Creating Form Letters and Envelopes in Word 2002

Using the Mail Merge wizard in Microsoft Word can be a real time saver when you need to send the same letter to many people.  This document provides step-by-step instructions for creating form letters and accompanying envelopes.

Understanding Form Letters

To create a form letter, you need two things: an address file and a form document. The address file contains the names and addresses for each person you are mailing to. Each element of the address file - name, street address, city, state, zip code - is called a field. Word can incorporate address files stored in many different formats, addresses from Outlook contacts, or the wizard can help you create an address file from scratch.

The form document contains the standard text you want to include in each copy of the letter. In every place in the document where you want to place some item from the address file, you insert a code giving the name of the field that you want inserted at that position. The form document can be a letter, e-mail message, envelope, or mail label.

Once you have completed the address file and form document, you merge them. Word will automatically insert the information from the address file into the appropriate locations in the letters. Note that once you have created an address file, you can use it with multiple documents.

Creating a Form Letter

In this section, we will create a form letter from scratch. To begin, open Word with a blank page.

1. Select Letters and mailings: Mail Merge Wizard... from the Tools menu. The following pane will be added on the right side of your blank page:

2. You can choose from several different document types to create. For this example, leave Letters checked and then click Next: Starting document at the bottom of the pane. The following pane is displayed:

3. Leave Use the current document selected but note that you could also use one of Word's many templates or an existing document of your own, like your department's letterhead. Click Next: Select recipients at the bottom of the pane. The following pane is displayed:

4. Click Type a new list but note that you could also open an existing list (like an Excel spreadsheet) or select from Outlook contacts.

5. Click Create... under Type a new list and the following dialog box will appear:

6. The address list displayed has many fields that you probably don't need. You may also want to rename or reorder fields. Click Customize... and the following dialog will appear:

7. Add, delete, rename, and/or reorder fields as needed and then click OK. The New Address List dialog (from step 5) will appear again with any changes you made. Use this dialog to enter address information for each person you want to send your form letter to.

8. When you are finished entering address information, click Close... to save the address information in a file. The Merge Mail Recipients dialog will then display:

9. Use this dialog to select or de-select recipients, edit fields, sort, etc. When you are finished, press OK and the following pane is displayed:

10. Write your letter in the blank document area. To insert address information, click the location where you want the information inserted, and then click on one of the items in the Mail Merge Pane. For example, if you want to add address information, click Address block..., the following dialog will appear:

You can also specify formatting information in this dialog. Alternatively, if you click More items... in the pane (instead of Address block...), a dialog will display with a complete list of your address fields. Choose the field you want and click the Insert button. Then click the Close button. This dialog is useful if you just want to quickly insert fields without any special formatting.

11. Once you are finished writing your letter, click Next: Preview your letters in the bottom of the pane. The following pane is displayed:

12. Once you finish previewing your letters and/or personalizing individual letters, click Next: Complete the merge and the following pane will display:

13. Click Print... to print your letters.

Creating the Envelopes

You create the envelopes in exactly the same way as you created the form letter. Go back to step one but this time choose Envelopes instead of Letters.

Last Revised: 4/24/2007