Starting the Mail Merge Process

Opening the Mail Merge Sidebar Wizard

If you are using Word 2003, open your letter in Word and then bring up the Mail Merge Sidebar Wizard by going to Tools > Letters and Mailings > Mail Merge.

If you are using Word 2007, click on the Mailings Tab on the Ribbon then click on
Start Mail Merge and select Step by 'Step Mail Merge Wizard'.

Step 1: Selecting Document Type The sidebar to the right will appear on the right side of the window, next to your document. Since I am working on a letter, I will leave the 'Letters' option checked and click on 'Next: Starting document' at the bottom of the sidebar. As you can see, there are other options such as 'Envelopes' and 'Labels', which will give you slightly different options as you walk through the steps. No matter which option you choose, the basic concept is still the same.

Step 2: Selecting Starting Document At this step nothing needs to be done, because I already have the document that I want to use open.  Leave the 'Use the current document' checked and click on 'Next: Select recipients' to move on. If you have not created your letter already, use this step to do so by selecting either of the other two options shown. If, instead of a letter, you were merging to labels or envelopes, this step would give you the option to select the type and size of labels or envelopes, such as Avery 5160 labels.

next step>