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Create a form letter for a mailing

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                         Whether you marketing an appeal letter, soliciting donations, or creating your                                                  Organisations/Groups Newsletter, the ability to create a form letter in  Microsoft                                                Word for Mac really pays off.   The Data Merge Manager makes it easy to combine data from t                            the Office Address Bookwith your letter to create a customised mailing for each contact that you                          choose.   This article will help you:

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Prepare the main document for your letter
Select the data source
Select the records you want to merge
Preview and merge data

Prepare the main document for your letter

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                          As with any data merge operation, the first step in creating a form letter is to create a main                               document.   The main document contains the text that you want to include in your letter as well                           as the instructions for your data merge.

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                          These instructions tell Word  what information to include from the Office Address Book.   When                             you print or send your letter, Word combines the instructions from the main document with the                             information from the Office Address Book in a new document.

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1. Click New Blank Document .
2. On the Tools menu, click Data Merge Manager.
3. Under Main Document, click Create, and then click Form Letters.

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  Select the data source

                           In the example in this procedure, you will use contact information from your Office Address                                Book as the data source for your letter.

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1. In the Data Merge Manager, under Merge, click Query Options.

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2. In the main document, type the text that you want to appear in each letter and insert a merge field where you want to merge data from the data source. For example, type Dear and then drag and drop the First_Name field from the Merge Field section of the Data Merge Manager so that it appears at the beginning of your letter. Your letter should look like this:

  Select the contacts you want to merge

                            After you have selected the data source and created your letter, you can select the specific                                 contacts you want to send the letter to. For example, you can choose to include only contacts                               that are assigned to a certain category, or you can select certain contacts from your entire                                 address book.

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1. In the Data Merge Manager, under Merge, click Query Options.

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2. On the List mail merge recipients by pop-up menu, do one of the following:

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 To select contacts based on Category, click Categories and select the check box next to each category that you want to include.

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 To select individual contacts, click Complete record and select the check box next to the contacts that you want to include.

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 Preview and merge data

                               Before you print your letters, you can preview them to make sure that they appear the way                                  you want them to.

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1. In the Data Merge Manager, under Preview, click View Merged Data.

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2. Word displays the letter as well as the data from the Office Address Book in place of the merge fields.

Tip To preview the label for a particular contact, click the arrow buttons, or type a record number in the Go to Record box. 

3. When you are satisfied with the layout of your letter, you have several options for merging the data:

To send merged information directly to a printer, click Merge to Printer under Merge. A new letter for each of your contacts is printed.

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                              To store merged information in a new document, click Merge to New Document under                                       Merge. A new document is created with a letter for each contact separated by a page                                       break. You can save this document for printing later.

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 Tip: If you are using Microsoft Outlook as your default e-Mail program, you can send your form letters as e-Mail messages to contacts from the Address Book.   For more information about sending form letters as e-mail messages, search for Distribute merged form letters as e-mail messages in Word Help.

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