Ok, back on topic. I can’t tell you how many times people have asked me for help with mail merges. It seems that the mail merge is something that intimidates people. The fact of the matter is that a mail merge is fairly simple to do if you have Word. Word has a mail merge wizard that takes you step by step through the entire merge and if you take your time, you can easily figure it out an conquer the mail merge dragon.

Let me go through the steps here so that I can hopefully explain some of the tricky areas. First thing you want to do is click on “Tools� in the menu bar. Then (and this is in Word XP, but the wizard is similar across all versions. You just might have to search a little) click on “Letters and Mailings� and then click on “Mail Merge Wizard�. This is where the wizard walks you through the entire mail merge.

So, let’s say that you want to send a letter to all your friends that you are moving (or whatever). You want to create your letter but you want to merge the names and addresses to this same letter so you don’t have to type in all the names and addresses, since they are already in your address book.

Well, the wizard says that you can do several types of documents including letters, so you would obviously want to click on “letters� and then click next. In Word XP, the wizard asks if you want to use the current document (which most likely you have an empty page - or maybe you already created the letter). If you have a blank page or have the letter you want to use already open, click “use the current document� (you can also use a template or an existing document that is not open). Click next.

Now here’s where you are going to get the information from your address book. You can use an existing list, select your Outlook contacts, or type a new list. If you are using Outlook Express, there is a way to get your addresses saved as a .csv file. This is the type of file that Excel and Word use together to make a mail merge for lack of a better explanation. So, you can click Browse to find your .csv file if you have created one, or click on “select from Outlook contacts� and then click on “choose contacts folder� and click “ok�, OR you can click on “Type a new list� and then click “create� and Word will open a small window where you can enter the names and addresses if you don’t have a file already created.

Click next and then you can choose how you want to set up your letter (i.e. address block, greeting line, etc.). Click next to preview your letter (after setting up your letter with the previous information). Now click on complete the merge and your letters are all set to be printed and mailed!

That is the short version of it. If you need more help with this type of document, just ask. Hey, don’t look a free information gift horse in the mouth, right?

- Catinreno

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