In this post, I am going to show you how to complete a mail-merge from an Excel table to Microsoft Word.
Finishing the process
In Mail-Merge Data Preparation, I demonstrated how you can prepare a data to be merged. I will be using the result table to complete a merge.
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-1png-1024x177.png)
The Goal
Our goal is to use the ‘MergeTable’ as a data source for the merge fields in Word, create one document/e-mail per manager, and list the departments who report to that manager.
The Word Document
Prepare the Word document according to your needs. In this example, we’re sending out a memo to the Manager’s.
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-2png-1024x704.png)
Connecting to Excel table
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-3.png)
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-4.png)
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-5.png)
Insert Merge Field
If you successfully connected to the source file then you will have access to the field headers.
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-6.png)
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-7.png)
“Intelligent” Merge-ing
Being the Excel guru’s we are, we will not be statically adding the rest of the merge fields.
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-static-fields.gif)
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-intelligent-fields.gif)
Do you see what is happening? Placing the merge fields statically means that you will always be using that white-space. Maybe that is fine for your project. In the actual project I did, having extra white-space was unacceptable.
Using IF fields
The article found at, https://wordmvp.com/FAQs/MailMerge/MMergeIfFields.htm, has a comprehensive article detailing the process.
The only thing I would add to the article is that it does not explicitly tell you how to line-feed or new-line; it really just demonstrates the in-line technique.
Adding a Return/New-line
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-8.png)
What you are really looking for is where I have placed the ΒΆ symbol.
The result
![](http://cjmendoza.yourweb.csuchico.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/merge-to-word-intelligent-fields-final.gif)
The result is a dynamic document which uses only enough space that is required. In the actual project, the maximum count of ‘DeptID – Department’ values was ten (10) with a minimum count of one (1). The requirement was to have a one (1) – page memo. Hopefully, this will help you excel at work!