1. Create an Excel spreadsheet containing the details of the recipients to be included in the merge. I recommend to lay it out similar to the below with headers to make it easier to identify sections later on.
2. Open a blank word document, click on the Mailings header and then click on "Start Mail Merge", for the best formatting, choose whichever formatting is the most relevant, for myself, this will be "E-mail messages".
3. Click on Select Recipients > Use an Existing List and go to the location of the spreadsheet that you have just created, select the file and then click "Open".
4. Make sure the "First row of data contains column headers" box is checked if this is correct, if not - uncheck this box and click OK.
5. If you don't want to send the merge to all recipients, click on "Edit Recipient List" and uncheck as needed. You are also able to edit and refine your list from this menu.
6. You should now begin creating a basic template for the context of the merge, leaving out any personal details of the individuals as we will add these in later; you should leave a gap for the space to be filled by the mail merge.
7. Once happy with your template, go to "Insert Merge Field" and choose the correct field to insert. This will input the information underneath the headers from the spreadsheet. Do this for all personal information that needs to be added into the merge.
8. If you click "Preview Results" and cycle through using the numbers, you will be able to see how the message will look for each recipient and double check that everything is correct.
9. Once completed, go to "Finish & Merge" and choose the most suitable output method.
If you have setup the mail merge as a letter than you can print the individual letters out or if you are emailing then you can select "Send Email Messages".
10. You should then see the following popup box. In the To: field, choose "Email_Address".
Now enter a Subject line and choose a Mail format.
It is recommended to choose the HTML mail format, however you could also choose the "Attachment" format which will convert your message and attach it to the email like a Word document instead of an email body.
You will then need to decide whether to send the merge to all recipients or only choose a specific range of recipients to send the merge to.
Once happy, click OK.
11. If you are creating a merge with a large amount of recipients, Word and Outlook may be unresponsive whilst generating and sending out the emails.
Your PC may also run slower during this time.
If the merge is large then it may take a while to finish.
Once the merge has finished, when you navigate to your Sent Items in Outlook, you should see all of the emails from the merge.
If there are any errors then you will receive a bounce back email detailing why the email could not be sent to the recipient/s.
If you encounter any issues or if you have any questions then please email helpdesk@rodo.co.uk.