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Add fields to a form letter or other mail-merge document

In step 4 of the Mail Merge task pane, you can add addresses, greetings, and other personalized merge fields.

1. In the main document, click where you want to insert the field.
2. Insert any of the following:

   Address block with name, address, and other information

   1. Click Address block.
   2. In the Insert Address Block dialog box, select the address elements you want to include and the formats you want, and then click OK.
   3. If the Match Fields dialog box appears, Microsoft Word may have been unable to find some of the information it needs for the address block. Click the arrow next to (not available), and then select the field from your data source that corresponds to the field required for the mail merge.

   Greeting line

   1. Click Greeting line.
   2. 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 Microsoft Word can't 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.
   5. If the Match Fields dialog box appears, Word may have been unable to find some of the information it needs for the greeting line. Click the arrow next to (not available), and then select the field from your data source that corresponds to the field required for the mail merge.

   Other fields of information

   You can insert information from some other field, such as a telephone number or the amount of a contribution from a list of donors.

   1. Click More items.
   2. Do one of the following:
      • To select address fields that will automatically correspond to fields in your data source, even if the data source's fields don't have the same name as your fields, click Address Fields.
      • To select fields that always take data directly from a column in a database, click Database Fields.
   3. In the Fields box, click the field you want.
   4. Click Insert, and then click Close.
   5. If the Match Fields dialog box appears, Microsoft Word may have been unable to find some of the information it needs to insert the field. Click the arrow next to (not available), and then select the field from your data source that corresponds to the field required for the mail merge.

   Note  If you insert a field from the Database Fields list and then later switch to a data source that doesn't have a column with the same name, Word won't be able to insert that field information into the merged document.

   Electronic postage

   In order to add electronic postage, you must first install an electronic postage program, such as one you purchased from a service on the World Wide Web.

   1. Click Electronic postage.

      If you do not have an electronic postage program installed, Microsoft Word prompts you to install one and offers to connect to the Microsoft Office Online Web site. There you can get more information and links to other sites that offer electronic postage.

   2. Insert the postage according to the program's instructions.

   Postal bar code

   You must select a label or envelope type that supports the POSTNET bar code.

   1. Click Postal bar code.
   2. In the Insert Postal Bar Code dialog box, select the appropriate address fields.

   Note  The Postal bar code option only appears if you are using the U.S. language version of Microsoft Word.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 for all the fields you want to insert.

Notes

• You can't type merge field characters («« »») manually or use the Symbol command on the Insert menu. You must use the Mail Merge task pane.

• If the merge fields appear inside braces, such as { MERGEFIELD City }, then Microsoft Word is displaying field codes instead of field results. This doesn't affect the merge, but if you want to display the results instead, right-click the field code, and then click Toggle Field Codes on the shortcut menu.