The mail merge feature, allows you to produce large volumes of personalised letters, mailing labels, memos and emails without having to type each one individually for each recipient.

 

For example, many companies send standard letters to customers in which the body of the letter is the same, but the name, address and a few other pieces of information may be different. This type of multi-recipient correspondence can be produced easily using mail merge.

 

Merging requires the use of two files:

1. The main document (primary file)

A Main Document or Form letter that contains the text and graphics that are the same for each letter. The main document must contain merge fields or placeholders into which recipient information will be inserted. Some examples of merged fields are <<First_Name>>, <<Surname>>, <<Company Name>>, <<Address1>> etc.

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2. A data source (secondary file)

A Data source file contains the information to be merged or placed into the main document.  This is usually a table containing the list of recipients’ names and addresses. The heading of each column is the same as the name of the merge fields, example Surname or Company Name.

 

Data from the data source is inserted