SUMMARY
This article describes the acceptable formats for a
mail-merge address list and includes suggestions and questions that are helpful
to ask yourself as you create an address list.
Designing a data source
In Microsoft Word, you can create a new address list within the
Mail Merge Wizard. When you choose "Step 3: Select Recipients" in the wizard,
the
Type a New List option is available. This option builds your address
list.
Another way to create an address list is from a Word table. You
can also use any database-like format, such as a text file in which fields are
separated by commas or tabs, and records are separated by paragraph
marks.
In an address list, each category of information, such as
last name, is called a field. The set of fields that make up information
about one person is called a record.
What to consider when you design a data source
Before you create an address list, decide what information you
want to include and how you want to use that information, and then design the
database. This saves you time and work later.
Do some records have more information than others?
Some of your data records may have more information than other
records. For example, some entries may have a business name, a department
title, and up to three lines for the address. Other entries may have only a
name, a one-line street address, and a third line with the city, state, and
postal code.
In the address list, each data record must have the same
number of data fields. Design your address list so that it has enough data
fields to correspond to the record with the most fields. You do not need to
fill in every field in the data record; you can leave some fields blank. Word
automatically suppresses blank records.
Do you plan to sort the data?
If you plan to sort your data, you must arrange it so that you
can sort the data based on some criteria. For example, the city, state, and
postal code are usually printed on the same line of a mailing label, so you
might want to include all of this information in the same field. If you include
all of this information in the same field, you cannot sort your records based
on the state or the postal code. In this case, you should separate each piece
of information into a separate field.
The same is true if you want to
sort your data by the last names of the addressees. In this case, you must
separate the last names and the first names into separate
fields.
Will you use the information in a particular field in different ways?
In a form letter, the first line of the inside address usually
contains a courtesy title and the addressee's complete name. The salutation may
contain only the courtesy title and last name or only the first name. If you
place the title, first name, and last name in separate fields, you can use the
same field to print the last name in both the address and the salutation.
Alternatively, you can use one field for the complete title and name in the
inside address, and a second field for the title and last name in the
salutation.
Will you use the address list for several merge documents?
You can merge a single address list with any type and number of
main documents. In setting up an address list to print form letters, plan the
addressee information so that you can use the same data source to print the
addresses on mailing labels or envelopes.
How many fields (pieces of information) do you have for each record (the collection of the pieces of information)?
If you have a few pieces of information for each record, you can
use the Mail Merge Wizard (on the
Tools menu) in Word. This allows you to access the
Mail Merge Recipients dialog box to set up your address list.
There is a
limitation of 255 fields in the
Mail Merge Recipients dialog box. If your number of fields exceeds this value, do not
use the Mail Merge Helper. Instead, use one of the following:
- Use Microsoft Excel as your data source. The maximum number
of data fields in an Excel worksheet is 256.
- Use a Microsoft Access database as your data
source.
- Use a tab-delimited text file or a comma-delimited text
file as your data source.
Mail-merge performance degrades as the number of fields in the
header row increases. The configuration of your computer and the available
memory may also limit the number of fields that you can insert in your data
document.
The header record (row) cannot contain any spaces. Each
header field is limited to 40 characters and must start with a letter. Each
subsequent character must be a letter, a number, or the underscore character.
All header fields must be filled in.
Organizing data in tables or paragraphs
When you organize your data in a table, the table should contain
a column for each field name that you want to use. The first row of the table
is your header row; each subsequent row contains the information for one data
record.
Although text might wrap in each cell, it will be printed
correctly. The following is a list of items to consider when you use an
existing address list as a data source:
- Unless you use a separate header source, make sure that the
header record is the first record (row of cells) in the address list. Make sure
that there are no spaces, text, or blank lines before the header record. The
header record cannot contain any spaces. Each header field is limited to 40
characters and must start with a letter. Each subsequent character must be a
letter, a number, or the underscore character. All header fields must be filled
in.
- Make sure that the number of data fields in each data
record equals the number of field names in the header record. If a record does
not have information for a certain field, leave the cell for that field
blank.
- Arrange the information in the data records in the same
order, left to right, as the corresponding field names in the header record.
The order of your columns in the address list is not important, because you
will control the placement of your data in the mail-merge main
document.
Designing an address list that contains many fields
The
Mail Merge Recipient dialog box creates an address list (.mdb) for the data file. In
Microsoft Word, the maximum number of fields for the
Mail Merge Recipient dialog box is 255.To create a new database from the
Mail Merge Recipient dialog box, follow these steps:
- Word 2002
On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings, and then click Mail Merge Wizard.
Word 2003
On the Tools menu, click Letters and Mailings, and then click Mail Merge.
Follow the steps in the Mail Merge Wizard to "Step 3: Select
Recipients". This is where you set up your address list. - Click Type a new list.
- Click Create. The New Address List dialog box appears. In this dialog box, type the address
information for each record. If there is no information for a particular field,
leave the box blank. By default, Word skips blank fields, so the merge is not
affected if blank entries are in the data form. The set of information in each
form makes up one data record.
- After you type the information for a record, click New Entry to move to the next record. To delete a record, click Delete Entry. To search for a specific record, click Find Entry. To filter or sort your records, click Filter and Sort.
