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Creating the form letter and accessing the data source

Open a new Word document. Click on the Mail Merge menu, then click Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Helper window will appear. Click on the Create button, under the Main document heading. Choose Form Letters from the list, then click the Active Window button.

You should be back at the Mail Merge Helper window. Under the Data source heading, click on the Get Data button. Choose Open Data Source to access your database. Find the file you want to use as your data source. Be sure to choose Excel Spreadsheet (*.xls) in the Files of Type field at the bottom of the window if your information is stored in an Excel format, or choose MS Access Database (*.mdb; *.mde) if your database is stored in Access. Click OK in the Microsoft Excel worksheet, then click on the Edit Main Document button in the Microsoft Word window. You should be back at your original Word document. Notice that there is a Insert Merge Field button on the tool bar under the File Menu. If you click on the arrow on that button, you will see the field names from your database.

Typing the form letter

Click on the Insert menu, then click on Date and Time. Click on the Update automatically box at the lower right to allow Word to automatically update the date. Select a date style, then click OK. Type the letter as usual, except where you come to a place where you want to insert information from your database, click the Insert Merge Field button on the toolbar. Choose the appropriate field name. Be sure to use spaces and punctuation to separate merge fields. Save the letter.

Merging the information from the data source

Click on the Tools menu, then click on Mail Merge. The Mail Merge Helper window should appear. Under the Merge the Data with the Document heading, click the Merge button. Click on the Merge button in the Merge window, and the merged letters will be displayed. These letters can now be printed or saved.