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Merge Outlook Contact lists into emails so each recipient gets a personal email.

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2013, 2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

Download the Word document used in the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Mail Merge to Emails.docx
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Quick reference

Mail Merge to Emails

Merge Outlook Contact lists into emails so each recipient gets a personal email rather than 50 people typed onto the cc: line.

When to use

When you want to reach multiple people with the same message, and personalizing the email is paramount to the perception of your email message.

Research shows that people are more likely to open an email that is addressed to them personally.

Instructions

  • Begin with a blank document or a prepared letter.
  • Click Mailings.

  • Start Mail Merge and click E-mail Messages:  

In this exercise we will use the Mailings ribbon rather than the Mail Merge Wizard. 

 Step 1: Select Recipients asks you where your list is.

  • Select Choose from Outlook Contacts.
  • Word will access your Contacts folder (if Outlook is closed) and display the lists. Choose one and click OK.

Step 2: Edit Recipient List button lights up and when clicked notice the options to sort and filter, or select only certain records.

  • Click OK.

Step 3: Insert Merge Field allow «Title»s you to place specific data fields within the text of the email.

It is VITAL that you do not erase or delete the chevron marks on the fields. They are field codes.

 

Step 4: Highlight Merge Fields will put a grey background (non-printing) behind the merge fields so you can easily see them within your email.

Step 5: Preview Results will show how the email appears with the data displayed. Click the arrows to view the next and previous emails.

Step 6: Finish & Merge, Send Email Messages.

  • Enter a Subject line, make any final adjustments on this box, and click OK.

The emails will process and store themselves into Outlook’s outbox.

  1. If Outlook is open at the time, they will send immediately.
  2. If Outlook is not open, remember to open it to get the emails to send.
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  • 00:05 We are going to do a mail merge to an email.
  • 00:08 Have you ever sent an email to 50 people on a CC line,
  • 00:11 and you have to keep very cryptic?
  • 00:14 Well, we're not going to do that anymore.
  • 00:15 Instead, when you do a mailing, Start Mail Merge to Email, Email Messages.
  • 00:21 You can actually personalize every single Email and they send out individually.
  • 00:26 It's kind of great.
  • 00:27 So go ahead and click on the email messages right here.
  • 00:30 Notice my margins change.
  • 00:32 That's because an email is an internet product.
  • 00:35 It is not bound by margins.
  • 00:37 The margins are determined by the end user's screen width.
  • 00:40 Let's go ahead and hit the Select Recipients.
  • 00:43 I'm not going to type a new list, not using an existing list.
  • 00:46 I'm going to use Outlook.
  • 00:47 When I click on Outlook, you can see I've got two lists.
  • 00:50 I've created one for this project.
  • 00:52 And I'm going to go ahead and click OK.
  • 00:56 Now on this screen, you've seen this screen before.
  • 00:58 If you've watched the other videos about mail merges, you're familiar with this.
  • 01:01 I can uncheck anyone I don't want to send it to.
  • 01:04 And I can sort a filter by city or state or zip code.
  • 01:07 I'll go ahead and click okay.
  • 01:08 Now what's going to happen in the background, all these gray buttons or
  • 01:12 at least most of them are about to light up.
  • 01:14 When I click OK, there we are.
  • 01:16 When they light up, that means I can use them.
  • 01:19 Yeah, I don't need to edit the recipient list.
  • 01:21 I'm not going to use an address block this time because it's not a formal letter.
  • 01:25 I'm not gonna use a Greeting Line.
  • 01:27 But I am going to use this one right here, the Insert Merge Field.
  • 01:30 Now, previously, when you hit Insert Merge Field, it only showed you the fields that
  • 01:34 were in that particular list you had typed, but look at this.
  • 01:38 There's about 50 fields in here.
  • 01:40 Because a contact, an Outlook Contact
  • 01:43 contains about 50 different fields you can choose from.
  • 01:46 Now whether you have data in those fields is up to you, but
  • 01:49 you just need to see this entire list.
  • 01:51 It's pretty long.
  • 01:52 So I'm going to say dear first name.
  • 01:54 Actually, it's an email, so we're gona kind of make this a little more casual.
  • 01:58 And I'm gonna double click FirstName, come up to my Insert Merge Field, and
  • 02:02 I'm gonna choose First.
  • 02:04 And notice the chevrons are there.
  • 02:06 They're very important.
  • 02:06 Never delete those chevrons.
  • 02:08 It will break your mail merge.
  • 02:09 I'm gonna double click the company name here,
  • 02:12 Insert Merge Field, and Company.
  • 02:15 And the StreetAddressHere, Insert Merge Field, and Address, there it is.
  • 02:21 And that's about it.
  • 02:22 That's all I'll do right now.
  • 02:23 Maybe I do wanna personalize this.
  • 02:26 Yeah, I'm going to go ahead and personalize this to first,
  • 02:30 put in the space bar, and last.
  • 02:34 And then I'll go ahead and put their company here, as well.
  • 02:38 It's just fun to put them in when we're working on this.
  • 02:40 I personally do like to hit the Highlight Merge Fields so
  • 02:44 I can see at a glance where all my fields are located.
  • 02:48 If you'd like, you can hit the Preview results.
  • 02:51 And then I can scan through now look at the letter.
  • 02:54 See all the names and the company names are changing?
  • 02:57 So I'll turn that off, and the very last step is finished and
  • 03:00 merge, finish and merge.
  • 03:02 Do I want to edit individual documents?
  • 03:04 Not really.
  • 03:05 Do I want to print them?
  • 03:06 No. I do want to send them.
  • 03:08 When you hit the Send Mail Merge,
  • 03:11 you have your last chance to change the subject line.
  • 03:16 Hello, You've won a Prize!
  • 03:21 That'll get them to open it, right?
  • 03:23 Kidding, all right.
  • 03:25 To the email address, there's my subject line, mail format, hit all.
  • 03:29 I'm going to go ahead and hit okay.
  • 03:31 Now, because my Outlook in the background is open,
  • 03:34 these are gonna send out right away.
  • 03:36 They're actually gonna shoot out right away.
  • 03:39 So watch the screen.
  • 03:41 You're gonna see these flip through.
  • 03:42 Ready, okay.
  • 03:44 Look at them.
  • 03:45 Those are the emails being created, and now they're in my outbox and
  • 03:48 they're shooting out right now as I speak.
  • 03:50 I put fake email addresses on there and those strangers wouldn't get any emails.
  • 03:55 That is it for the email merge, and
  • 03:56 I must say this is the most common one I use because research has shown people
  • 04:01 are more likely to open an email if their name is on the first line.
  • 04:05 All right, thank you.

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