, each of which uses the exact same Excel workbook as a data source. He regularly has to perform the merge and print each of these documents individually. He wonders if there is a way to somehow start the merge with the first Word document and, when that one is completed and printed, have the program automatically merge and print the second Word document, then the third, etc. Such an ability would make Richard's life easier, as he wouldn't need to "babysit" his system as it performed this rote series of merge-and-print operations.

If the names of the documents don't change (they are the same each time you need to go through this sequence), then it might be easiest to simply record a macro. Start the recorder, then go through the normal steps you follow to print the documents, in sequence. When you are done with the last one, turn off the recorder. While you'll need to "babysit" the system during the recording, when you later play back the macro, you won't need to stick around—the macro will take care of doing everything.

Of course, depending on the nature of the data you are merging (and what you actually want to see printed out), you might consider removing Word from the process entirely. You can find more information on this option by doing an Internet search.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13143) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Month for the Nth Sunday

Doing math with dates is quite easy in Excel. As this tip illustrates, this fact makes it easy to figure out the Nth ...

Discover More

Merging and Printing

When you merge information into a document, Word provides two different ways you can create your output. Here's an ...

Discover More

Returning the Smallest Non-Zero Value

In a series of values you may need to know the smallest value that isn't a zero. There is no built-in function to do ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Wrong Values Merged from Excel

When you use an Excel workbook as a data source for your merged document, you may be surprised if what is merged doesn't ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Mail Merge Section Breaks

When you create a group of documents from a merge file, Word normally inserts section breaks between iterations of the ...

Discover More

Checkboxes in a Merged Document

When creating a mail-merge document, you may want to include some special characters, such as check-marked boxes, in the ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.