Create a data source for a mail merge

When you perform a mail merge, Word inserts the records from a data source, or recipients listA file that contains the unique information for each data-merged document. For example, a recipients list could contain the names and addresses for form letter recipients., into your main documentIn a data-merge operation, the document containing the text and graphics that remain unchanged for each version of the merged document — for example, the return address or body text in a form letter.. A recipients list for a mail merge operation can be an Excel sheet, the Office Address Book, a FileMaker Pro database, a Word document, or a delimited text file.

You use mail merge when you want to create a document, such as a form letter, to send to multiple recipients. Each letter contains the same information, but the recipients are unique. For example, in letters to your customers, each letter can be personalized to address each customer by name. The unique information in each letter comes from entries in a data source. You must create a data source before you can create a mail merge. For more information about creating a mail merge, see Create envelopes by using Mail Merge, or Create mailing labels by using Mail Merge.

Do any of the following:

Create a data source in Word

Create a data source in Excel