4. Mail merge process

Main document

This is the generic letter or publication that will be sent to people.

The content of the letter is typed out leaving spaces for the information which will be merged into it later on in the process.

Data source

The database (or spreadsheet) contains the data which will be merged into the main document.

The data is usually held in tables within the data source. Each table will contain a number of fields. The field names will match the field identifiers e.g. title, surname

All of the records in the data source can be included in the merge e.g. sending a letter to every customer.

Alternatively, a query can be run to find records which match a specific criteria e.g. 'all people who have dogs', 'all people who have bought from the shop in the last year'. The records identified by the query will be used in the mail merge.

Form Letter

Once the main document has been written and the data chosen from the data source, the mail merge process can be started.

A mail merge wizard is normally available in word processing and DTP applications.

Field identifiers are placed into the gaps in the main document e.g. <<title >> <<surname>>.

This is now known as the 'form letter'

Once the mail merge process is complete, the data will be merged from the data source into the field identifiers. This is then known as a 'merge field'.

The result is a personalised letter for each person which can then be printed.

If during the mail merge process, you decided that you didn't want a letter sent to customers 2 and 5, you would have the option to from the final merge.

You also have the option to print all of the letters or just specific ones e.g. letters 1 - 10.