Office 2007 Bible

Understanding Data Sources

When you perform a mail merge, Word inserts an individual set of information (such as a recipient’s name and mailing address) into a copy of a document to customize or personalize the document. The sets of information come from a data source— a file that organizes information into fields and records of information. For example, for a mailing address, the person’s first name, last name, street number, city, state, and ZIP represent the different fields; all the field entries for a single recipient comprise a single record.

In most cases, the data source that you use for a merge will be a file created in another application, most typically in Excel or Access. You also can use the contact information from Outlook. You even can use information from a Word file or other Word processing file. The key with data sources is that the information in the data source file must be properly divided into fields and records. In Excel, you can enter the field names in row 1 and each record below the field names. In Access, the table will already define the field names and records. In a word processing file, you can enter the field names on the first line, and press Enter to start each new record; you include a delimiter such as a comma or tab between each field name and field entry so that Word can correctly separate the information to perform the merge.

Chances are, your data source may be a file that’s already been created for another purpose. If not, many users create ...