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About this lesson

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

Lesson versions

Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:

2013, 2016, 2019/365.

Exercise files

Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ Word documents from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.

Mail Merge to Emails.docx
89.1 KB Mail Merge to Emails - Solution.docx
16.6 KB

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. 
 

  1.  Select Recipients asks you where your list is.
    1. Select Choose from Outlook Contacts

If Outlook is currently open, you will not be able to access your Contact files.  Close Outlook and then choose “Select Recipients” again.  (The reason is that only one program can use the outlook files at a time. So close Outlook, finish the Word E-mail merge, then re-open Outlook.)

  1. Word will access your Contacts folder (if Outlook is closed) and display the lists. Choose one and click OK.
  1.  Edit Recipient List button lights up and when clicked notice the options to sort and filter, or select only certain records.
    1. Click OK
  1.   Insert Merge Field allows 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 “codes”.

  1.  Highlight Merge Fields will put a grey background (non-printing) behind the merge fields so you can easily see them within your email.
  2.  Preview Results will show how the email appears with the data displayed.  Click the arrows to view the next and previous emails.
  3.  Finish & Merge, Send Email Messages

    Enter a Subject line, make any final adjustments on this box, and click OK.
  4. The emails will process and store themselves into Outlook’s outbox UNTIL you close Word and open Outlook. Remember, only one program can use the files at a time.
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  • 00:04 Hello.
  • 00:05 We're going to go ahead and do a Microsoft Word mail merge to email.
  • 00:09 So I've got a base letter on my screen that I'm gonna use.
  • 00:13 We're gonna click on the mailings ribbon and
  • 00:15 over on the left, instead of letters we're gonna chose e-mail messages.
  • 00:19 That turns my layout into an e-mail format, which is a ten inch top ruler,
  • 00:23 which is fine because an e-mail is a web product.
  • 00:27 And now we're gonna go ahead and select recipients.
  • 00:30 I could keep going through this and not mention
  • 00:34 the problem you're about to have but I would be remiss in not telling you,
  • 00:37 by the way you're gonna have a little problem here.
  • 00:40 And the problem is Microsoft Outlook on my screen is currently open.
  • 00:45 It's generally open all the time on all of our screens,
  • 00:48 cuz we're always looking at our emails and our calendars.
  • 00:51 Well there's a little rule about sharing databases and
  • 00:54 that rule is only one program can use the database at a time.
  • 00:59 So if I've got Outlook open, it's using its own files and
  • 01:04 now I'm about to start an email merge from Word and I wanna use those Outlook files.
  • 01:09 Sorry, it's not gonna happen.
  • 01:11 So I'm gonna go ahead and click choose from Outlook contacts so
  • 01:14 you can see the error message you're gonna have.
  • 01:16 Profile name is Outlook.
  • 01:17 I only have one profile, so I hit okay.
  • 01:20 And there's the error message.
  • 01:21 This data source contains no visible tables.
  • 01:24 I wish it said, this data source is already in use, close Outlook.
  • 01:28 But it doesn't say that.
  • 01:29 You just have to know.
  • 01:30 So I'll go ahead and and hit OK here.
  • 01:33 I'm moving my mouse over to my other screen.
  • 01:34 I'm closing Outlook.
  • 01:36 We're going to try that again.
  • 01:37 Select recipients, choose from Outlook contacts, my Outlook profile, and,
  • 01:42 it's taking a little longer.
  • 01:44 There may be hope.
  • 01:45 And there they are, all my Outlook contacts.
  • 01:48 Because I closed Outlook it's no longer using the database, so
  • 01:51 Microsoft Word can point over to that database and use it.
  • 01:54 I'm going to go ahead and select this particular one, hit okay and
  • 01:59 there is the database I wanna use for the lesson.
  • 02:02 Hit OK again, and now I do have my Insert Merge field.
  • 02:06 So right over here, where it says Dear FirstName,
  • 02:08 I'm gonna highlight that section, come to my Insert Merge field, and
  • 02:12 this looks a lot different from the other one we had in the previous lesson.
  • 02:17 Well because the previous lesson, I made that database.
  • 02:20 This one's pointing Outlook data and look at this scroll.
  • 02:23 Oh my word, there's 100 different fields in here that you could possibly use.
  • 02:28 So I'm just going to use the first one which is first name.
  • 02:31 So I double-click that, it puts in the word First with the chevrons around it.
  • 02:35 You know by now that, that's the code to put in the first name.
  • 02:38 Now I could hit my preview results and I could arrow to the right and
  • 02:42 look at the results and arrow to the left.
  • 02:45 Okay.
  • 02:45 Everything looks fine to me.
  • 02:47 So now I'll go ahead and finish and merge.
  • 02:49 When I click finish and merge I'm gonna send email messages.
  • 02:52 It asks me for the subject line.
  • 02:55 And all of them or just certain ones, I'll just go ahead and hit OK, and
  • 03:00 it did process the emails.
  • 03:02 They are sitting in the outbox of Outlook, but guess what?
  • 03:07 Remember a minute ago when we we closed Outlook?
  • 03:10 Well, I'm here to tell you,
  • 03:12 these emails are going to sit there until you open up Outlook.
  • 03:15 They will not send without Outlook open to send them.
  • 03:19 So just so you know, you can do a mail-merge from Word to Outlook.
  • 03:23 It's just that one has to be open, while the other is closed.
  • 03:27 So what should happen right now?
  • 03:29 Remember Microsoft Word is open.
  • 03:31 Microsoft Word is linked to that database.
  • 03:33 I just clicked my Outlook button to open up Outlook and guess what?
  • 03:38 Nasty little error message.
  • 03:39 Why is that, my student?
  • 03:41 Oh, because Word using those files and
  • 03:45 Outlook can't open files that are already open somewhere else.
  • 03:48 So I have to hit OK, I have to close Microsoft Word,
  • 03:52 then open Outlook and those emails will send.
  • 03:56 I just wanted to shed some experience for you and just let you know,
  • 04:01 don't panic, think about it logically, and it'll all make sense.
  • 04:05 Alright.
  • 04:05 Go ahead and close this, open Outlook, and send your emails.

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