Office 2013 In Depth

Understanding Word’s Options for Mass Mailings

We normally equate mass or group mailings with form letters that are then sent by snail mail. In fact, Word’s mail merge feature enables you to create a variety of documents, including the typical form letter. Other possibilities include envelopes, labels, and directories. You can also merge information into an email and send it to addressees in a database file or your Outlook Contact list.

To perform a mail merge, you need two things: a mass-produced merge document (one that is created for each recipient, such as a form letter) and the data that goes into the document. The document that is merged with the data can take any form; it is most often a letter or an envelope, but you can merge data into ...