Note If you want to customize your address list, click Customize. In the Customize Address List dialog box, you can add, delete, rename, and reorder the merge
fields. - In the New Address List dialog box, click Close.
- In the Save Address List dialog box, in the File name box, type the name that you want to give your data source, and
then click Save.
- In the Mail Merge Recipients dialog box, make any changes that you want, and then click OK.
You have now created a new address and are ready to move to the
next step in the Mail Merge Wizard, which is to write your
letter.
For more information about creating a form letter, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
294683
How to use mail merge to create form letters in Word 2002 and in later versions of Word
If you need more than 255 data fields in your
address list, Word cannot organize the data from the
Mail Merge Recipient dialog box. Instead, you can set up your information as separate
paragraphs in a Word document. The header record and each data record must end
with a paragraph mark, which is the data record delimiter. Each field name in
the header record and each field in the data record must be separated by a tab
character or comma, which is the data field delimiter. If any of the data
fields is empty, you must include a field delimiter to identify the empty
field.
If you are using an address list from a database or
spreadsheet program, you can export this data to an ASCII text format,
separated by commas or tabs. Or, you may be able to attach the database by
using ODBC, DDE, or a converter. If you export your data to an ASCII format and
Word does not automatically recognize the field and record delimiters, Word
prompts you to select the delimiters when you first use the address list. When
you set up an address list in this format in Word, you should use a paragraph
mark as the data record delimiter and a tab character or comma as the data
field delimiter.
In addition to the general rules for organizing an
address list, the following rules also apply to address lists that are set up
as regular text:
- Press ENTER to end each data record with a paragraph mark.
Make sure that there are no extra paragraph marks between or following the data
records. Word interprets any empty paragraphs (blank lines) as empty
records.
- Use the same field delimiter in both the header record and
the data record. For example, you cannot use tab characters in the header
record and commas in the data records. Because text in data fields may include
commas, it is preferable to use tab characters.
- If a data record does not include information for a
specific data field, insert two tab characters or two commas to indicate the
empty field. Do not insert a second field delimiter, if the data field is the
last one in the data record.
- Enclose the data field in quotation marks if the data field
contains any one of the following characters:
- A tab character or comma, if you are using that same
character to separate the fields
- A line break or a paragraph mark
- A character that you specified as the list separator
character in the International section of Control Panel in Microsoft Windows
- If information in a data field contains quotation marks ("
"), type the characters twice ("" ""). When information from the data field is
merged, only one pair of quotation marks will be printed.
Deciding when to use a separate header source
In most cases, it is convenient to list the field name for each
data field in the first row, or record, of the address list. However, you may
want to list the field names in a separate header source for the following
reasons:
- You can use the same header row and field names to merge
data from various sources without having to repeat or change the header row in
each address list or change the merge field names in the main
document.
- Sometimes an address list from another program does not
include a header record, or field names in the header record do not match the
merge field names in your main document. If you cannot modify or add a header
record in the address list (for example, because the address list is read-only)
you can use a separate header source that contains the field names that you
specify.
Adding the "Mail Merge Open Header Source" button
If you use a separate header source, you must specify both the
header source and the address list before you can merge the main document with
the address list.
To use a header source in a Word mail merge, you
must add the
Mail Merge Open Header Source button to your
Mail Merge toolbar. To do this, follow the steps:
- Word 2002 and Word 2003
On the View menu, point to Toolbars, and then click Mail Merge. The Mail Merge toolbar appears. - On the Tools menu, click Customize.
- On the Commands tab, select All Commands in the Category list.
- In the Commands list, select and drag MailMergeOpenHeaderSource to your Mail Merge toolbar.
- Click Close to close the Customize dialog box.
Designing a header source
When you specify a header source, remember the following rules:
- The number of field names in the header source must equal
the number of data fields in the address list.
- Field names in the header source must be listed in the same
order as the corresponding information in the address list.
- Use the same field delimiter (either a tab character or a
comma) for both the header source and the address list.
- If your main document already contains merge fields, use
the same merge fields in your header source. If you do not do this, you must
replace the merge fields in the main document to match the field names in the
header source. After you specify a header source, you can edit it just as you
edit the address list.
Using a header record from another address list
If you have an address list that contains a header record, you
can use it as a header source. For example, if you broke up your address list
into several documents, you can specify the field names in the header record of
the first address list. When you merge from other address lists that do not
have a header record, specify the first address list as the header source. Then
specify each of the remaining address lists in turn.
Word ignores the
data records from the first address list and uses only the header
record.
Types of data that you can use with mail merge
You can merge virtually any type of information from a mail-merge
data source, including the following:
- Any text or numbers
- Graphics for which you have a graphics filter
installed
Note If the graphics are contained in an address list from a program
other than Word, you must convert the file by using a file format
converter. - Objects created in programs that support object linking and
embedding (OLE), such as Equation Editor
- Word fields that display a result, such as an {=} (Formula) field
To add information other than text or numbers to an address
list that you created in Word, you must display the address list in a document
window using the
Open command on the
File menu. Or, open the address list in the original program that
created the document. Then insert the information in the appropriate column and
row of the address list table.
Types of data that you cannot use
You cannot merge text or graphics that are contained in a frame
in the address list. However, you can position merge fields inside frames. When
you merge the documents, the text and graphics from the address list are
positioned in the frame.