.Mail Merge
Lesson Plan
Grading Rubric
The Mail Merge Tool in Microsoft Word automatically creates unique, multiple versions of a customized "form letter." You will create a form letter using your letterhead, envelope using the envelope created earlier, and mailing labels for your customers.
When you have completed this activity you will turn in four separate activities listed below. You will need to zip all four activities to one zip file:
You use mail merge when you want to create a set of documents, such as a form letter that is sent to many customers. Each letter has the same kind of information, yet the content is unique. For example, in letters to your customers, each letter can be personalized to address each customer by name. The unique information in each letter comes from entries in a data source.
Create a form letter informing your customers on a upcoming event, special private sale, or some kind of promotion you want your customers to be informed about.
In Microsoft Word, open your letterhead document.
On the Mailings tab, in the Start Mail Merge group, click Start Mail Merge then select Letters.
.
Create Recipient List:
With the mailing tab still selected click Select Recipients then select Type New List.
This opens the New Address List dialog box. You will type in five customer names. You can make these names and addresses up. You will need to include the following information:
To begin a new name click the New Entry button at the bottom left hand side of the New Address List.
Click OK when you have entered all five of your customer name, addresses, and e-mail addresses. You will be prompted to save your customer database. Make sure that your student folder is the Save in list and give a unique name.
Insert Date & Time:
Now that all the recipients are created you will need to type out the form letter. The first thing you will insert is the date. With the Insert tab selected click on Date & Time.
At the Date & Time dialog box choose the first date format and put a check in the Update Automatically.
Include Address Block:
Next you will enter the addresses of the people you entered into your database. Double space down then click Address block and <<AddressBlock>> should appear two lines under the date.
The address block dialog block will appear. Accept the defaults by clicking OK.
Your word document should now look like this:
Include a Greeting Line:
Double space down and click Greeting line located on the Mailing tab section.
This opens the Insert Greeting Line dialog box. Choose the format you want your greeting to be in.
<<GreetingLine>> should now be displayed on your page.
Insert Recipients First Name and Last Name:
You need to include the recipients first and last name somewhere in your letter to make it sound like you personally wrote him/her that letter. You will start the letter off with the recipients name. Double space down and with the Mailing tab selected click Insert Merge Field and select First Name, hit the space bar, then select last name. <<First_Name>> <<Last_Name>> should appear where you want the name to appear.
Your word document should now look like the graphic below:
Include an E-Mail Merge Field:
You also need to include somewhere in you document a place to place the person's e-mail address. To include this in the letter click Insert Merge Field, then e-mail and <<Email_Address>> should appear.
The letter below is what I typed to give you an example. Yours should be different.
Preview Your Letters:
To preview your letters, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results then click the arrow keys to view all five of your documents.
Save your mail merge letters and continue on to the mail merge envelope activity.
Open your customized envelope you created with your return address and clipart image.
Save it with the name Envelope Mail Merge.
Connect the Envelopes to Your Address List:
On the Mailings tab, in the Select Recipients group, Use Existing List..
Navigate to your student folder and select the access database you created when you were constructing your form letter.
After you connect your envelopes to your address list, you are ready to add placeholders that indicate where the addresses will appear on each envelope. This will be the address block merge field.
Click where you want to place the Address Block which will be at the center of your envelope. With the Mailing tab selected click Address Block.
Click OK at the Address Block dialog box to accept the default. Your envelope should now look like this:
Preview Your Envelope:
To preview your envelopes, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results then click the arrow keys to view all five of your documents.
Save your mail merge envelope and continue on to the mail merge label activity.
Start a new blank document and name it Mail Merge Labels.
With the Mailing Tab selected click Start Mail Merge then select Labels.
At the Labels Options dialog box change Label information to Avery US Letter and choose 8160. I obtained this information from the Avery Label package. Depending on what labels you purchase will depend on the vender and the product number.
Click OK to set the label options.
Connect the Labels to Your Address List:
On the Mailings tab, in the Select Recipients group, Use Existing List..
Navigate to your student folder and select the access database you created when you were constructing your form letter.
