Automated Donation Letters with Mail Merge

Excel Data Like: Mail Merge - Microsoft Word Letter - Person - Table - Donations? - Table Row per Donation

Introduction

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to perform a mail merge in Microsoft Word using a table from an Excel file as the data source. Specifically, we will focus on a scenario where the table has one row per donation.

Prerequisites

To follow this guide, you will need:

• Microsoft Excel
• Microsoft Word

Steps to Perform Mail Merge

1. Prepare the data in Excel:
• Create a new Excel workbook.
• Enter the data in a table format, with one row per donation.
• Save the Excel file.
2. Start Microsoft Word:
• Create a new document in Microsoft Word.
• Click on the "Mailings" tab in the ribbon.
• Click on "Start Mail Merge" and select "Letter" from the dropdown menu.
3. Insert recipient list:
• Click on "Select Recipients" and choose "Use Existing List" from the dropdown menu.
• Navigate to the saved Excel file and select the table containing the donation data.
• Click "Open" to insert the recipient list.
4. Add salutation and close:
• Click on "Write Letter" in the ribbon.
• Enter the salutation in the first paragraph, such as "Dear [RecipientName],".
• Add the body of the letter, including information about the donation.
• Enter the closing in the last paragraph, such as "Sincerely, [YourName]."
5. Preview and finish:
• Click on "Preview Results" to see how the letters will look.
• Make any necessary adjustments to the letter format or content.
• Click on "Finish & Merge" and select "Edit Individual Documents" from the dropdown menu.
• Save each letter as a separate document.

References

• Microsoft Support: Mail Merge in Microsoft Word
• Excel Easy: Excel Mail Merge