Create a mail merge

Microsoft Office Publisher 2003

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Create a mail merge

Use mail merge to create individually customized publications or to automatically address envelopes, labels, postcards, brochures, newsletters, and other publications for mass mailing. The Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard guides you through the mail merge process step-by-step.

If you want to merge pictures into your publication pages, your data source must include either file names or paths for the picture files you want to merge. Do not include the actual pictures or images in your data source.

ShowStep-by-step instructions for performing a mail merge

The Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard guides you through the steps involved in creating a mail merge. The following procedures provide detailed information about creating a mail merge in step-by-step order.

ShowStep 1 of 5: Select a merge type

  1. On the Tools menu, point to Mail and Catalog Merge, and then click Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard.
  2. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane, under Select a merge type, click Mail Merge.
  3. Click Next: Select data source.

ShowStep 2 of 5: Select data source

  1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 2: Select data source), do one of the following:

    ShowConnect to an existing list or data source, such as a database, a spreadsheet, a Microsoft Word table, or an Address List

    1. Under Select data source, click Use an existing list, and then click Browse.

      By default, Microsoft Publisher opens the My Data Sources folder. If your data source is located somewhere other than the My Data Sources folder, you may need to browse to locate it.

    2. In the Select Data Source dialog box, click the data source that you want.
    3. Click Open.

      Depending on the type of data source you select, other dialog boxes may appear requesting specific information.

      For example, if your data source is a Microsoft Excel worksheet that has information on multiple tabs, you need to select the tab that contains the information you want, and then click OK.

    ShowConnect to a Microsoft Outlook Contacts list

    1. Under Select data source, click Select from Outlook contacts, and then click Choose Contacts Folder.
    2. In the Select Contact List folder dialog box, click the contact list you want, and then click OK.

      All of the contacts in the folder appear in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, where you can filter and sort the list of recipients to include in the merge.

    ShowCreate a new address list

    1. Under Select data source, click Type a new list, and then click Create.
    2. In the New Address List dialog box, under Enter Address Information, type the information for the first entry in the relevant fields. You do not have to fill in every field.
    3. When you have finished entering information for the first entry, click New Entry.
    4. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have finished adding entries, and then click Close.
    5. In the Save Address List dialog box, type a name for the address list in the File name box, and select a folder in which to save the list.

      By default, the address list is saved in the My Data Sources folder. It is best to keep the address list here because this is also the default folder in which Publisher looks for data sources.

      All of the contacts in your new list appear in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, where you can filter and sort the list of recipients to include in the merge.

  2. In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, select the recipients you want to include.

    ShowHow?

    1. Do one of the following:

      ShowUse the check boxes to designate recipients

      • In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, select the check boxes next to the recipients you want to include, and clear the check boxes next to the recipients you want to exclude.

      ShowTip

      If you want to include only a few records in the list, click Clear All, and then select the records you want.

      ShowFilter items in the list

      If you only want to use certain entries in your list, you can filter your list by a specific criterion. After you filter the list, you can use the check boxes to include and exclude records.

      1. Click the arrow next to the column heading of the item you want to filter by.
      2. Click any of the following:
        • (Blanks) displays all the records in which the corresponding field is blank.
        • (Nonblanks) displays all the records in which the corresponding field contains information.
        • If your data source contains records that share the same information, and there are ten or fewer unique values in the column, you can filter by specific information. For example, if there are multiple addresses that list Australia as the country/region, you can filter on Australia.

        The Mail Merge Recipients dialog box displays only the designated records. To display all the records again, click (All)

      ShowSort items in the list

      If you want to see items in alphabetical order, you can sort the items in your list.

      • In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, click the column heading of the item you want to sort by. For example, if you want to display the list alphabetically by last name, click the Last Name column heading.
    2. Click OK to return to the Mail and Catalog Merge Wizard. Publisher will use the recipients you designated for the merge.
  3. Click Next: Create your publication.

ShowStep 3 of 5: Create your publication

  1. If you have not already done so, insert a text box and type the text that you want to appear in every version of your mail merge publication.

    ShowHow?

    1. On the Objects tool bar, click Text Box Button image.
    2. In your publication, point to where you want one corner of the text box to appear, and then drag diagonally until you have the text box size you want.
    3. Click inside the text box, and then type the text that you want to appear in every version of your mail merge publication.
  2. Insert merge fields into your publication.

