Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual

Mail Merges

If the term mail merge is new to you, it may be because “mail merge” is a kinder, gentler euphemism for its result: form letters. Or maybe it’s because you’re familiar with Microsoft’s previous name for this function: data merge. In any case, a mail merge grabs information from a database and uses that information to automatically fill in the blanks of a Word file, as in, “Dear <<name>>, As a fellow <<city>> resident, I thought you might be interested in contributing <<income>> to our fundraiser.” In this example, a mail merge can effectively churn out what seem to be personal, individually written letters. Merging data can also create labels, envelopes, or a catalog.

Having Office 2008 on your Mac puts you at a definite advantage: You get to use all of Word’s document-beautifying features (see Chapter 3) to write the placeholder letter, and you have your choice of programs to organize the data. You can use an existing Excel file, your Entourage Address Book, a FileMaker Pro database, or a Word table to supply the data you want plugged into the generic letter.

The placeholders Word uses when you write the letter are fields (see Fields). And because fields can process information like computer code, Word mail merge documents are very powerful. For example, you can set them up to prompt you for information before proceeding with the merge (“What dollar amount to ask for?”).

To make these interactive functions easier to use, Office 2008 offers the Mail Merge Manager. Just ...