How To Mail Merge From Excel? [Beginners Guide In 2024]

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We live in a fast-paced world where technology keeps evolving. To save our valuable time and resources we have to adapt advanced techniques. Customization is one of the most used words in our thriving world. We all love it when what is offered to us is personalized and speaks to us personally. Emails are one of them, so businesses and enterprises merge in Excel before emailing their employees, customers, or more.

If you want to learn how to mail merge from Excel you have come to the right blog. This method helps in mailing thousands of people at the same time with an error-free message. When the work requires you to send similar replies but to some specific people all you can do is merge them using this method and send simultaneously.

A mail merge is a tool available in Microsoft Office to write customized emails, letters, cover letters, or labels in Word files. It lets you merge the data already stored in the Spreadsheet and no minutes. A big-time saver and customizable feature for handling herculean tasks.

Follow our easy step-wise process to mail merge from Excel.

How to execute Mail Merge from Excel?

To execute the mail merge process from Excel you need to follow these simple steps. It’s not that complicated or hard. We are here to guide you in easy steps. Read below to know:

1. Start by preparing the Excel datasheet

The first step to executing your merge mail is preparing the data in Excel. You’ll need this to attach in a Word document for the details of the clients. Here is how you can do it:

Open MS Excel and create a datasheet for the mail merge.
Create the first row, that has column headers for every column on the sheet. It includes first name, last name, street, country, postal code, etc. These headers make ‘file names’ which are easy to find and locate in merge mail.
Now enter all the data under each specific header.
Finally, save the Excel sheet with the relatable file name and remember the location. This will make tracing the file when merging easy.

2. Launch MS Word

Once your Excel datasheet is ready it is time to create your MS document. The email letter that you want to send to thousands of people will be carefully curated here. This is the main step towards mail merge. Here’s how it’s done:

Open Microsoft Word for a blank page to start with.
Go to the ‘Mailing’ tab on the top, ribbon.

3. Select the Data Source in the Mail merge

The third step in mail merge is choosing which data source to use in the merge. This is where you decide which type of mail merge you will use.

Click on the ‘Start Mail Marge’ option on the Mailing tab.
From the drop-down menu choose the type of merge from options of letters, email messages, envelopes, labels, directories, or documents.
Press the ‘Select Recipients’ button and then ‘Use an existing List’ option.
Time to connect Excel spreadsheet with the Word. Browse the saved Excel sheet on the desktop. Now click on ‘Open’. The data on the Spreadsheet will get updated on Word.
Choose which Excel datasheet you want from the pop-up option. Select one in the document workbook box and press the ‘OK’ button.

4. Insert Merge Fields

This is the main part of the mail merge where each detail will get filled. Now the ‘Insert Merge Field’ option is available and visible on the top. After the email is typed it’s time to insert the datasheet from Excel. We can proceed further this way:

Guide your cursor on the mail merge Word document where you want to place the information from the sheet. Take the cursor and place where you want the mail merge to be performed.
From the ‘Mailings’ tab click on ‘Insert Merge Field’. A drop-down with headers will appear to choose from the Excel sheet.
Choose which data you want to insert from the datasheet you prepared earlier in Excel. A list of column headers like company name, street, etc pick the significant field and click on ‘Insert’ to merge.
Follow the same step throughout the Word file on places where you want to merge the field from the sheet.
Finally, choose close and save to end the mail merge process.

5. Preview Mail Merge Document

After merging mail, it is time to take a final look before sending it. To check if the recipient details are placed properly and finalize if everything is okay Microsoft allows you to preview your document.

On the Mailings tab, click on the ‘Preview’ button to preview the Mail merge document.
To check how your records appear in the document navigate through the right arrow key to advance and the left arrow key to the previous record.

6. Final Mail Merge and Save

Now it’s time for the final Mail Merge and Save step. We can wrap it up here with this process and send the mail once you are happy with the preview part.

Go to the ‘Finish & Merge’ option on the Mailings tab.
A drop-down with three options will appear to choose from. ‘Print Documents’ lets you print data directly, ‘Send Email Messages’ to send emails directly from here of your datasheet containing the addresses of the recipient, and last is ‘Edit Individual Documents’ a new mail merge document gets created and you can see every file in this.
After selecting the best option to Mail Merge it’s time to Save and close.

What are the benefits of Mail Merge in Excel?

Mail Merge in Excel takes off so much of the weight of emailing to multiple people in a short time. Buy email accounts to mass mail and try mail merge with MS Word to elevate your business strategy. Here are few benefits of Mail Merge in Excel:

Saves Time: Mail Merge saves you from typing hundreds and thousands of Emails to person instead it provides you with the feature where you can input the details from the spreadsheet type one email and send personalized messages to the recipients. It saves your precious time and from draining your energy.
Efficient & Accurate: It serves you with accurate data and keeps you error-free. When it comes to typing emails for multiple people the chances for typo increases. With a list of accurate data from Spreadsheet Mail Merge improves its efficiency.
Personalized Format: The receiver gets a customized email to their inbox. Mail Merge has a feature to gives a personal touch to it by including the specific name and address of the recipient. It fosters a healthy relationship between the two.
Improves Engagement: It improves the chances of open rates in the email and thus improves engagement. This eventually helps in the growth of a business. The right message gets delivered to its target audience.
Professional touch: With mail merge the email gives a professional touch with well well-designed format, font style, and tone of writing.

Conclusion

A Mail Merge can save you from wasting your time by relying on the old patterns of mailing. Its best feature is that it caters to a person with a more personalized format. We hope you have now learned how to mail merge from Excel effortlessly. It is way better than generalized messages. Also, it can be sent to thousands of people in no time. In an advanced digital world, we seek technology that can do multiple tasks in minutes and Mail Merge is one of them.

How To Mail Merge From Excel? [beginners guide in 2024]