Your document should now look like this. Notice that the first label holds no information. That will be our next step:
Insert a Picture/ClipArt:
With your cursor in the first cell with the Insert tab selected click Picture or Clipart and find the picture/clipart you want to use on your label. Click on it to place it in the first cell:
Notice that the picture is too large. With your left mouse button depressed click on one of the selection handles and size it to fit the cell. Remember you will be adding your customers address data to the cell.
Position the Picture/ClipArt:
With the picture still selected click the Format tab and then Position and position your picture in the cell where you want it.
Add Merge Address Data:
Place your cursor to the right of the Picture/ClipArt. With the Mailing tab selected select Address Block.
Click OK to accept the default settings at the Address Block dialog box. FYI:You can preview your recipients at this dialog box. Your document should now look like this:
With the Mailing tab selected click Update Labels to add the Picture/ClipArt to all your labels.
Your labels should now look like this:
Preview Labels:
To see how your labels will work, with the Mailing tab selected click Preview Results.
Your labels should now look like this. Your labels should include five different names.
I see that my zip code does not display on the same line. You can now edit the text by selecting all the text and with the Home tab selected try different font face and size. You can also play around with line spacing. When you have the labels the way you want them save the document. This is how my labels look after playing around with different formats:
Access Database of Your Customers:
The last thing you will need to include is the access database that was generated when you created your form letter. You will be including the file that looks like this:
The following files need to be in your zip folder:
The Mail Merge Tool in Microsoft Word automatically creates unique, multiple versions of a customized "form letter." You will create a form letter using your letterhead, envelope using the envelope created earlier, and mailing labels for your customers.
Word creates a Mail Merge by inserting information from a data document (Word or Excel format) into another text document which contains the "form letter" information. A Mail Merge uses two documents: a MAIN document and a DATA SOURCE document.
Uses the Mail Merge Wizard to create DATA SOURCE and MAIN documents,
and to generate the Mail Merge. You will first create the data source
for the form letter. The data will be the name of the five customers you will
be sending the form letter to.
Step
1-Click Next: Starting Document.
Step
2-Use the current document. Click Next: Select recipients.
Step
3-Select Type a new list, then click Create to create a new recipient list.
Enter
the name of your first recipient. Make sure you include an e-mail
address. Click next to enter the next recipient and continue until you
have five different people. I want the address to reflect a diverse geographic
range. Use a major search engine to find addresses and zip codes. Click close
to save your New Address List.
At
the Save Address List box, type in a name for your database in the File Name
text box. Click Save to save the database.
Your
box should contain five names where mine only reflects two. To add or edit names,
click the Edit button. Click OK to close the Mail Merge Recipients box.
Click
next to type your letter.
The
first thing you will insert is the date. Click Insert>Date and Time and select
the format for the date. Next you will enter the addresses of the people you
entered into your database. Double space down then click Address block and <<AddressBlock>>
should appear two lines under the date. Double space down and click Greeting
line and choose the format you want your greeting to be in. <<GreetingLine>>
should now be displayed on your page. You need to include the recipients first
and last name somewhere in your letter to make it sound like you personally
wrote him/her that letter. When you are where you want the first and last name
to appear, click More items and select First Name, hit the space bar, then click
last name. <<First_Name>> <<Last_Name>> should appear
where you want the name to appear. You also need to include somewhere in you
document a place to place the person's e-mail address. To include this in the
letter click More items, then e-mail and <<Email_Address>> should
appear.
The letter below is what I typed to give you an example. Yours should be different.
| <<AddressBlock>>
<<GreetingLine>>
Hope to see you there. Best wishes for the new year,
|
Click
Next: Preview your letters. Click the << and >> arrows to scroll
preview your letters. There should be five form letters generated. If all your
letters do not show, click the Edit recipient list and make sure that a check
mark is by all the names. Click the Next: Complete the merge button. You will
not print out the merged letters at this point so you need to save them to your
folder by clicking File>Save as, and name it merged letters.
At a clear document screen, create mailing labels for Avery 5163 (check with your teacher on which labels she has) shipping labels using the records in the Customer data source document by completing the following steps:
