LESSON 3: ADVANCED WORD PROCESSING SKILLS – PART 2

After going through this learning material, you are expected to:
Create form letters or documents for distribution to various recipients; and
Create labels and envelopes for distribution

WARM-UP

You were tasked to create and send out formal invitations for a seminar-workshop on
action research for three days. You were also given a list of ten academic heads to send out to.

1. From the scenario above, describe briefly how you would most likely complete the task of
sending ten invitations with individual names of recipients using MS Word.
2. Give examples of documents that you can personalize and send or distribute.

LET’S STUDY

Because of the advancement in our technology, particularly in ICT, things are now getting
faster. One of these things is communication. Sending of messages and information using instant
mails and messaging are now faster compared to traditional ways. But what if we could still do
things much faster? What if we can use an automated way of creating and sending uniform letters
to different recipients?

Mail Merge and Label Generation

Mail Merge
Mail Merge is a useful tool that allows you to produce
multiple letters, labels, envelopes, name tags, and more using
information stored in a list, database, or spreadsheet. When
performing a Mail Merge, you will need a Word document (you
can start with an existing one or create a new one) and a
recipient list, which is typically an Excel workbook.

▪ Two Components of Mail Merge

1. Form Document – The document that contains the whole body of the message we
want to convey or send (in Word document). Below is an example of a form
document.

Also included in the form document is what we call placeholders (denoted by <<
>>), also referred to as data fields or merge fields. This marks the position on your
form document where individual data or information will be inserted.
 2. List of Data File – This is where the individual information or data that needs to be
plugged in to the form document is placed and maintained (in Excel workbook).

▪ Steps in Mail Merging

1. Open Microsoft Word and start a new blank document. You can use the keyboard
shortcut Ctrl + N after Microsoft Word has been loaded or opened.
2. On the Mailings tab, from the Start Mail Merge group, choose Start Mail Merge –
Letters.

3. Save your letter and name it “Sample Letter.”

4. Insert the fields you need in the letter (Name, Company, Address Line 1, Address Line
2, Address Line 3, and Title) but in our example we have Name, Department, Institution
 and Address. You may want to make special markings on these fields as you are
typing it. Most common marking you can do is by typing it in capital letters or ALL
CAPS so you can easily identify them later.

5. On the Mailings tab in the Start Mail Merge group, choose Select Recipients – Use
an Existing List.

6. A dialog box will pop up. Make sure that the right sheet is selected and that the box
on ‘First row of data contains column headers’ is checked.

7. Highlight the RECEIVER NAME in the greeting field, then go to Greeting Line on the
Mailings tab. In this field, we’ll be going to set up how the greeting line goes. You can
customize the setting on the Insert Greeting Line dialog box. For our example, I choose
the format Dear First Name (e.g. Dear Ms. Aphrodite,).
 As a result, a text in a placeholder <<GreetingLine>> will appear which means that
the greeting line we customized is already integrated for mail merge.
8. Then, we go to the address field. Highlight the NAME OF THE DEAN/HEAD. Go to
Insert Merge Field. A dialog box will appear in which you’ll choose what goes on the
first line. For our example, I choose First Name and Last Name. Note that you can’t
simultaneously choose First Name and Last Name. You choose one at a time.
9. For the Department, Name of Institution and Address line, follow the same
method. We didn’t include the Phone Number and Email Address on the address
field but if you want to add it, it’s your choice. You should have the same output as
shown below

10. To view the output before mail merging, go to Preview Results on Mailings tab. If
you encounter errors such as, no spacing, some fields are missing, repeated words,
etc., use the Match fields to correct them. Check out the link below as a guide in
mail merging.
11. When you are satisfied with the output, go to Finish and Merge. There will be three
choices there. You can print the letters directly or send it thru emails.

WATCH!

Mail Merge from Excel to Microsoft by Technology for Teachers

and Students

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqCvTOpOL0

Label Generation
Included in the mail merge feature on Microsoft Word is the Label Generator. It
just makes sense that after you print out your form letters, you will need to send it to
individual recipients in an envelope with the matching address printed directly on the
envelope or on a mailing label to stick on. By using virtually, the same process as a
standard mail merge, Microsoft Word will print individual addresses to a standard form
that it has already pre-formatted.
▪ Steps in Label Generation using Mail Merge
1. On the Mailings tab, from the Start Mail Merge group, choose Start Mail Merge
– Labels.

From the Label Options, choose the size and the product number of your
choice. For our example, I choose the second 30 Per Page to produce 30 labels
in landscape format with page size of 8.5 by 11 inches.

2. Following the same method in Mail Merge, go to Select Recipients – Use an

Existing List.
 As you can see, we have the placeholders <<Next Record>> for every label
created but the first label is empty. This is where we input the address fields using
the same method in merging fields.
3. On the Mailings tab, choose Insert Merge Field and choose the fields you want to
input for your labels. For me, I choose the following fields.

Note that you can change the font size and style of the address fields.
4. When you’re satisfied with the design, go to Update Labels to merge the address
fields on all of the labels. You should have the same output as below.

5. If you want to add borders for each label, go to Table Tools tab to customize your
border styles. If you can’t see the Table Tools tab, just click on the labels.

After that, go to Preview Results to have a check on how the labels will be printed.

Then go to Finish and Merge to print your labels and you’re done. Take note that
Labels isn’t only used for addresses but you can use it for other purposes.
▪ Steps in Mail Merging Envelopes
1. On the Mailings tab, from the Start Mail Merge
group, choose Start Mail Merge – Envelopes.
From the Envelope Options, choose the size of the
envelope you want to use.

2. You will see a cursor on the upper left corner. Type

the address of the sender (in our example it’s the
school address of the principal). After that, click at the
lower center of the envelope and a text box will
appear.

3. Using the same method in mail merging, input the address fields on the text box
using the Insert Merge Field function on the Mailings tab.

Click the Preview Results to have a view on how will it be printed. Check the final
result below.
 WATCH!

Making Address Labels with Mail Merge by navitend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0szWDBJYo

How to Mail Merge Envelopes - Office 365 by Kevin Stratvert

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKyBU4YHbl4

SELF-TEST

Part I.

1. Expand the list from 10 to 20 recipients. You can

exchange names and addresses with your classmates to
be able to create a list of 20 names. You can add
additional fields if you like. Enter the information of your
recipients in an excel workbook. This will serve as your
list of data file.
2. Choose another event aside from our example. From
that, create a form document which contains the body
of your letter.
3. Follow the steps in mail merging, label generation and mail merging envelopes. In a
video, document the process of you making these three outputs.
Part II.
1. On a piece of paper, create a simple flowchart that summarizes the steps in creating a
merged document.
2. Describe how or in what ways you can manage the recipients’ list.
3. In your own words, describe or enumerate the steps in generating:
a. labels,
b. and envelopes.

▪ REFERENCES
▪ Regis, J. (2018). Empowerment Technologies LESSONS 1-15. Retrieved from
Wordpress: https://ictcom444251764.wordpress.com/2018/03/31/empowerment-
technologies-lessons-1-15/
▪ Technology for Teachers and Students. (2020). Mail Merge from Excel to Microsoft
Word [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFqCvTOpOL0&t=24s
▪ navitend. (2013). Making Address Labels with Mail Merge [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0szWDBJYo
▪ Stratvert, K. (2019). How to Mail Merge Envelopes - Office 365 [Video]. Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKyBU4YHbl4