Mail Merge for bulk email using MS Word and Outlook

Overview

IMPORTANT information to know before going through the steps below:

• This assumes using Outlook email client for Windows.
  
  
• For security reasons, a limitation of sending no more than 1,000 emails/recipients per day and not more than 500 emails/recipients within an hour has been implemented for all students faculty and staff. This limit exists to stop bulk malicious email from accounts taken over by malware or scammers. This parameter was set after careful analysis to avoid disrupting normal day to day use of email.  IF you require to email a bulk email, please submit a Support Request ahead of time and provide sending email address and date plan to send.
  
  
• Bulk emails – When sending an email to approximately 100 or more individuals, an email list should be used. DotCIO provides Sympa as an email list solution. Please refer to the Sympa article to assist in list creation, management and subscription.
  
  
• Bulk emails requiring Mail merges – Sympa lists are unable to personalize email, so if you plan on sending bulk email with a mail merge, please submit a Support Request ahead of time so changes can be made to your account to accommodate this. Please provide the email address the email is going to be sent from.
  
  
• If you have any questions on this or need assistance with Sympa list, please submit a Support Request.

Procedures

STEP 1: Create the Recipient list (Data Source) in Excel

Your first step in setting up a mail merge, is to create a data source document that includes recipients’ information needed for word to pull in as placeholders or merge fields. An Excel spreadsheet is the easiest way to create that data source document.

The below example shows the header names, which become the merge fields to select and insert into the email document. Once merged, word pulls in the personal data designated under that field. (see email document below the spreadsheet)

[First row in excel with header names First Name, Product Name and Date of Purchase highlighted along with showing these fields in a composed email]

1. Open Excel and type the following Column headers on the first row:
   • • • First Name
       • Last Name
       • Email Address
       • Product Name
       • Date of Purchase

[First row with header names highlighted in Excel]

2. Create or import the recipient List and Save this Excel spreadsheet. Do not have blank cells or empty rows in between. NOTE: Write down the name of the file and the header names.

STEP 2: Compose the email document in Word

After creating the data source in Excel, the next step will be to create the email in Word.

1. Open Word and type your email message.
2. Save this document.

[Composed email with spaces where placeholders (merge fields) will go]

STEP 3: Start the Mail Merge

1. With the composed email message document opened in Word, click the Mailings tab from the top ribbon.
2. Click Start Mail Merge located to the left of the top ribbon.
3. Select E-mail Messages.

Now let’s connect the Data Source (Excel spreadsheet) with the Word email document.

4. Click Select Recipients from the top left of the ribbon and choose Use an Existing List….

5. Locate the Data Source file you created in Excel and then click Open.

[Select Data Source dialog box with the excel file highlighted]

6. Choose the spreadsheet name that has the recipient information and then click OK.

[Select Table dialog box with Sheet1$ highlighted along with the OK button]

7. Click Edit Recipient List from the ribbon at the top to review the list.  Select or deselect the checkboxes to add or remove recipients from the list.

[Mail Merge Recipients dialog box showing the list of all names checked from the data source]

8. Once the list looks good, click OK to close this window.

STEP 4: Adding the Placeholders

Now we can personalize the email message. Before adding any placeholders in the message, take note on where you want them to appear in the email.

For the example email below, we will add the first name, product and date of purchase as the placeholders.

[Email with where the placeholders will be inserted]

1. Place your mouse on the greeting line and click the Greeting Line button from the top ribbon.

The Insert Greeting Line dialog box appears.

2. Make changes to the Greeting line format and preview.

[Insert Greeting Line dialog box highlighting the greeting format, first name and last name, Preview of the greeting and the OK button]

3. Click OK and the greeting placeholder appears in the message

[Placeholder <<GreetingLine>> highlighted after Dear]

Now let’s add Product and Date of purchase merge fields.

4. Move your mouse to the next area on the message for the placeholder and choose the Insert Merge Field button from the ribbon.

5. Choose a field.

[Insert Merge Field button highlighted along with Product_Name field below]

6. Repeat steps 4-5 until all the fields are added.

Example with all the merge fields in the email message.

[Greeting Line, Product Name and Date of Purchase merge fields highlighted in the email]

STEP 5: Preview the results and Send the email

Preview the results to see what the email looks like with the greeting and merge fields.

1. Click the Preview Results button from the top ribbon.

Notice in the example below that the word Dear and comma appear twice. So, it is always good to preview the email before sending.

[Example showing that the word Dear and comma are typed twice in the greeting]

2. Click the Preview Results button again to return back to the email and make any changes.
NOTE: You may want to preview one more time to make sure everything looks good.

Finish & Merge – Once the email is all set, you can now finish the merge.

1. Click the Finish & Merge button from the top ribbon.
2. Choose Send Email Messages…

[Finish & Merge button highlighted along with the Send Email Messages...option below]

3. Type a Subject on the Subject line

4. The Mail format box, choose HTML. (default)

5. Under Send records, you can send All records, the current record, or choose a range of records.

[Merge to E-mail dialog box with the HTML Mail format and the OK button highlighted]

6. Click OK to run the merge.

You will see the emails go through quickly on the screen as they are being sent.

NOTE: This email is sent from your personal Outlook mailbox NOT a Shared mailbox, therefore you can go to your sent items in Outlook to see if the emails were sent.  

[List of sent emails from the sent folder in Outlook]

References/Links 

How to Mail Merge from Excel to Word: Step-by-Step (2024)

Use mail merge for bulk email, letters, labels, and envelopes

Last Reviewed:   25-Mar-2024