Printing Envelopes and Mail Merging

Opening Word and typing an address, setting the page to the envelope size and then printing the envelope is OK. But is there a better way?

Addressing envelopes is tedious, especially if on a repeating basis you need to use the same addresses.

Word offers a Mail Merge tool. Its purpose is to combine in part, an address list with a Word document. The starting point is a list of names and addresses in a form which Word can use. Either Excel or Access may be used to create an address list.

A list of names and addresses is called a database. A database consists of records, each record containing a set of fields. A typical set of fields could be

Open Excel and enter the eight field names, one in each cell, across the page.

NOTE: Pressing the Tab key moves you to the next box to the right; Enter moves you down to the next row; Home to the start of the row.

Enter your own personal information in the next row. The top row is called the Headers row, and the rows below, the data rows or records. Each cell in a row or record is called a field.

NOTE: Blank fields (cells) are allowed.

The cells above could be a variation in the two field entries for Address_1 and Address_2.

Add a few other records and save the Sheet, perhaps using a name like Addresses. Close Excel.

Open a blank document in Word. Hit Enter a few times. Click Tools, Letters and Mailings, Mail Merge Wizard.

Choose document type Letters, then Next.

Choose Use the current document, then Next

Choose Use an existing list, browse for your Excel sheet (Addresses?) and choose Sheet 1, a few OKs then Next

Choose More Items and click on the first field and Insert, then the second, one after the other, Now close the Insert Merge Field window.

If you haven’t got the Mail Merge Tool Bar, tick it in View, Toolbars.

You should see on your document a line looking like this

«Title»«FirstName»«Surname»«BusinessName»«Address_1»«Address_2»«Suburb»«State»«Postcode»

The symbol »« is the break between fields.

In the Mail Merge tool bar, click the icon on the right of the Insert Word Field box. This changes the view from Fields to Text. Try it now and click it again to go back. When editing the document, always work in the fields view so you can see all the fields. In text mode, blank fields are ignored and not shown.

Insert a space between Title and FirstName, and one between FirstName and Surname. Place the cursor between Surname and BusinessName and hit Enter. Continue to format the fields and finish with

«Title» «FirstName» «Surname»

«BusinessName»

«Address_1»

«Address_2»

«Suburb»       «State»       «Postcode»

Perhaps a Tab between Suburb and State, and 5 or so spaces between State and Postcode.

NOTE: You cannot edit inside a field. The extra Enters at the top of the document allow you to put in a return address at the top of the page, if you wish.

Next, change the Page Setup to DL envelope and format the address so that it is in the centre bottom section of the envelope, just as you want it to look. Save this Word file, perhaps as EnvDL. Now edit the file and page setup for printing an A4 envelope and save this perhaps as EnvA4. Create and save other layouts as necessary.

In the Merge toolbar you will see a number. This is the number of the record. To see other records, in Text mode, use the arrows on either side of the number.

To print an envelope, choose the right number and print. Only the displayed record will print.

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