    ShowHow?

    1. In your mail merge publication, click where you want to insert the merge field.
    2. Insert any of the following:

      ShowAddress block with name, address, and other information

      1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 3: Create your publication), click Address block.
      2. In the Insert Address Block dialog box, click the address elements you want to include, and then click OK.

      Note  If the names of the data fields in your data source do not match the names of the fields that Publisher uses for the address block, you may need to click Match Fields in the Insert Address Block dialog. In the Match Fields dialog, use the drop down lists to select the fields from your data source that correspond to the Publisher fields.

      ShowGreeting line

      1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 3: Create your publication), click Greeting line.
      2. In the Greeting Line dialog box, select the greeting line format, which includes the salutation, name format, and following punctuation.
      3. Select the text you want to appear in cases where Publisher cannot interpret the recipient's name; for example, when the data source contains no first or last name for a recipient, but only a company name.
      4. Click OK.

      Note  If the names of the data fields in your data source do not match the names of the fields that Publisher uses for the greeting line, you may need to click Match Fields in the Greeting Line dialog. In the Match Fields dialog, use the drop down lists to select the fields from your data source that correspond to the Publisher fields.

      ShowAddress fields

      1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 3: Create your publication), click Address fields.
      2. In the Insert Address Field dialog box, click the address elements you want to include, and then click OK.

      Note  If the names of the data fields in your data source do not match the names of the fields that Publisher uses for the address fields, you may need to click Match Fields in the Insert Address Field dialog. In the Match Fields dialog, use the drop down lists to select the fields from your data source that correspond to the Publisher fields.

      ShowOther fields of information

      1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 3: Create your publication), in the list box under Create your publication, click the arrow next to the field that you want to include.
      2. Click Insert as Text or Insert as Picture.
  3. If you want to, apply formats to the merge fields to change the appearance of the merged data.

    ShowHow?

    To format the merged data, you must format the merge fields in your mail merge publication.

    1. In your mail merge publication, select the field containing the information that you want to format.
    2. On the Format menu, click Font, and then select the options that you want.
  4. After you have completed your mail merge publication and inserted all of the merge fields, click Save As on the File menu. Type a name for your publication in the File name box, and then click Save.
  5. Click Next: Preview your publication.

ShowStep 4 of 5: Preview your publication

  1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 4: Preview your publication), do one of the following:
    • To preview entries in order, click the navigation buttons Back button Forward button to see what other entries look like in your publication.

      The information from the first record of your data source populates the merge fields. You cannot edit your data source entries here, but you can format, move, or delete data.

    • To find and preview a specific entry in your data source, click Find a recipient, and then enter the search criteria in the Find Entry dialog box.
  2. If necessary, make changes to your recipient list. Do one of the following:
    • To exclude a particular recipient from the merge, click Exclude this recipient.
    • To change the list of recipients, click Edit recipient list, and then make your changes in the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box.
  3. Click Next: Complete the merge.

ShowStep 5 of 5: Complete the merge

  1. In the Mail and Catalog Merge task pane (Step 5: Complete the merge), do one of the following:

    ShowPrint your merged publications

    1. Under Merge, click Print.
    2. In the Print Merge dialog box, select the options that you want, and then click OK.

    ShowSave the merged publications for later use

    If you want to edit your merged publications, save them for later use, or print them at a later time, you can collect and save all of your merged publications as a single new publication.

    1. Under Merge, click Create new publication.

      Publisher creates a new publication with the merged pages.

    2. In your new publication, click Save as on the File menu. Type a name for your new publication in the File name box, and then click Save.

    ShowAdd the merged pages to an existing publication

    If you plan to add your merged pages to the end of an existing publication, make sure that your mail merge publication matches the existing publication in the following ways:

    • Page size (height and width)
    • Page view (one-page spread or two-page spread)
    • Publication type (Web or print)
    • Page order (left-to-right or right-to-left)

    Publisher cannot add merged pages to an open publication. If you are working on the publication to which you want to merge, be sure to save and close it before you complete the merge. Publisher cannot add merged pages to the mail merge publication itself.

    1. Under Merge, click Add to existing publication.
    2. In the Open Publication dialog box, locate the publication to which you want to add the merged pages, and then click Open.

      Publisher adds the merged pages to the existing publication.

    3. In the existing publication, click Save on the File menu to save your updates.
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